China blocks Twitter ahead of Tiananmen anniversary
China appeared to block Twitter on Tuesday, following rising popularity for the service in China and just two days before the date when Beijing crushed pro-democracy protests in 1989.
The Twitter Web site would not load in China Tuesday evening, according to people contacted in the country.
Twitter users began posting messages about problems accessing the site or its application programming interface (API) address in the late afternoon. Applications that let users post Twitter messages without visiting the Web site require access to its API.
Messages on Twitter and one well-known blog also said the picture sharing site Flickr.com, Hotmail and new Microsoft search engine Bing became inaccessible Tuesday.
Some Chinese dissidents had appeared in recent months on Twitter, which provided a platform for free speech compared to the heavily patrolled blog services in China.
Twenty years ago on Thursday, hundreds died after Beijing ordered soldiers into its central Tiananmen Square to suppress peaceful demonstrations for democracy. China has stepped up monitoring of known dissidents ahead of the anniversary to prevent any public disturbances.
IDG News Service
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
On Twitter now
On Twitter now
Brian Proffitt
Microsoft/Novell: Breaking Down the Coupon Numbers
Esther Schindler
Drupal's Dries Buytaert on Building the Next Drupal
Tom Henderson
Top Ten General Operating Systems Rants
pasmith
PS3 motion controller delayed; goes up against Project Natal
sjvn
Neolithic Windows security hole alive and well in Windows 7
claird
Perl source code comparison makes for good reading
mikelgan
Cell phones don't create stress or interrupt much
Sandra Henry-Stocker
How to: The Unix Interview
Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
- Ubuntu advances: Why Ubuntu server installations will surge in 2010
- Social media marketing: How to make friends with benefits
- More...
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.
Twitter
Thanks for the well written blog . On the other hand, Twitter is one of the most popular website as of now. Twitter is too easy to use. Twitter lets you keep people informed of everything you're doing, 140 words at a time. Some believe it's the death knell of having an actual life, but they did say the same thing about MySpace and YouTube. None of these sites, by the way, require a credit card to sign up for an account. Marketing people love Twitter, as they get to start networking, and use many other terms which relate to networking but amount to mumbo jumbo. That said, Twitter is making money and a lot of fans. Some, however, would get a cash advance to get a real life (maybe even a girlfriend) and stay off of Twitter.