Google now shows which Google services are blocked in China. Updated daily, status is assessed by geographically diverse servers that are used to monitor connection capability. As mentioned in another recent post, another service I recommend for see censorship status in China is Herdict.

Herdict, an Internet censorship tracking service launched by Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has started aggregating their user-reported Internet blockages. Iran and China stand out in the reported number of blockages of Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. Interestingly, Mexico has quite a few blockages as well. Check out the site for more detailed

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The recent blockage of YouTube in China brought a hitherto little-known site to prominence. That site, Herdict, is  brainchild of Jonathan Zittrain, author and Internet academic extraordinaire, who wanted to unleash Web 2.0 tools for tracking online censorship. A collaborative approach to reporting of Internet blocks can be particularly useful in countries like China, where

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Although a highly accomplished academic, Jonathan Zittrain can speak to humanoids and has brought a number of practical advancements to the Internet. (Both are very rare qualities among academics) He acts as Co-director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and was previously Professor of Internet Governance and Regulations at the Oxford Internet Institute.

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