The New York Times, Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal have previously been taken off the grid in China, on Friday they are recently blocked the Reuters news websites.The English and Chinese version were inaccessible but the Chinese clients could still see financial news and data feeds as reported by the news item by the blockage.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country's Internet regulator, did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
"Reuters is committed to practicing fair and accurate journalism worldwide. We recognize the great importance of news about China to all our customers, and we hope that our sites will be restored in China soon," a Reuters spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
In related news in China, Great Fire itself has been under fire from a strong DDoS attack over the past few days targeting sites that it mirrors in order to avoid censorship. The organization is being served 2.6 billion requests per hour, that’s hoicked the hosting fees up to $30,000 per day.
The reason for the block is not clear. China’s internet censorship organ often blocks new sites and services without warning, but in cases of media it often follows controversial stories.
The attack was made on March 17 right after the Chinese government showed their irritation over what the group was doing and labelled the site as an “anti-China website set up by an overseas anti-China organization.”
It said that website has allowed the Chinese users to access many blocked websites by using a mirror-website technique.
Hu Jia, a Beijing-based right activist who also uses circumvention techniques said that the user find a way to evade the Great Firewall faster than the government comes up with more ways on blocking the websites.
Hu said that the bad guys get an upgrade and then the good follow suit thus causing a process of pursuit like a cat chasing a mouse.
He said it is not known as to what techniques have been used to make the Reuters site inaccessible.
Hu said that the blockage is perhaps a reaction to what the site was reporting. He added that it does not imply that the Great Firewall has been upgraded or that other circumvention techniques will not able to overcome the blockade.
