There was a NY Times article a few days ago about media and internet censorship in China.

Censorship has become a particular thorn in my side - specifically internet censorship. Thanks to the Great (Fire)wall of China, I can't get to BBC news, blogs posted on Blogger (my own included, even though I can, puzzlingly enough, still write posts), or even certain university websites - which is a complete pain when trying to figure out applications for graduate school.

Actually, this isn't entirely true. I can access the information blackout via proxy websites but it's a fiddly process and not reliable. Especially when trying to do research on really sensitive websites such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The above error has become the bane of my (and Maria, the other UNHCR intern). existence. It pops up when we try to access a blocked page and the connection to the linking site (eg. Google) also freezes for several minutes.

Both of us are trying to find overseas friends to install a proxy program so we can reroute our internet connection through their computer to get around the firewall (any offers?). We're getting to the point where we're seriously considering going to our embassies (Canadian and Italian) and begging for access to their international servers so we can do our research.