Technorati Possibly Banned in China

Posted on April 27, 2006

Technorati says they have been notified of problems accessing Technorati by people in China.

We've received a number of reports today that users in China can't get access to the Technorati site. Of course, we're taking these reports very seriously, and we're trying to get more accurate information. We'll let you know when we know more.

Gauden Galea was in China last week and says he did not try Technorati but he did try Wikipedia and Blogger. He was unable to get to Wikipedia but was able to use Blogger and log into Blogger, but he "couldn't get to any page on blogspot itself."

It was disorienting for someone used to these services but I find it hard to get worked up about it. Applications such as Wikipedia and Blogspot are growing into such a strong force that they will enter China, inevitably. I predict there will even be Chinese competitors (not just translated versions). And then, we who may now gloat on our access to Technorati, Wikipedia and Blogspot, will find that the last laugh will be on us.

How many services will China end up blogging? Obviously, if they want to make it more difficult for people to find independent ideas and thoughts blocking the blog search engines is a quick way to do this.