This site, as noted in the sidebar, has been censored in China for around a decade. As you know, if you ever look at the sidebar, there are a couple of modules deployed there which note who's been here. There are, of course, a couple of others that afford more detailed descriptions, which are not on public view. Personally, I think the spinning "revolver" globe widget is pretty cool, although it needs the occasional kick in the butt because it doesn't reset like it should - but hey, what do ya want from freeware?
One thing that came over the transom was most interesting, as it's never been seen here before: A visitor from China viewed "MaxRedline: Why NOAA Is In Newport, Now" 23 mins ago
Oh really? Did they drop the censorship thing? Or did somebody just get lucky?
Hard to say. The first thing I did was run a check to see if the site was now open. Nope. That means it's time to root through the IP addresses and time-stamps. Yup, there it is. Now, that there's a right good puzzle: this site's been blocked for years, so what's somebody from China doing here, and why was the post on NOAA selected for review? And how come my initial tests come back as blocked? That's some curious stuff.
There are other things that need to be checked, and IP address checking is kind of tedious, so it's something I tend to do only when really bored or really pissed off. The initial read on that looks as though it's a government address, but it's harder to pin things down there than it is here. Puzzles like this are really interesting, so it'll be cool to see where it all goes, when I get more time.
If they've removed the block, then I finally get to take down the Banned in China item in the sidebar. If not, well, it's still interesting, if only as a perspective on how assiduous government surveillance can be.
Tomorrow could be a busy day. Potentially.
Any idea WHY China banned you? Surely not for talking about loot rail. Maybe the idiots in Metro and Portland gummint?
Posted by: Sam L. | February 21, 2012 at 08:42 AM
Wow! Your information is so good that the Chinese government may be allowing access on a need-to-know basis only. Now, if only City Hall, the Governor's mansion and the White House would pay attention.
Posted by: T D | February 21, 2012 at 04:14 PM
Heck, the ChiComs censor Facebook these days. I suspect that my occasional use of the "f" word (freedom) made 'em uneasy some years ago. Obviously, though, somebody there's running periodic searches for terms of possible strategic interest, such as NOAA - that was the only post they checked out.
Kind of weird to see that pop out of the datastream, though. The site is still blocked there, according to test results.
On another note:
You may recall that I mentioned this impending event a month or so ago, here -
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/02/the_oregon_zoos_rhino_pete_is.html
Posted by: Max | February 21, 2012 at 07:24 PM
Just 'cause one hit gets through from China doesn't mean they've opened the gates.
Keep on the IP trace. Of course, it could be faked.....
I'm in Santa Ana, CA, but the globe says "Pacific Palisades", about 60 miles up the coast. On the other hand, maybe that's where the wifi server is.
Posted by: ZZMike | February 21, 2012 at 07:47 PM
The globe only gives approximations, and it has some other quirks. I know where ya are: your IP address is 6x.9x.4x.2xx - and yes, I inserted the x stuff to discourage the snoops.
I've done this for a long time. Had a friend up in WA getting hassled by a troll, so he asked if I could help out. I traced the kid straight back to his Chicago dorm room. That was amusing. My friend never had another problem from the kid.
Posted by: Max | February 22, 2012 at 12:25 AM
"I traced the kid straight back to his Chicago dorm room. That was amusing. My friend never had another problem from the kid."
Lesson: Don't fool with Max! :-)
Posted by: T D | February 22, 2012 at 02:48 PM
LOL - hardly that; I was just helping out a friend. Just built up some skills over the years.
I've worked with systems since the 1970's, back when they were ferromagnetic coils and vacuum tubes. When networks began to emerge, accessible by phone lines, I tweaked around with modem ATT codes, in an effort to reduce the time required for "handshaking" and other connection processes.
In the course of those experiments, I uncovered back-doors into two of the largest international networks then extant. I informed them of the vulnerabilities, and they paid me for the code. I also negotiated free access to their networks.
Things rather evolved from there; today, tracking a user down is, with knowledge and proper tools, rather a triviality unless they're smart enough to use proxies (which most aren't). Then it takes longer, but fortunately, most proxy servers use a limited set of addresses and rotate to the next set after 30 minutes. So the link will pop up again. Most proxy servers use only four sets.
Posted by: Max | February 22, 2012 at 11:15 PM