Sometimes, when the ex-pats get to talking, people sound a bit paranoid. I know people who think our rooms are bugged. Almost certainly, they are not. But most of us think our difficulty accessing internet sites is not just a problem of infrastructure. The nature of the problems changes-- as though someone is trying to keep us guessing about whether censorship is going on. In Nanjing, I couldn't see my blog. Here, I can see it, but can't post to it. I am only able to keep the blog going with the gracious assistance of Dennis Cope. Currently, I am unable to post comments on the blogs of my friends, though the blogs are visible. From time to time, email is blocked. It happens to all of us. News sites, such as NPR and BBC are periodically blocked, even while other sites come up easily. There is difficulty accessing anything about politics and religion.
I wasn't sure how much of the problem was fantasy. Today, a senior faculty member told me emphatically that my problem was NOT an overactive imagination. Apparently, everyone here deals with information control. "You Americans are used to openness," he said, "so it's upsetting." For people here, information control is an ongoing annoyance, like campus mosquitos. Not something you expect in an excellent university. Above: our beautiful, oceanside campus.
2 comments:
I am very happy to help keep everyone up to date on the "Adventures of Roz & Joe"
Dennis
Your internet certainly may be under control of the government, however, it is probably just their Internet provider. I have heard rumors that they have a state contract with Comcast (aka, Comcrap). That would explain all of the troubles you are having...... By the way, we have bugs at our house too. However, they are easily taken care of with poison sparay...... cheers, john
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