Chinese netizens flood Obama's Google+ page

Blog Redirects Today I learned my blog is being redirected to another URL name in some countries. This is a new "feature" in Blogger that Google added beginning a few weeks back.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent has launched an English version of its Twitter-like microblogging service in a push to tap the overseas market, the official Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.The English version of Tencent Weibo is the first of its kind in China, Xinhua said, in a country where overseas social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are blocked by a robust web censorship system.The English language Tencent Weibo has functions for posting, discussions, private messaging, photo and video uploading, and online chatting, Xinhua said.

Despite -- and sometimes because of -- increasingly aggressive government measures, China's netizens are finding ways to evade the country's Internet restrictions. Zhang Shan never paid much attention to Internet censorship in China.

Syria, China, Iran, Bahrain and Vietnam are flagrantly spying online, media watchdog RSF said Tuesday, urging controls on the export of Internet surveillance tools to regimes clamping down on dissent.

Facebook may be eyeing a move into mainland China, but web firms there cast doubt on whether the social networking giant can tap the monster market -- assuming authorities lift a ban on the site.China has the world's biggest internet population, with 420 million users and rising. It is a hugely lucrative landscape, but is also peppered with dominant domestic brands, technical hurdles and the threat of censorship.

Facebook may be eyeing a move into mainland China, but web firms there cast doubt on whether the social networking giant can tap the monster market -- assuming authorities lift a ban on the site.China has the world's biggest internet population, with 420 million users and rising. It is a hugely lucrative landscape, but is also peppered with dominant domestic brands, technical hurdles and the threat of censorship.

Google said Friday its services appeared to be back up and running normally in China, after the US web giant reported that access to its search engine and other products were being blocked.Google and the Chinese government have for months been locked in a battle over state censorship and cyberattacks that the company says originated in China, the world's largest online market with 420 million users.On Thursday, a Google web page listed search, Google Ads and Google Mobile as "fully blocked" in China for the first time in weeks. News and images were "partially blocked".