对
谷歌(Google Inc.)在中国的用户来说，面临的大问题不是这家互联网巨头是否撤出中国，而是中国政府是否会出于报复而屏蔽谷歌的国际搜索网站。如果北京决定将这一网站挡在"防火长城"的外边，大学生石玉琛(音)也有已经筹划好了的旁门左道，她将尝试"翻墙"。防火长城是中国互联网控制体系的非正式叫法。
石玉琛说，无论如何，我会通过一些"翻墙"工具继续使用谷歌。
相关报导
在谷歌网站或中国最大搜索引擎百度(Baidu Inc.)的网站搜索"翻墙"一词，就能找到数十个教人如何绕过中国互联网限制措施的网站。
在一个去年11月于广东南部山区举行的中国博客写手大会上，著名的博客作者兼公民记者周曙光向与会者介绍了十种中国网民可访问Twitter网站的方法，该网站从2009年中期以来在中国一直被屏蔽。
虽然不可能得到确切的数据，但中国3.38亿网民中正有稳步增多的人已经在使用代理服务器、虚拟私人网络(VPNs)等手段访问被政府屏蔽的网站。
这两种手段使电脑得以通过远程服务器接入互联网。如果这台服务器设置在中国境外，那么它将不必服从中国的互联网控制。虚拟私人网络由于采取了加密措施，因此被认为比代理服务器更安全。
自从全球搜索引擎巨头Google踏入中文服务这个广阔却限制严格的市场，它就一直在平衡其发展雄心与坚持"不作恶"原则间苦苦挣扎。
由于谷歌警告说它可能离开中国，网民们都想知道他们Gmail帐户的命运将会如何。但这也可能鼓励更多的网民"翻墙"。
谷歌已表示，它计划停止在其中文搜索引擎Google.cn审查搜索结果，并说将与中国政府进行谈判，以找到一条既不过滤搜索结果同时又依然遵守中国法律的途径。
分析人士说，政府不大可能同意Google.cn在不审查搜索结果的情况下继续在中国运营，谷歌将不得不关闭其在华业务。理论上说，中国网民依然可以访问服务器设在美国的Google.com网站，该网站不过滤搜索结果，不过用户无法点开在中国被屏蔽内容的相关链接。
在谷歌于2006年推出中文版搜索引擎之前，英文版Google.com时常被中国屏蔽。可能是因为这种因素和其他原因， Google.cn诞生以前，竞争对手百度(Baidu.com)就已经从对手中明显胜出。
但Google.cn取得了成功，它的市场占有率稳步增长、2009年第四季度达到35%。加上其他谷歌应用在中国用户中的传播，谷歌已经形成了一个庞大的用户群，他们将不愿意看到谷歌离开。
谷歌在中国文化水平较高的白领网民中尤其受到欢迎。百度被批评说搜索结果质量更低（过去曾包含付费广告）、删除与敏感新闻事件有关的链接。百度拒绝对其服务发表评论。
美国一家名为AnchorFree的公司推出了一款叫做Hotspot Shield的可免费下载的VPN软件，该公司创始人David Gorodyansky称，这款软件全球750万用户中有大约100万来自中国。Gorodyansky说，当主要网站被屏蔽后，新用户数量会大幅上升，比如2009年3月谷歌旗下的YouTube被中国屏蔽时就是这样。
2009年10月1日中国60年国庆这个敏感时节前夕，代理网站Tor被部分屏蔽。在此之前，该网站称，平均每天大约有1万次来自中国的用户请求。
"翻墙"，这个一度只限于少部分政治活跃网民的办法，随着当局屏蔽YouTube、Facebook、Twitter并关闭类似Twitter的中文网站"饭否"，在过去一年变得越来越普及。监管机构曾强制要求所有电脑生产商安装一款网络过滤软件（后来放弃），这引起了公众对审查的一次强烈反弹。
中国多数网民并不知道怎样翻越防火墙，而且他们也不一定需要获得敏感信息。但随着管控越来越严，越来越多的人正在学习并向其他人传授翻墙技术。
前述博客写手周曙光就是其中之一。他在全国一些城市举办小型培训班，教人们怎样使用网络相关技术，并通过电子邮件和Twitter回答网民的技术问题。
南加州大学(University of Southern California)
Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism 新媒体主任与客座教授郦安治(Andrew Lih)说，Twitter和Facebook等网站正在越来越多地和其他开发人员分享代码，而这些开发人员又可以开发出独立的软件和程序，成为第三方代理服务器。
他说，这意味着真是"信息要自由"；他还说，对一些聪明的中国网民而言，翻墙访问Twitter是小菜一碟。
Sky Canaves / Loretta Chao
（更新完成）
For Google Inc. users in China, the big question isn't whether the Internet giant retreats from China, but if Beijing retaliates by blocking Google's international search site.
If Beijing decides to put the site on the other side of the 'Great Firewall,' as the country's system of Internet controls is informally known, college student Shi Yuchen has a workaround already planned. She'll simply fanqiang, or 'scale the wall.'
'No matter what, I will continue to use [Google] by applying some 'scaling the wall' tools,' Ms. Shi says.
To help people like Ms. Shi, a small but influential number of tech-savvy Chinese have been schooling their fellow citizens on how to gain access to blocked sites.
A search for the term fanqiang on Google or Baidu Inc., China's largest search engine, turns up dozens of Web sites with instructions on how to get around the country's Internet restrictions.
At a Chinese blogger conference held in the mountains of southern Guangdong province in November, Zhou Shuguang, a well-known blogger and citizen journalist, gave a presentation on 10 ways that Chinese Internet users can access Twitter, which has been blocked in China since mid-2009.
Although it is impossible to obtain concrete figures, a steadily rising number of China's 338 million Internet users already use proxies, virtual private networks (VPNs) and other workarounds.
VPNs and proxies allow a computer to access the Internet through a remote server. If the server is located outside of China, then it won't be subject to China's Internet controls. VPNs are encrypted and considered more secure than proxies.
'The more China blocks people, the more savvy people are going to get,' says Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director of digital influence at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.
Google's warning that it may leave China has left Internet users wondering what will happen to their Gmail accounts. But it could also encourage more Internet users to 'scale the wall.'
Google has said that it plans to stop censoring search results on its Chinese search engine Google.cn and that it will negotiate with Chinese authorities to find a way to offer unfiltered search results while remaining in accordance with Chinese law.
Analysts say it is unlikely the government will agree to allow an uncensored Google.cn to operate in China, and that Google will have to shut its business in China. In theory, Chinese Internet users could still use the U.S.-based Google.com site, which doesn't filter its search results, though users aren't able to access links to content that is blocked in China.
Before establishing its Chinese search engine in 2006, Google.com itself faced periodic blockages in China, a factor that likely contributed to rival Baidu.com gaining significant ground over rivals by the time Google.cn arrived on the scene.
But the successes of Google.cn, as evidenced by its steadily growing market share -- it rose to 35% in the fourth quarter of 2009 -- and the spread of other Google applications among Chinese users have given the company a large user base that will be reluctant to see it go.
Google is especially popular among China's educated, white-collar Internet users. Baidu has been criticized for providing lower-quality search results, which in the past included paid advertisements, and for removing links related to sensitive news events. Baidu declined to comment on its services.
David Gorodyansky, founder of U.S.-based AnchorFree, which offers a free VPN called Hotspot Shield for download, says that about one million of its 7.5 million world-wide users come from China. Mr. Gorodyansky says he sees spikes in new-user numbers when major sites are blocked, such as when Google's YouTube was blocked by China in March 2009.
Prior to being partially blocked ahead of China's sensitive 60th anniversary on Oct. 1, proxy site Tor reported that it averaged around 10,000 daily user requests from China.
'Scaling the wall,' a practice once limited to a small number of politically active Internet users, has become more widespread in the past year as authorities blocked YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and also shuttered a Chinese Twitter-like site called Fanfou. A failed attempt by regulators to force all PC makers to install Web-filtering software created a public backlash against censorship.
A majority of Chinese users don't know how to get over the firewall -- and don't necessarily want sensitive information in any case. But as controls become more stringent, a growing number of people are learning, and teaching others to do so.
Mr. Zhou, the blogger, is one of them, hosting small workshops in cities around China to teach people how to use Internet-related technologies, and answering e-mailed technical questions from Web users and via Twitter.
Increasingly, Web sites like Twitter and Facebook are sharing their coding with other developers who can, in turn, create independent software and programs that work as third-party proxies, says Andrew Lih, director of new media and visiting professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.
'In that sense, it really is that 'information wants to be free,'' he said, adding that it's 'rather trivial for savvy Internet users in China to circumvent the Twitter ban.'
Sky Canaves / Loretta Chao
If Beijing decides to put the site on the other side of the 'Great Firewall,' as the country's system of Internet controls is informally known, college student Shi Yuchen has a workaround already planned. She'll simply fanqiang, or 'scale the wall.'
'No matter what, I will continue to use [Google] by applying some 'scaling the wall' tools,' Ms. Shi says.
To help people like Ms. Shi, a small but influential number of tech-savvy Chinese have been schooling their fellow citizens on how to gain access to blocked sites.
A search for the term fanqiang on Google or Baidu Inc., China's largest search engine, turns up dozens of Web sites with instructions on how to get around the country's Internet restrictions.
At a Chinese blogger conference held in the mountains of southern Guangdong province in November, Zhou Shuguang, a well-known blogger and citizen journalist, gave a presentation on 10 ways that Chinese Internet users can access Twitter, which has been blocked in China since mid-2009.
Although it is impossible to obtain concrete figures, a steadily rising number of China's 338 million Internet users already use proxies, virtual private networks (VPNs) and other workarounds.
VPNs and proxies allow a computer to access the Internet through a remote server. If the server is located outside of China, then it won't be subject to China's Internet controls. VPNs are encrypted and considered more secure than proxies.
'The more China blocks people, the more savvy people are going to get,' says Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director of digital influence at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.
Google's warning that it may leave China has left Internet users wondering what will happen to their Gmail accounts. But it could also encourage more Internet users to 'scale the wall.'
Google has said that it plans to stop censoring search results on its Chinese search engine Google.cn and that it will negotiate with Chinese authorities to find a way to offer unfiltered search results while remaining in accordance with Chinese law.
Analysts say it is unlikely the government will agree to allow an uncensored Google.cn to operate in China, and that Google will have to shut its business in China. In theory, Chinese Internet users could still use the U.S.-based Google.com site, which doesn't filter its search results, though users aren't able to access links to content that is blocked in China.
Before establishing its Chinese search engine in 2006, Google.com itself faced periodic blockages in China, a factor that likely contributed to rival Baidu.com gaining significant ground over rivals by the time Google.cn arrived on the scene.
But the successes of Google.cn, as evidenced by its steadily growing market share -- it rose to 35% in the fourth quarter of 2009 -- and the spread of other Google applications among Chinese users have given the company a large user base that will be reluctant to see it go.
Google is especially popular among China's educated, white-collar Internet users. Baidu has been criticized for providing lower-quality search results, which in the past included paid advertisements, and for removing links related to sensitive news events. Baidu declined to comment on its services.
David Gorodyansky, founder of U.S.-based AnchorFree, which offers a free VPN called Hotspot Shield for download, says that about one million of its 7.5 million world-wide users come from China. Mr. Gorodyansky says he sees spikes in new-user numbers when major sites are blocked, such as when Google's YouTube was blocked by China in March 2009.
Prior to being partially blocked ahead of China's sensitive 60th anniversary on Oct. 1, proxy site Tor reported that it averaged around 10,000 daily user requests from China.
'Scaling the wall,' a practice once limited to a small number of politically active Internet users, has become more widespread in the past year as authorities blocked YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and also shuttered a Chinese Twitter-like site called Fanfou. A failed attempt by regulators to force all PC makers to install Web-filtering software created a public backlash against censorship.
A majority of Chinese users don't know how to get over the firewall -- and don't necessarily want sensitive information in any case. But as controls become more stringent, a growing number of people are learning, and teaching others to do so.
Mr. Zhou, the blogger, is one of them, hosting small workshops in cities around China to teach people how to use Internet-related technologies, and answering e-mailed technical questions from Web users and via Twitter.
Increasingly, Web sites like Twitter and Facebook are sharing their coding with other developers who can, in turn, create independent software and programs that work as third-party proxies, says Andrew Lih, director of new media and visiting professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.
'In that sense, it really is that 'information wants to be free,'' he said, adding that it's 'rather trivial for savvy Internet users in China to circumvent the Twitter ban.'
Sky Canaves / Loretta Chao
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