[Politech] ChinaNet blocking access from American universities? [fs]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Mon Nov 17 2003 - 06:28:37 PST

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    Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 17:27:23 -0600
    To: declan@private
    From: [deleted]
    Subject: ChinaNet blocking American academic access
    
    Hi Declan,
    
    I've not been able to peruse all recent Politech messages, so I may have 
    missed this.  If it hasn't made the list, though, I think it's intriguing 
    and vitally important.
    
    I've attached a general announcement, sent today, from the IT staff of the 
    major university where I work.  I've anonymized it as best I can; please do 
    the same for my particulars.  (If you want the original message for 
    journalistic verification, complete with PGP signature, I'd be happy to 
    forward it to you.)
    
    Thanks!
    
    . . . . . . . . . .
    
    Several weeks ago, it was brought to the attention of Telecommunications 
    and Network Services that many web sites and networks within China were 
    inaccessible from the ___________ University network.
    
    Investigations into this matter revealed that the ChinaNet network 
    administrators had begun to block all IP traffic to and from the registered 
    DNS (Domain Name Service) servers for ___________'s network, as well as the 
    DNS servers for numerous other US universities and institutions. This made 
    it impossible for users on our network to perform DNS lookups for any hosts 
    on the Chinese network.
    
    Users experiencing this problem were requested to send email to 
    china-dns@private to receive instructions on how to temporarily 
    work around the issue by reconfiguring their machines to query 
    XXX.XXX.XXX.XX for DNS information.
    
    At this time, IT believes that a more effective long-term solution has been 
    implemented, and use of this temporary DNS server should no longer be 
    necessary. IT will cease offering DNS services from XXX.XXX.XXX.XX on 
    Friday, November 21, 2003.
    
    Users should return their computers to their previous configurations for 
    DNS servers before this date to avoid any interruption of service. If you 
    need assistance with this reconfiguration, please contact your technical 
    support representative or the Information Center at XXX-XXX-XXXX.
    
    Please note that ChinaNet appears to have taken this action as part of a 
    content blocking policy.  IT cannot guarantee that the ChinaNet 
    administrators will not make another attempt to block traffic from our 
    network in the future.
    
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