Korean Government Blocking Access!!!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jeff in Korea at 6:38 pm on Friday, June 25, 2004

URGENT (AND bloody unacceptable!!!):

UPDATE!!!: I have found a way to circumvent the block. I am not about to post my circumvention online. I don’t want to cut this avenue off as well. Let’s just say that I am back and mad as hell.

HORRIBLE NEWS: It has been confirmed. The Korean Ministry of Information and Communication is blocking access to services such as blogspot.com, blogger.com and now blogs.com and typepad.com. They are blocking servers as they become aware of servers that are hosting the Kim Sun Il beheading video.

This is fascism! Freaking fascist, commie bastards in control of this pseudo-democratic dictatorship of South Korea! Good job letting the world know how fair, free, and open you jackasses really aren’t! May you rot in hell you filthy, hypocritical, corrupt, pigs!

I am now officially out of contact with the world… I should still be able to read comments posted here as they are forwarded to my email. Other than that, I am gone. I cannot gain access to my site. I can still post through third-party software, but that is it.

Alert any and all media outlets of this unacceptable behavior. The Korean Cyber-Curtain is being raised.

You can reach me on MSN Messenger ID: jefflaws@hotmail.com and on Yahoo Messenger ID: Migookguy

I don’t know what the future holds…. We’ll see how long this lasts.

In parting:

“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows?
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you….

11 Comments »

Comment by Justin

25 June 2004 @ 7:07 pm

Damn, that really sucks. Is this even legal in Korea?

I wonder if any of the ISPs refused the government’s orders.

Comment by Scott-in-Japan

25 June 2004 @ 9:01 pm

Double-plus good.
/sarcasm

Jeff, how many ISPs does Korea have? I know that limiting sites in, say, Vietnam or China could be done fairly soon (they have practice…). But this seems kind of sudden - are their only 2 ISPs in Korea?

Comment by elizabeth

25 June 2004 @ 9:48 pm

Just got an email from Kimchi GI about this…wondered WHY I hadn\\\’t been able to access my blogs today.

BAS-tards, every one.
I\\\’m taking a LOONG holiday from Korea very soon, and am not sure if I\\\’ll be coming back.

Jeff, you\\\’re more articulate about this than I am; seething at a smoky PC Bang, and in need of a beer with the boyfriend.

Will stop by to sign that painting before I go!

Comment by Joel

26 June 2004 @ 1:10 am

This is a pain in the ass. I am going to visit all the sites I normally do anyway and leave worthless comments just because I CAN!

Comment by Jim

26 June 2004 @ 2:03 am

That’s absurd and shame on the koreans for doing that. BTW, if anybody wants the video just go to www.ogrish.com and you can download it there. I haven’t watched it and don’t intend to but it’s there for those who want it.

Comment by mac user

26 June 2004 @ 3:17 am

here’s a workaround for anyone with a unix derivative OS and a shell account outside Korea:

sudo ssh -D 1080 username@server.net

then set the socks v4 proxy SOCKS host in your browser to ‘localhost’

this little trick will run all your web traffic through your US shell account using an SSL encrypted link

works great under OS X, bsd, or linux. will probably work with cygwin on windowz as well.

Comment by Amy Bliss

28 June 2004 @ 11:41 am

Love the site.

As for Government censorship, I hate to believe that it’s happening, even here in the states. I know it is, and that really makes me angry. Do you have any suggestions as to what we can do to fight such things here and abroad?

Trackback by Simon World

28 June 2004 @ 3:54 pm

Asia by Blog

Asia by Blog is now going to be a Monday and Thursday thing to provide a broader spread of stories from around Asian blogging. This week’s main focus is South Korea’s renewed love of censorship. China is well known for it’s censorship of blogging, as R…

Comment by DAY TWO IN JEFFS BLOG BLACKOUT: JEFF RONALD REAGON WOULD CRY IF HE KNEW!!

14 September 2004 @ 5:52 pm

JEFF KEEP FREEDOM FREE OF FLIP FLOPPING.

Comment by dude

1 November 2004 @ 5:09 pm

you are way overreacting, the blocking of all sites with the korean beheading is common knowledge. If all these koreans see the beheading, the government would have an even tougher time supporting the US in iraq.

Comment by Jeff in Korea

1 November 2004 @ 5:39 pm

Dude,

You are about 4 months late with your comment. the blocks were all lifted a while ago.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>