Google's Gmail suite of email, collaboration and communication tools has been extensively blocked in China. The move is the culmination of ongoing disruption to the service over the last number of months.
GreatFire.org, an organization that monitors the Internet in China, suggested yesterday that of the 13615 Google searches it was monitoring, 13556 were blocked. In addition, of the 696 Google sites the organization was monitoring, 599 had been blocked in China.
A representative of the organization suggested that the organization was under the belief that the Chinese government was trying to "further eliminate Google's presence in China". Google's "Transparency Report" to some extent supported GreatFire.org's conclusions by reporting a substantial drop in Gmail traffic from Friday.
China is renowned for its monitoring and control of the Internet. Known as the "Great Firewall of China", China's monitoring and blocking procedures are recognized as being some of the tightest in the world. Increased activity took place to meet the anniversary of Tiananmen Square - the Chinese government's actions against pro-democracy demonstrators on June 4, 1989. Despite the disruption, the Chinese Foreign Ministry suggested Gmail has not been blocked.
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