bathrobe - 9:45 pm on Sep 14, 2002 (gmt 0)

I'm noticing some strange behaviour with Google in China. I'm not sure where the problem lies, but I suspect it's more related to the network than to bugs in my computer or its software.

First, I've noticed that after searching on Google for a while I start getting 'document empty' notices. It's as though a limit has been placed on the number of searches I can do. If I disconnect and dial up again (I'm on a dial-up connection) I can get Google again without any trouble.

Secondly, I just did a search on jiang xiaosong (this is a different search from jiang zemin, but turns up some jiang zemin results). On the second page the results cut out in the middle of the page - the bottom of the page was simply missing. No further searches were possible, no matter what the topic. Dialling up again resolved the problem.

The goons appear to be resorting to different methods of controlling what you can get.

Incidentally, China's entry to the WTO is supposed to make it more 'transparent'. Cutting off the major Internet search engine without any announcement and diverting users to alternative search engines without any clear legal basis is not actually a model of transparency.