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Apparently, since Google capitulated to the authorities' demands and set up a vetted version in the form of Google.cn, China has decided it can cut off access to Google.com. RWB says access to it from most of the country's provinces is now impossible and that software designed to bypass the censor filters is only functioning sporadically.

'It

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was only to be expected that Google.com would be gradually sidelined after the censored version was launched in January,' RWB said. 'Google has just definitively joined the club of western companies that comply with online censorship in China. It is deplorable that Chinese Internet users are forced to wage a technological war against censorship in order to access banned content.'

Makers of software such as Dynapass, Ultrasurf, Freegate and Garden Networks, built to get around Chinese controls, say that the increase in problems being experienced by Chinese users can only be put down to extra resources being poured into blocking Net access within China.

They say they are using information from these users to develop the software so that it still works effectively.

For more information, visit the Reporters without Borders website.