Blogger starts rolling out country specific URLs

Posted by on Feb 1, 2012 in News Articles | 0 comments

Internet content censorship has been the most talked about topic for quite some days now. With most social media companies looking for ways to tackle the problem, the search engine giant Google, has come up with an interesting solution to defend its Blogger/Blogspot blogs.

In a bid to prevent Blogger/Blogspot blogs from censorship laws, Google has started to direct users to country-specific URLs. While Google began to direct URLs few days back, it did go unnoticed. (For instance, a blogspot blog with URL [blogname].blogspot.com will now be directed to [blogname].blogspot.in). This move will help Google to filter objectionable content in any specific country.

Recently, Google posted on a Blogger support blog,

“Why does my blog redirect to a country specific URL?”

The blog explains how Google will use country specific domains for country-wise censorship.

“Over the coming weeks you might notice that the URL of a blog you’re reading has been redirected to a country-code top level domain, or “ccTLD.” For example, if you’re in Australia and viewing [blogname].blogspot.com, you might be redirected [blogname].blogspot.com.au. A ccTLD, when it appears, corresponds with the country of the reader’s current location.”

For those, who want to view the pre-censored page, can visit [blogname].blogspot.com/ncr from their web browser (where NCR means “No Country Redirect”). This will create a temporary cookie to prevent geographical redistribution.

Presently, Google has partnered with Chilling Effects database. This will help users to get some transparency on the questionable content. This database mostly include blogs that are linked to pirated software.

Twitter, the popular microblogging service had recently implemented similar measures for blocking tweets country-wise.

We will have to wait and watch if this move can create a good impression on the government bodies. In the meantime, we would like to hear from you on whether country specific content censorship is good move for our freedom of expression?