You may have noticed that all Blogger blogs you're visiting have now the local state address of the jurisdiction you are under, so if for example you're in Sweden, this blog should show up as:
forwhattheywereweare.blogspot.com.se
instead of the proper address which is
forwhattheywereweare.blogspot.com
This is a big problem for links and stuff and it is already showing up in many gadgets that do not work properly anymore, for example the followers' window on the right or even something as simple as the quick edit button under each post because, even if I am the author, I can only watch my blog and you blog and every Blogger blog as:
<name>.blogspot.com.es
and not anymore under the universal
<name>.blogspot.com
Besides of the technical issues, which I imagine that they will work out eventually, the fact of having an adress ending with the locator of the state that is invading my country doesn't please me at all.
But most worrisome is why is Blogger changing this:
Q: Why is this happening?
A: We are doing this to provide more support for managing content locally. If we receive a removal request that violates local law, that content may no longer be available to readers on local domains where those laws apply. This update is in line with our approach to free expression and controversial content, which hasn’t changed.
In other words: bending to the possible censorship demands from the states.
I just discovered this tonight so I will have to sleep over it but I think this means that I will be migrating to Wordpress or some other resource.
After an arbitrary, never explained total closure of my Google account not long ago, which was eventually solved by ringing up from a borrowed mobile phone (can't Google understand that I do not have a damn cell phone?) but with extremely bad robotic attention in any case, I became concerned about my dependency on a single source, Google, for much of my Internet life (mostly mail and blogging but that's a lot).
It's always bad when you are too dependent on a single resource: that's why species go extinct and civilizations collapse: lack of diversity, lack of options. So when Google+ came I decided to stay away less that all my Google account could be scrapped overnight without any explanation.
So right now I'm considering seriously a migration before I have to repent of my laziness.
Anyhow, in the meanwhile, please take notice of this trick:
Q. Can users outside of the United States still access the service’s .com domains?
A. Yes, we allow anyone to view the .com version of a Blogger blog by typing: http://[blogname].blogspot.com/ncr – which always goes to the .com version of the blog. The “no country redirect” (ncr) will temporarily prevent Blogger from redirecting readers to the local version of the blog.
Whatever they say, you may want to do it as user as well, specially if you love your quick edit buttons.
Update (Mar 17): I have already made a copy of this blog at Wordpress. I still fee a bit uncertain about migration but at the very least I am sure I do not want the content of this blog to vanish from public access (and my own access) randomly without further explanation.
Yup, I am in Alberta Canada and it is showing up as .ca
ReplyDeleteI thought it was showing where the writer was from - not reader - odd
Me too at first. But then saw blogs from other countries also ending in .es. I even thought I'd have been hacked... go figure!
ReplyDeleteFinally I searched and eventually I found the issue.
They want to be able to remove your posts one by one for, say, China or Saudi Arabia, if the authorities demand them to, I guess. But it's creeping me, really.
To me it's still the blogspot.com adress, I'm from the Netherlands. And I think the wordpress redundancy is a good thing, Maju.
ReplyDeleteAlright. They say something about gradually escalating the changes across the geography, I guess that the states of Canada and Spain (and who else?) are guinea pigs in this craze.
ReplyDeleteBeing a sysadmin, I'd advise you to register your own maju.eu domain, and have the registar's nameserver point either to blogspot or wordpress. So far, you do fine without my advise, so let's keep it that way.. Thanks for all the interesting stuff I learn on your site.
ReplyDeleteIt does not just cost money but I would have to pay via the Internet and I just do not do that: I pay everything in cash: I fear that if I use electronic media I will be too easily robbed sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks for your advise anyhow.
FWIW, I am not seeing a change in the url bar her in Denver, USA, but I am aware of a similar issue with blogs in the Czech Republic.
ReplyDeleteProbably nothing will change in the USA: remember that the USA owns the Internet, and hence the .com, .org, etc. extensions. In any case Google and hence Blogger are located in the USA and fully subject to US laws therefore.
ReplyDelete