10 October
What happened on this date in privacy, anonymity networks and censorship. Every year on the same date we add a new look back and keep the earlier ones as they were.
2026
Wikipedia access in mainland China
You can read Wikipedia from Taiwan, while a May 2019 statement from the Wikimedia Foundation reads that Wikipedia was blocked across all language versions in mainland China. On 10 October 2006, contributors to Chinese Wikipedia reported on the foundation's mailing list that English Wikipedia could be reached from mainland China, while the Chinese version remained blocked. The Wikipedia Signpost, the community newsletter, reported that the block began in October 2005 and that no official explanation was available for lifting it, and a November notice from Reporters Without Borders puts the unblocking of the Chinese version at around 13 November. OONI recorded 33 measurements each of Chinese and English Wikipedia from mainland China between 10 September and 10 October 2026, and all of them were anomalies (a mismatch with the control measurement, which does not by itself confirm blocking) or failures. OONI's measurements from Hong Kong over the six months to 10 October 2026 were all normal, and anyone can run OONI Probe to check which sites their own network blocks, though OONI's FAQ reads that running it can potentially be risky depending on the country.
Also on this day
- China's Supreme People's Court judicial interpretation on infringements of personal rights through the internet took effect, so people harmed by the online disclosure of their medical records, criminal records, home address or similar personal information can claim compensation. Source: Cyberspace Administration of China
- The Tuber browser, released by a company under Qihoo 360, required registration with a mainland Chinese phone number tied to a real name before it let users view filtered versions of YouTube and Wikipedia, and it disappeared from Huawei's app store soon after it was listed. Source: Engadget