I recently had some friends move to China. They didn’t realize how cut off they were going to be. They couldn’t download Skype, which they had planned on using as their primary mode of communication with friends and family back in the States. They can’t access Facebook or Twitter. They were completely isolated.

Considering all the hoopla recently with Google threatening either 1.) to stop censoring search results of Google.cn or 2.) to shut down their service and branches in China all together, my friends did realize that censorship would be an issue, but what they didn’t realize was how isolating it would be.

For those who are on the wrong other side of the digital divide (meaning, you’re probably not going to read this anyway), it is almost incomprehensible how disturbing it is to be without access for even a week, but the situation my friends found themselves in highlights how vitally connecting the Internet can be. Iran and Twitter is a perfect example of free information empowering people. China has good reason to censor.

It did make me thankful for my free (as in liberated) access to the Internet and the wealth of information it provides.

(By the way, my friends did find a work around, and they are able to video conference now.)