[ NNSquad ] Possible workaround for China blocking of bit.ly URL shortening

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Greetings.  It's now pretty much confirmed that the widely used bit.ly
URL shortening service is being blocked from all (or significant parts
of) China.  The broader implications of this can be discussed another
day, but for now I'd like to point out a workaround that appears to be
functional for the moment (though that moment may be short once word
of this gets around - Catch 22!)

Most attempts to reach the bit.ly domain from China appear to be
hitting connection resets -- reportedly a characteristic of the "Great
Firewall" in action.  However, bit.ly announced an alternative 
domain - "j.mp" - quite recently.  This domain uses the *same* URL
translation database as the bit.ly domain.

So,

http://bit.ly/nnsquad

and:

http://j.mp/nnsquad

both refer to the identical resolved full URL.

I've asked some users in China to test the j.mp domain, and so far
this appears to mainly be working, although there are reports of
some long delays and the need for multiple attempts in some cases.

Obviously, this is not a genuine solution to the problem.  But for
now, if you find that a bit.ly URL is blocked, I recommend simply
replacing bit.ly with j.mp and trying the address that way.

I of course continue to be very much interested in new reports
regarding this situation.

Thanks.

--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator