Google has begun to direct users that read blogs on its Blogger/Blogspot platform to country-specific URLs in an effort to prevent censorship laws from any one country affecting those that may not find the content objectionable.
After the changes roll out, visiting a blog at [blogname].blogspot.com will take the reader to a version for their own country. For example, blogs will redirect to [blogname].blogspot.com.au when visited by an Australian reader. What this means is that in the event that content is banned in a certain country, and Google is required to remove it, it will still be made available for readers in other countries.
"Content removals can be managed on a per-country basis, which will limit their impact to the smallest number of readers. Content removed due to a specific country's law will only be removed from the relevant ccTLD [country-code top-level domain]," Google's support pages read.
Google already has ccTLDs implemented for its search engine, which return results tailored to the user's location, and in some cases have been filtered to comply with local laws.
Similar to how users can opt to use the US version of Google search, users can view country-specific version of blogs by entering a special "no country redirect" (NCR) URL. For example, Australians can choose to view the US version of a blog by navigating to [blogname].blogspot.com/ncr. This sets a cookie in the user's browser to stop redirection to the default local version.
There is nothing to prevent users from picking a foreign version of a Blogger blog, and thus illegally viewing content in their country, but they may be prevented by other restrictions not imposed by Google. As an example, it is feasible that the Chinese government could use its own filter to block all access to Blogspot domains, except for those in the .cn ccTLD, effectively giving it better control over what blogs its citizens can view. Bloggers from within China, however, may be able to post locally illegal content to Blogger, which in turn would then be viewable by other countries that do not consider it to be illegal.
At the moment, Google logs each request for content removal in the Chilling Effects database to provide users with transparency over what content is in question, and who the complainant is. These have included blogs that link to pirated software.
So far, it appears that Australia is the only country that has the country-specific URLs implemented, and the complete roll-out is expected to take several months. The web giant will eventually have to deal with domain squatters, such as those that have bought up the Blogspot domain names for Malaysia and Belgium.
