Google.com Inaccessible From The UK?

from the first-i've-heard-of-it dept

Thu, Apr 3rd 2008 12:22am — Mike Masnick

I'm a bit surprised by this, but apparently google.com has been inaccessible from the UK for a week. I'm sure our many UK readers will chime in shortly to confirm or deny this, but apparently there's been a technical problem. Google.co.uk has been accessible this whole time, but the original .com address doesn't resolve. Two things seem odd about this: the fact that it's lasted a week and that this hasn't garnered very much news.

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Filed Under: blocked, uk
Companies: google

36 Comments

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me, 3 Apr 2008 @ 12:26am

google.com
tried google.com and got bounced to google.co.uk.
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Steve E, 3 Apr 2008 @ 12:41am

Has been working fine for me all week, however there does seem to be a new redirect in there, perhaps to bounce to UK/EN specific.
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MadJo (profile), 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:05am

Actually
isn't that standard MO from Google.

I know that if I type in Google.com in a fresh browser, I get redirected to google.nl
I have to step in, and go to the preferences to change its behaviour to direct me to google.com

Try www.google.com/ncr to see if you get directed to google.com.
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- MadJo (profile), 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:14am
  
  Re: Actually
  I actually have more problems with this site. It's spitting out 503s for me. Could be our proxy though.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- James, 31 Jul 2008 @ 7:10pm
  
  Re: Actually
  it works great. Problem solve. I don't get redirected to the uk any more. Thanks.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
MadJoe11, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:07am

google.com/ig
I have had it redirect to google.co.uk for at least 3 months. The only way to get US google (.com) is to go to google.com/ig. That pulls up igoogle, but at least it's US google.
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Aussie, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:16am

Same down under
I thought Google.com has resolved to it's local Google. domain based on the users geographic location unless they changed their preferences.

A few years back google.com used to resolve to .co.uk until I changed it then the same happened to me in Spain, .es then Ireland, .ie and more recently to .com.au
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- Mike (profile), 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:25pm
  
  Re: Same down under
  Again, the question isn't about redirecting. It's after that, when someone goes from the redirected .co.uk domain they cannot get to .com, despite a link on the homepage saying they can.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Liam, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:18am

no problems for me.
My home page is google.com/ig and nothing wrong with it at all this week, or ever.
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adam2z, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:22am

google.com
ive had my homepage set to http://www.google.com/ncr for an age. had absolutely no problems this past week. am definitely in the UK.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:26am

1) Google.com is working fine for me in the UK (Norwich on BT broadband).

If you try to get to "www.google.com" via a web browser you do get re-directed to the .co.uk version, but there is a link on the bottom-right that takes you to .com.

2) The reason that this hasn't any attention is that google.co.uk has been working all the time, as a lot of people don't look (or don't care) if google is either their 'local' version or the international / us version.
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Bill, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:37am

Works with Ip address
It will redirect to www.google.co.uk but you can easily access it by plugging in the IP address like:

http://66.102.9.99/ for example
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Jake, 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:59am

Just tested it with Tor engaged, and it seems to be policy to redirect users to their local server. As far as I know they've been doing this for as long as they've had servers overseas, though I don't use Google myself (for reasons not worth getting into here), and it makes sound technical sense; Google avoid needless duplications of language data on their servers and their users get a faster and more efficient service out of it, though I daresay an option to display the search page in the US in Spanish would be good for business.

And what the hell is he wittering on about here?
However, it’s an annoying one for those internet users who appreciate that on the World Wide Web and a globally connected world, Google users in the UK cannot use Google Search to find a less UK-centric view of Google Search.
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Martin, 3 Apr 2008 @ 2:23am

Google.com is usually working for me, Google.co.uk on the other hand is usually far less reliable although has been OK recently.

However, it’s an annoying one for those internet users who appreciate that on the World Wide Web and a globally connected world, Google users in the UK cannot use Google Search to find a less UK-centric view of Google Search.

Surely, selecting "the web" as the search option (that's the default option) as apposed to "pages from the UK" will do this nearly. There will be some give as different datacentres have slightly different data and personalised search setup.

If you really want Google.com, go to http://google.com/ncr or click the Google.com link on Google UK
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- Hesed, 4 May 2008 @ 2:55am
  
  They re cutting us off
  NONE of these things work it apears that the deliberate seperation of cultures has gone to another level, Ive always noticed that Americans have no real concept of Europe, I think they are filtering information supplied to the US concerning the terrible decline of their economy my friends overseas have no idea.
  
  Hesed
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 3 Apr 2008 @ 2:37am

Next question...
Why does this command

wget -O - http://google.com/search?q=test

return a 403 Forbidden status, whereas this
wget --user-agent="I'm WGet, Nyah-Nyah-Nyah" -O - http://google.com/search?q=test

works?
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x, 3 Apr 2008 @ 3:24am

google.com works and has always worked for me, it is my default homepage.

When my cookies are refreshed it redirects me back to google.co.uk, but clicking "go to google.com" always works and always has.
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Duncan, 3 Apr 2008 @ 3:26am

Same as everyone else
Google.com works absolutely fine for me.
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mike allen, 3 Apr 2008 @ 4:13am

google google
/ig works on google .com but i cant go with just the .com the button to go to google.com is no longer on the .co.uk page for me.
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Karl R, 3 Apr 2008 @ 4:43am

Intermittent
I got errors on home page (a short message, looked like an internal server error) last week for a period of some minutes but it eventually cleared up. Other than that it's up and used pretty much continuously.
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John Robinson, 3 Apr 2008 @ 5:09am

Google down in UK
Google has been working fine for me all week. I live in the UK.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Homer Simpson, 3 Apr 2008 @ 5:28am

Google redirects
If I type www.google.com in a browser, it redirects me to google.ca (I'm in Canada), and the cutesy subtitle reminds me that "Google is available in French"... which drives me apeshit, because like Al Bundy, I hate the French. If you use www.google.com/intl/en/ you'll get google.com every time. ;)
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Joe, 3 Apr 2008 @ 6:36am

Always Been Like This
Google has been doing this for ages, you need to go to the classic page, and click "Go To Google.com" under the search box.

I'm surprised this has only just been noticed =/ And that it's "news"
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- Hesed, 4 May 2008 @ 2:57am
  
  Re: Always Been Like This
  This does not work!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Joe, 3 Apr 2008 @ 8:34am

regionalization
as several people have noted - coming from canada, google has auto-redirected to the regional google.ca site for several years. I would suspect that this is the sop for other countries as well.
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Raindog, 3 Apr 2008 @ 8:35am

Canada is the same
This headline is sensational - its basically the same as saying Google is down in the UK. The same thing has been happening in Canada for a long time, only we get redirected to google.ca.
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- Mike (profile), 3 Apr 2008 @ 1:24pm
  
  Re: Canada is the same
  This headline is sensational - its basically the same as saying Google is down in the UK. The same thing has been happening in Canada for a long time, only we get redirected to google.ca.
  
  No, you are missing the point. I know that Google does redirection. But that's not what the article is saying. It says AFTER the redirection, if you click on the link to go to Google.com specifically, you can't get there.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2008 @ 9:35pm
    
    Re: Re: Canada is the same
    No, you are missing the point. I know that Google does redirection. But that's not what the article is saying. It says AFTER the redirection, if you click on the link to go to Google.com specifically, you can't get there.
    
    You may as well give up Mike. They don't understand and probably never will. As long as they can click and drool they think everything is just fine.
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The Mortgage Sellout, 7 Apr 2008 @ 11:14pm

Google Inaccessible
Often times on different providers in my area, San Diego, CA, google will be inaccessible on one provider but not on another. Is this the beginnings of problems net neutrality?
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Fred, 10 Apr 2008 @ 2:49pm

google.co.uk
I live in the United States, and it bounces me back to google.co.uk whenever I enter google.com. Also, on drop down menus on most websites, the default is set as the UK. I have my time zone set correctly.

What on earth is going on here?
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Malcolm, 24 Sep 2008 @ 10:17am

this works
Search google.com and then click cached
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Adlai, 23 Nov 2008 @ 8:03pm

Google already applies geotargeting to automatically force direct requests for Google.com from UK IP’s to Google.co.uk.While there is a link to Google.com on the bottom right of the Google.co.uk homepage, it leads to a redirect error.The result is that Google.com remains entirely inaccessible from the UK.While it would be fun to becry this as a censorship issue, it’s obviously little more than a technical issue.However, it’s an annoying one for those internet users who appreciate that on the World Wide Web and a globally connected world, Google users in the UK cannot use Google Search to find a less UK centric view of Google Search. ---------------- Adlai Sunshine Coast
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Adlai, 23 Nov 2008 @ 8:03pm

Google already applies geotargeting to automatically force direct requests for Google.com from UK IP’s to Google.co.uk.While there is a link to Google.com on the bottom right of the Google.co.uk homepage, it leads to a redirect error.The result is that Google.com remains entirely inaccessible from the UK.While it would be fun to becry this as a censorship issue, it’s obviously little more than a technical issue.However, it’s an annoying one for those internet users who appreciate that on the World Wide Web and a globally connected world, Google users in the UK cannot use Google Search to find a less UK centric view of Google Search. ---------------- Adlai Sunshine Coast
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Jamal, 15 Dec 2008 @ 4:48am

why when I click on my google link, I got directly to google.com.uk? It's been this way for a little over a week. I just like it, when I click my google.com link it takes me to google.com. This just started happening, I think Adlai's reasoning for this.
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Henry, 23 Jan 2009 @ 3:20am

google.com from UK
go to google maps USA then use the "web search"
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Amdi, 7 Sep 2010 @ 12:21pm

google has been givin me problems as well... error msgs like 403 error keep showin up... also it sometimes redirects to phishing sites..
at 1st i suspected virus/spyware/malware problem ..
i checked with:
1. Avast 5.0.594
2. Malwarebytes' Anti Malware
3. Super Anti Spyware
but keep getting nothing from scans....

the problem is that google does work once in a while...and then it doesnt..
i think we have to start forwarding our accounts from google platform to yahoo... maybe that would wake up snoring idiots at google!

and by the way .. im posting from India, so the problem is definitely not confined to UK and Aus.

btw in case u have some really urgent mails to access, and u r interested, u can access ur google account through proxy sites like...try it..
it worked for me (i used hidemyass.com).. speed is on lower side though.
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