Google.com Inaccessible From The UK?

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

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


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  1. identicon
    me, 3 Apr 2008 @ 12:26am

    google.com

    tried google.com and got bounced to google.co.uk.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    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 thread ]

  6. identicon
    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    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?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Duncan, 3 Apr 2008 @ 3:26am

    Same as everyone else

    Google.com works absolutely fine for me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    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 thread ]

  19. identicon
    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. ;)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    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"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. icon
    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 thread ]

  24. icon
    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 thread ]

  25. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. identicon
    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?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. identicon
    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?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. identicon
    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. identicon
    Hesed, 4 May 2008 @ 2:57am

    Re: Always Been Like This

    This does not work!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. identicon
    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 thread ]

  31. identicon
    Malcolm, 24 Sep 2008 @ 10:17am

    this works

    Search google.com and then click cached

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. identicon
    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. identicon
    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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  35. identicon
    Henry, 23 Jan 2009 @ 3:20am

    google.com from UK

    go to google maps USA then use the "web search"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  36. identicon
    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.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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