I’ve done my share of evangelizing about the LinkedIn service, to the point of co-moderating Vincent Wright’s popular MyLinkedInPowerForum, but I was a bit shocked to discover that I can no longer access the site.
   Forgive the paranoia, but I can reach it via traceroute and via anonymous proxy. I just can’t access it via the normal way: typing the address in my browser.
   A fellow New Zealander, John Dierckx, says he can get in without any problems, but for the last three days I see a blank page, regardless of browser.
   It reminds me of the national ban on the George W. Bush site in 2004. No New Zealand-based person could access the site, unless we went in via anonymous proxy. I realize there was some press when some larger countries were locked out at the end of the presidential campaign—but the fact was New Zealand was blocked long, long before that happened. Even the US Embassy could not access it, when I asked the folks there. So much for freedom of information—particularly bad when employees of the US State Department can’t do a thing, either.
   I notice that New Zealand is now blocked from the GOP.com site, too, which we could access during the campaign. I think the United States is saying, ‘If you won’t join us on the War on Terror, we’ll restrict your internet usage.’
   Fine, but how about LinkedIn? I’m going to have to dig up old tech support addresses, as I can no longer use the regular way, by going into the site and notifying its people there. However, it’s a bit sad in both cases where freedom of information underlies the official brand promises—and the user experience falls a bit short. It’s only three days out of many years of good service from LinkedIn, so I won’t diss it, or say that there is any malice—but I would like to hear from others who are experiencing the same thing in order to help. posted by Jack Yan, 10:16 PM  permalink