Just recently, every page I try and load here on FT, stalls for aprox. 10 seconds, with the status bar at the bottom reading " waiting for static.ak.connect.facebook.com "

Facebook? Keep in mind my Facebook is not open or even logged into.


HP

If you are in China, this really slows you down.

However you can turn off the facebook by going to your profile and unchecking the box that connects to facebook.

Many thanks for that tip. ^

I know!!! I also hate that static.ak.connect.facebook.com link. Quite often it slows me down for about a minute or so. It's pathetic really. I fail to see why my computer should try to connect with the evil empire (facebook)... as I am not one of their users, and as I really do not want to get involved with them to start with, despite all the hype that some journalists and/or other media whores are trying to create.

Spending so much time behind the Great Firewall, it's easy to find out how some companies/countries are trying to privatize/destroy the web, trying to replace it with private services that are being forced down our throats, even if we never signed up for them. Irrespective of what I think of some of those ridiculous filters (e.g. on wikipedia content) that are being put in place by the mainlan dgovt.

To come back to your comment, all I see in options is :

Is that what you're talking about?? If so, should I check it or uncheck it??

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I just returned from China and had the same issue. It would be great if the admins could do some sort of geofiltering that would automatically (and perhaps temporarily) disable Facebook connect for China.

That's probably not going to happen; I recommend just un-linking your account from FB connect.