8 Jun 2005

The Internet under surveillance

Things occurring in Singapore seem to fade into the mist of the mass media when you realise what is happening in Iran and China. If Singapore is trying to curtail online freedom of expression we should be glad that they seem to be taking the 'soft power' approach. The threatening of Acidflask with court proceedings seems the lesser of two evils. Rather worrying though, that in order to paint a nice picture of the Singaporean context , I have to refer to China and Iran. What happens when the softly-softly co-opting approach of suppresing free speech doesn't shut us up?

But for now I think our thoughts should be with Mojtaba Saminejad...

The Internet under surveillance
7 June 2005


IRAN
Blogger Mojtaba Saminejad gets two-year prison sentence

Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern today about the fate of 25-year-old blogger Mojtaba Saminejad, who has been sentenced to two years in prison by a Tehran revolutionary court for "insulting the Supreme Guide" and who is due to be tried soon on a separate charge of insulting the prophets, which carries a possible death penalty.

The press freedom organisation urged all bloggers to mobilise on behalf of the young blogger, who was arrested on 12 February.

"All blogosphere messages of solidarity are welcome," the organisation said. "We know that these message reach the prisoners and help put pressure on the Iranian authorities, especially in the run-up to the presidential election. It is vital for people to talk about Mojtaba."

Mojtaba's lawyer, Mohammad Saifzadeh, said the two-year sentence was handed down after a hearing on 23 May in which his client was not allowed to speak freely. To intimidate him, the authorities had him accompanied in court by the police officers who interrogated him in prison.

He will appear in court again on 22 June to be tried on a charge of "insulting the prophets and the holy imams." This extremely serious accusation could result in his being found guilty of apostasy, which carries the death penalty under article 512 of the Islamic criminal code.

Various initiatives are under way on the Iranian Internet in support of Mojtaba. Internet users have dedicated a blog to him in both English (http://mojtaba-samienejad.blogspot.com) and in Farsi (http://en-mojtaba-samienejad.blogspot.com). Some 50 Iranian bloggers are openly backing him. The Penlog bloggers group has also firmly condemned his conviction (see
http://penlog.blogspot.com/2005/06/blog-post_05.html).

For more information on the case, go to http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12564



6 June 2005


CHINA
Authorities declare war on unregistered websites and blogs

Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today at the Chinese government's announced intention to close down all China-based websites and blogs that are not officially registered. The plan is all the more worrying as the government has also revealed that it has a new system for monitoring sites in real time and spotting those that fail to comply.

"The Chinese authorities use this type of announcement above all to intimidate website operators and bloggers," the press freedom organisation said. "The authorities also hope to push the most outspoken online sites to migrate abroad where they will become inaccessible to those inside China because of the Chinese filtering systems."

Reporters Without Borders added: "Those who continue to publish under their real names on sites hosted in China will either have to avoid political subjects or just relay the Communist Party's propaganda. This decision will enable those in power to control online news and information much more effectively."

The new initiative was announced in a decree issued by the ministry for the information industry (MII) on 20 March, which said all China-based websites - commercial or otherwise - would have to register by 30 June, giving the complete identity of the persons responsible for the sites. According to the authorities, the aim is to control information that "endanger the country."

According to official figures, about 75 per cent of Chinese sites have already complied with the new procedure. The Russian news agency Interfax reported that the ministry subsequently announced that a new system called "Night Crawler" (Pa Chong, in Chinese) that allows the authorities to locate and block unregistered sites would get under away at the start of June.

At the request of the authorities, the Telecom operators that host the biggest Chinese news portals informed their users that this procedure is obligatory. In May, many bloggers received e-mail messages telling them to register to avoid their blogs being declared illegal.

A China-based blogger told Reporters Without Borders on condition of anonymity that the Shanghai police recently rendered his website inaccessible because it had not been registered. He then phoned the MII to ask what he had to do in order to register, and was told that in his case it was "not worth bothering" because "there was no chance of an independent blog getting permission to publish."


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your blog is probably blocked in China already, I couldn't access it in Shenzhen nor Beijing last week.

Anonymous said...

think they have long ago started restricting some websites loh..

dfgd said...

I have been informed by someone in China that the Chinese government has blocked access to all blogs from blogspot.com.

Anonymous said...

Does it mean that when someone in china who does a yahoo search on "hoo sheau farn" which throws up my blog, and then that someone clicks on the link, the script embedded in my blog registers on the server that monitors visits to my blog, but all that someone is going to see is a blank screen or something? Doesn't that script have to load first, and I've placed it right at the bottom?

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. The Communist Party in China has many ways to censor, block and filter the content of websites when visited by the Chinese in China. The usual method is to have one of the many Internet Police discover your website, which they think is against their Beijing authority. They can have a number of options, if outside their country, to change the DNS IP address on their name servers to report "no connection" which you know there is no such error message as this, but a lot of Chinese don't still yet know. Antoher method is to filter out the IP address, but sometimes that isn't so wise, as if it is a domain, all the content is also blocked. If you really want to insure your website is going to be accessable in China, you got to change the DNS IP address all the time. The problem then is how the bloggers and readers will find your new website address. But, even if you did they, you are exposing the Chinese who just visit your website, because the Communist Party monitors all the Internet traffic. So here you got to to ensure encryption, and make sure an corrupt government with billions of dollars available to spend can not break your system on both ends.

Peer to Peer is hopeful here... but the Communist Party know this, so they are building their own version with backdoors. Does anyone trust the Communist Party not to spy? QQ the Chinese instant chat service was proven to have the Communist Party intervention to censor what Chinese typed.

I would suggest using photoblogs, as it's much more difficult to censor pictures...

If you could use a dynamic IP address, that is able to change your website domain IP all the time, and still yet allow everyone to find your domain name, you would be on to something here...

But don't forget, just because China, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and other regimes deny their own citizens the right to information, be opinions, expression and public assemble, this will not stop your blogging in other countries that can still apply pressure to reform. But if you are in China, it is very bad for you, as you MUST register your website with your full name and ID, so they can come get you of course. They do that too.

It is easy for you to post on your website when safe in the US, but for readers just visiting your now banned website can caused them to be blacklisted and worse!

Realize the Communist Party creates citizen profiles, so once you get on their blacklist, you don't get opportunities your way. It might not sound so bad, but in China everything goes through the Communist Party officials.

The Chinese want a choice, a voice to make a better life as we all do. But in China, the Communist Party does the thinking for you, and tells you what to do.

When your in China, if you even once just type in the words Falun Gong, red lights go on, and sirens sound, and within seconds the police are there taking you away in cybercafes.

It is much worse than what Americans might think...

When was the last time you went to prison for 5, 10 or 15 years for having to writing a paragraph about democracy on the Internet?

In China, the Communist Party only wants to insure it's power at any cost. They know that if the Internet is free, that the Chinese people would wise up and learn faster what the situation is, and do something about it. So the Communist Party does everything to keep you living in fear, brainwashing you in school with their patriotic indoctrination, and hires crinimals to take action against you when you speak up, refuse or hold a different belief. Obviously the Communist Party uses violence, not public voting!

The Communist Party forced itself upon the Chinese, just as Tibet, and threatens Taiwan, and the US with nuclear weapons if the US was to allow democractic Taiwan to be protected from the Communist Party.

Does that sound like a peaceful rising regime?

The best thing to do here is to stop giving money to China...

Had the Us not given weapons, money and technology to China, the Communist Party would have long been over, having a revolt on their hands...

Now American has made them strong, and rich and powerful. They already advanced to produce amlost everything Americans buy, and at the same time are building up their military. The Communist Party is doing a "Sun Wu" plan on the Americans...

They plan to go to war, it's no secret, excpet they pretend to say otehrwise while building up in peaceful times the advantage of preparing for war.

Don't take my words for it, go live in China and see for yourself.

Ask yourself, what is the difference between democracy and despotism...

Even in your US, you might see a lot of Communist Party...

After all, ask yourself how many Communist Party Television stations are in the US now, broadcsting their political propaganda rhetoric? Thne ask yourself why is it, that the US doesn't even have one television station in China, and yet the US allows the Communist Party to do so in the US!

You just got to open your eyes...

The Comunist Party is working hard, to take away your freedom!

They hate freedom worshippers!

It's not the Chinese people that hate freedom, it's the Communist Party nature that is evil here.

When you remove living body parts from your own citizens, who only happen to be kind decent folks, that practice tolerance, compassion and so forth, to be sold like raw materials, what do you call that?

What if you found yourself in one of these Communist Party labor camps, where they did a blood test, and found you have some organs to be sold to high price bidders? What if this was your friend, your sister or mother?

These Chinese individuals have done no crime, unless you consider them to be living honorable lives... and yet even when Hu was embarrased in front of Bush, nobody cared to speak up and ask, if this true?

Instead I read the lady got 6 months prison term, in a country as yours that is suppose to protect freedom of speech!

The brave Chinese lady wasn't selfish, she was caring about the human lives being lost for evil Communist Party actions...

If you punish people to speak up against corruption, what will you end up with? Another 4 years of Bush?

Bush already has two terms... if he could have the laws changed I am sure he would start another war with Iran... then North Korea...

Had Bush went after the Communist PArty, none of these other trouble spots would have been much of any issues...

China has been the worlds biggest terrorist suppliers and leaders of the world... Check your sources...

The majority of the world’s people are not free. They still live under Communist and other totalitarian regimes. The communist Party of China, claims it's no threat to anyone else, in it's economic development. However, Taiwan continues to be threaten by war, and Tibet suffers with the Communist occupation. In addition, North Korea has Communist China's full support.

One way China acts against democracy and freedom is to destroy the institutions and culture from within, by using propaganda, selling drugs, and using diplomat political rhetoric, while adapting patriotic indoctrination. The goal of stopping rogue states from obtaining weapons of mass destruction is rapidly becoming a bankrupt policy, thanks to advances in technology and to profit-motivated industry. The Chinese Communist Party sees the United States as the chief threat to its survival in power. The road to victory in the War on Terror ends not in Kabul, Baghdad, Tehran, or Damascus, but in Beijing. America will never be secure until China is free.

We now know the Communists have nothing but contempt for their own people, and see lovers of liberty as their enemies. It is time we take this to heart, and work to contain and isolate Communist China abroad, while undermining it from within.

Communist China signed a pact on economic cooperation with the Taliban on the morning of September 11, 2001, the very day the World Trade Center fell (John Pomfret, “China Censors Anti-U.S. Reaction” Washington Post, Sept. 15, 2001).

Communist China’s Xinhua press agency later produced a video on the 9/11/01 attacks “glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation” (Damien McElroy, “Beijing produces videos glorifying terrorist attacks on ‘arrogant’ U.S.” London Telegraph, Nov. 4, 2001).

Days after September 11, as Pakistan was mulling over a request from the United States to allow its troops to be based there for operations against the Taliban, Communist China—a 50-year Pakistan ally—announced it would “oppose allowing foreign troops in Pakistan” (Kamran Khan and Molly Moore, “Pakistani Leaders Agree on Measures to Assist U.S.” Washington Post, Sept. 15, 2001).

The Taliban and al-Qaida enemy are increasingly turning to Chinese-made arms to fight U.S. troops. The YJ-62 anti-ship missile is now being offered to Chinese military customers for export under the designation of C602. The C602 resembles the U.S. Navy Tomahawk. YJ-63 missile technology carries a 1,100-pound warhead. This allows the missile to be fitted with a biological, chemical or nuclear payload.



U.S. officials are concerned because new Chinese-made AK-47 rifles and advanced electronic land mines are falling into Taliban and al-Qaida hands. Americans and our allies will continue to die from Chinese weapons sold to Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists

Source: (Mannews.com China Sells Arms to Terrorists - December 29, 2005)

In 1998, after the American cruise missile attack on al Qaeda, Communist China paid up to $10 million to the terrorist group for American unexploded missiles. The so-called People’s Republic bought the missiles to “reverse engineer” them, i.e., use them to be able to advance its own cruise missile capabilities (Peter Finn, “Secret Tape Suggests China-Bin Laden Link” Washington Post, Oct. 20, 2001).

In 1999, a book by two Communist Chinese officers presented a scenario in which the World Trade Center is attacked as a situation that the United States would find difficult handle. The two colonels recommend Osama bin Laden by name as someone with the ability to orchestrate the attack of that magnitude via his al Qaeda group (John O. Edwards, “China’s Military Planners Took Credit for 9/11” Newsmax, September 25, 2002).

September 11, 2001: Communist China signs a pact on economic cooperation with the Taliban. Just after September 11, 2001: The Communist press agency makes a video "glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation."

2002: Raids of al Qaeda hideouts by U.S. Special Forces and allies net large caches of weapons from Communist China, including surface-to-air missiles.
May 2004: Media reports expose how the Communist Chinese intelligence service used some of its front companies in financial markets around the world to help al Qaeda raise and launder money for its operations.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-12-5/35329.html

Raids of al Qaeda hideouts by U.S. Special Forces and allies have netted, on more than one occasion, a large cache of weapons from Communist China, including surface-to-air missiles, mere weeks after the U.S. government warned that al Qaeda terrorists in the U.S. would try to use said missiles to take down American planes (“China-al Qaeda Nexus” Washington Times, December 21, 2001; and transcript of “CNN Newsroom” CNN, December 18, 2001).

In the late summer of 2002, almost a year after Afghanistan was liberated, a three-man delegation from the Taliban,—led by Ustad Khalil, purported to be Mullah Omar’s right-hand man—spent a week in Communist China meeting with cadres, at their invitation (Carl Limbacher and Newsmax Staff, “China Still Meeting With Taliban” Newsmax, September 9, 2002).

In mid-2004, it was revealed that the Communist Chinese intelligence service had used some of its front companies in financial markets around the world to help al Qaeda raise and launder funds for their operations (China e-Lobby, May 5, 2004).

To worry only about being censored, is only the tip of the ice burg....

Dig deeper, and your find Bill Clinton, dig deeper and your find Nixon....

Dig deeper and you may realize the cold war isn't over...

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