Greg Walton :: Main Page

Microsoft started the year with a PR disaster, of having to admit that they did indeed take the blog down on the request of Chinese authorities. The company abides by local laws in all countries it operates in, a statement said.

After the incident hit headlines, a lot of focus is now on the role of American technology in abetting the internet censorship and on information control by the Chinese government.

Apart from ensuring that sensitive information does not show up in search results, which is done with the help of software filters, the government reportedly employs over 30,000 human filters or internet police who track all that is being said or written in chat rooms, blogs and message boards and delete ‘inappropriate content’. Bruno Gussiani’s Lunch over IP understands that “it may be hard for a single company to take a stand alone, when others operating in the same industry don’t and are willing to bend over to please the political demands”. But nevertheless, “Microsoft is a special company, a highly symbolic one”, he says.

China, with over 100 million web users, is the world’s second largest Internet market. Companies like MSN, Google and Yahoo are caught between a commitment towards human rights and freedom of speech and the lucrative Chinese internet market, the precondition of which is compliance with censorship.

Leave Comment | Trackbacks (25) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Why it is not in Beijing’s interest to mess with the New York Times.

by Greg on Mon 09 Jan 2006 09:56 PM GMT

Prof.Tom Plate for the Korea Times:

As powerful as economics is in American decision-making, even more powerful is the role of public opinion. The Times may not be what it used to be in this area, but it is still a key player, it is very influential, and it helps set the tone for the U.S. news media's “national narratives” about foreign countries. Beijing should not expect “peaceful rise” journalism from America’s most prestigious newspaper if it is going to arrest and harass its people.

Does the current leadership in China wish the States to still view it in light of the gravely unfortunate image of the tank and lone dissenter at Tiananmen? Or does it wish to be viewed as a modernizing, increasingly responsible global player that wishes well to all and harm to none?

If the later is the goal, then arresting journalists and co-opting American corporations to unplug websites and blogs is not going to work in China’s best overall interest. Beijing is not stupid, of course, but it probably doesn’t realize what is at stake: Because of the kind of media system China still has, there is nothing in China remotely as independently influential as The New York Times. Beijing of course can do what it wants and more or less when it wants it, but we know in the States that it is a big mistake to mess with this newspaper.

Leave Comment | Trackbacks (55) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

More of scalpel and less of a howitzer.

by Greg on Mon 09 Jan 2006 09:43 PM GMT

An often overlooked aspect of our fight against Spam and malicious activity is our own contribution to censoring the Internet in China (also by extension other developing nations). What seems to have been missed is how we, as systems administrators and security professionals, also are contributing to the great firewall of China.

Here is how it works for those unfamiliar with the process: Millions of unlicensed, unsecured, and unpatched Microsoft desktops across China are turned into zombies networks by the bad guys. Those bot/zombie networks attack servers with Spam and malicious activity outside of China. Systems administrators around the world cutoff traffic to their network by blocking large blocks of IP addresses in mainland China. The average user inside China attempts to connect to websites outside China on those networks and fails. This failure to connect, both inside and outside China, is then attributed to the government sensors and the mystic of the firewall is reinforced. The effect is that the Chinese firewall, if only in part and inadvertently, is being reinforced by Western democratic countries and companies protecting their systems from China's infected computers.

Granted, that this is a very effective method of protecting networks. However, it would seem rather hypocritical of us to cheer for Open Source, the free flow of information, and criticize the Chinese Governments actions; while at the same time, with a couple dozen key strokes, we restrict millions of people from accessing information they so desperately need to further their development. Yes, we need to, and should, cutoff the spam and bot nets from the Internet; however, it needs to be done with more of scalpel and less of a howitzer.

Leave Comment | Trackbacks (24) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

The Butterfly Effect: MS, Security & the Devleoping world

by Greg on Mon 09 Jan 2006 09:38 PM GMT

Spencer Global on Microsoft's 'philanthropy' in the Third World:

I would say, that in our rush to help countries develop with food aid, economic aid, and such, that we also lend relief in the areas of technological aid. The obvious, and affordable solution: (drum role please) Linux and Open Source solutions. However, simply carpet bombing the developing world with Linux will not be sufficient. It will require the support of the developed countries and experts to aid in the training and deployment of Open Source solutions. As another Western IT worker in China pointed out, what is often overlooked outside China is that most systems administrators in China never even touched a computer until a few years ago. Further, if I may remind the reader, that poorly deployed servers and software, of any sort, are just as dangerous as Windows. The true doomsday scenario would be networks of millions of zombie computers running on fast, versatile, and stable Linux platforms across the developing world.

On the other hand, I would say that Microsoft in its rush to lock out the developing countries with disabled operating systems, restrictive licenses, and jack-booted copyright enforcement might not be such a bad thing in the long run; however, it is up to the Linux and Open source community to fill the vacuum that we so strongly advocated. Both Nature and the Internet abhor a vacuum.

Leave Comment | Trackbacks (19) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Falun Gong Investigation on Microsoft’s Involvement in the Golden Shield

by Greg on Mon 09 Jan 2006 04:05 PM GMT

The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG or 'upholdjustice' / zhuichaguoji ) has conducted an investigation into Microsoft's role in the Golden Shield project. This article is one part of a systematic exposure of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners via Golden Shield System and Internet monitoring:

Investigation on Microsoft’s Involvement in the Chinese Communist Party’s Human Rights Abuses

MailSieve

According to the web site of Microsoft (China), HTMMS (Hi Team Mail Monitor and Management System), which was developed based on Microsoft platforms, is designed to monitor and manage all email communication on network in various enterprises and organizations,…including Outlook Web Access and major free WebMail. “The professional edition of HTMMS is used in the Public Security, the National Security, the military and other important information security departments…from one computer, one or a multitude of 1000Mbps can be monitored simultaneously”, and it is mainly installed at the gateway of MANs (Metropolitan Area Network) to “monitor email transmission” and “to automatically intercept emails”. “The professional edition of HTMMS is called MailSieve, which has currently been installed in the communication departments of many large cities.”

ISA + EIM

Heguang Software group says on its website introduction that “Microsoft (China) Ltd. and Haitian Software Co. jointly released an Internet regulation system based on Microsoft ISA Server 2000 to monitor the behavior of enterprise staff members who access the Internet. This system can effectively monitor Internet activities such as browsing the Web, downloading through FTP and the receiving and sending of e-mails, which demonstrates the “double-effect” Internet security solution by Microsoft and Haitian. Heguang is the sole certified national retailer for this “new package”.

Microsoft developed monitoring and filtering software for the Chinese education system

Excerpt from Document No. 49: “the CCP central committee and the provincial committee are very concerned with the battle on the Internet. In order to continue and deepen the battle against ‘Falun Gong’ evil cult organization; aside from achieving the three “zero” targets, the battle on the Internet is the criterion by which the performance of the local work units and schools is judged…To better conduct the battle over the Internet and especially block information on the Internet is an important part of the battle against Falun Gong evil cult organization. The Party committees of schools must solidly intensify the leadership over the Internet struggle, organize forces and increase input…school leaders, especially the leaders in charge should periodically check on the situation and listen to reports, analyze the situation of the battle, make work arrangements; “610 Offices” of the schools should fully cooperate with the school Internet control units…actively organize and block information online; the school network center should strengthen their awareness of the battle on the Internet,… effectively implement the work to block information from the Internet.” The Document No. 49 [8] requires the monitoring of online information on campus network must be “round the clock, …strictly forbid people in schools and especially ‘Falun Gong’ members to visit ‘Falun Gong’ websites through the campus network and schools’ computer system, search, read, download or upload ‘Falun Gong’ materials.” The same document also states the fundamental method to ensure the information blockade online is to “pay great attention to the technology of web blockade, increase financial and technological input, and upgrade and renew with the latest technology in a timely manner.”

The Third Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security of China and Microsoft's “united laboratory”

On July 7, 2003, Microsoft China and the Third Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security formed “The third Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security of China-Microsoft China Limited Information Security Technology United Laboratory.” [11] Zhang Xinfeng, an assistant to Minister of Public Security, deputy head and director of National Golden Shield Project Leadership Group; Li Runsen, the head for the Golden Shield Project Leadership Group and Head of the Commission of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Public Security; officials from Bureau 11 and Science and Technology Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security; and Huang Cunyi, President of Microsoft Greater China attended the opening ceremony held on the same day. Yan Ming, the head of the Third Research Institute said, “The founding of the information Security United Laboratory indicates that the Third Research Institute has taken another step forward in the cooperation of information security research.

China's Golden Shield

In his presentation at the Fourth Plenary Conference of the Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Public Security, Li Runsen, the Director of Science and Technology Committee said, “The goals of the ‘Golden Shield Project’ include six major aspects. They are the construction of the information network, the construction of applied system, the construction of Internet standards, the construction of security system, the construction of management system and the construction of monitoring system for public network information security. In addition, the ‘Golden Shield Project’ has one more major task, which is, to construct the ‘national information network security monitoring center.’ Upon completion, the project would be independently managed and run by Bureau 11, which would be in charge of the work on information network security nationwide.

WOIPFG finds a direct link between western telecom corporations' complicity in the construction of Golden Shield and the imprisonment, torture - and in three cases - the death of Falun Gong practicioners:

According to incomplete statistics, WOIPFG has found that as of the end of April 2004, as a result of Internet-related activities, 108 Falun Gong practitioners have been incarcerated, illegally sent to labor camps, and tortured. Three identified Falun Gong practitioners arrested for Internet-related activities were tortured to death. Among the Falun Gong practitioners who have been arrested and persecuted as a result of Internet surveillance, those with advanced degrees constitute a relatively high percentage.

It has been confirmed that among these 108 practitioners, at least eight are university professors and teachers from Qinghua University, Southwest University, Southwest College of Petroleum, Shenyang University of University Industry, Beijing University of Chemical Engineering, and the China Academy of Science.

In addition, more than 20 other victims of Internet surveillance have bachelor’s degrees or more advanced degrees. More than 12 have master’s degrees and Ph.D. degrees. Around 90% of these 108 Falun Gong practitioners are under 40 years old. The majority had good and stable jobs such as bank employees, company professionals, and governmental staff. Some of them were college students. These statistics are provided to show that the people who are being persecuted, vilified, and tortured by China’s suppression of freedom of information and belief are exemplary and law-abiding citizens.

For more information, please take note of WOIPFG's latest report at www.upholdjustice.org. If you would like to supply WOIPFG with more information, please email it to media@upholdjustice.org.

Leave Comment | Trackbacks (6655) | Permanent Link | Cosmos