Technology Review
Poorly protected files reveal a massive surveillance scheme.
That Chinese Internet companies censor communications is well known, but a new report from a Canadian computer scientist reveals a new front in their efforts to monitor users online. The study shows that users of TOM-Skype, a Chinese voice and chat service that is compatible with the popular Internet phone system Skype, have been subject to extensive surveillance. To make matters worse, the records of their chat conversations, as well as detailed personal information, were stored insecurely on the Web.
Skype has previously acknowledged that its Chinese partner, TOM Online, blocks chat messages containing certain politically sensitive keywords. The new findings, however, reveal a level of surveillance that goes far beyond this.
Nart Villeneuve, a research fellow at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, uncovered the surveillance scheme by examining the behavior of the TOM-Skype client application. He used an application called Wireshark, which analyzes traffic sent over a computer network, to see what happens when different words are sent via chat using the software. Villeneuve discovered that an encrypted message was automatically sent by the client over the Internet when some words were entered. Following this encrypted packet across the Net, Villeneuve uncovered a directory of files on an open Web server. Not only was the directory publicly accessible, but the data within it could be unlocked using a password found in the same folder. Within these files were more than a million chat messages dating from August and September 2008.
Villeneuve used machine translation to convert the files he found from Chinese into English, and he analyzed the contents to determine likely trigger words. The list he came up with includes obscenities and politically sensitive words and phrases such as "Falun Gong," "democracy," and "Tibet." But Villeneuve also found evidence that completely innocuous messages--one, for example, contained nothing more than a smiley face--were logged. This suggests that certain users were targeted for monitoring, he says.
Attackers made sophisticated use of social media sites to steal Indian government data.
U.S.-based search engines are choosing what they censor in China and could be blocking more than they have to.
China is a fascist country, not really communist.
Well, China is communist in its official name, but it possibly has more fascist traits than communist ones.
China promotes hypernationalism, while true communist ideology is very internationalist in character. The psychotic nationalism promoted today in China harkens back to the way Germany was under the Nazis. Everything has to be sacrificed to protect national pride.
There is constant obsession with "national security", and anyone and anytime can be charged under very vague rules. You criticize the government, and you become a national security threat...
Even the word "democracy" is censored and filtered as undesirable...what more can we say?
At least true communists used to allow the use of such concepts, although they always twisted its meaning, and gutted it empty. The Nazis did not like democracy. "Democracy" was openly declared a dirty and suspect concept under Hitler...much like in China today.
In communism the economy is state owned, while in fascism it is privately owned but subservient to the political monopoly...as in China.
A communist country tries to provide a wide social safety net, in spite of being poor (see Cuba). But in China the safety net is nearly non-existent anymore. Chinese people pay out of pocket for almost every social service - and they pay even more than the "capitalist" USA. Their sky high savings rate is due to the fact that people need the money for such expenses. Chinese people cannot rely on the state for their retirement or for their medical expenses. If they do, they will die in the slums.
Yeah, China the "communist"...
And why do we do business there and are still increasing? Why do we owe them so much money? The TOM-Skype tool is one of many we have yet to analyze and determine if we're being comrpomsed. How about email, LAn and WAN links and Landline Telephone or Cellular?
I'm sure they know what time of day Obama, Biden or McCain take a dump by now...or what days Ms. Palin will become cranky!
Be paranoid! Be REALLY paranoid!
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rocketscience
7 Comments
Communism
The PRC is starting the new cold war.
They are poisoning the Free World with toxic products in all our Consumable and Health, Beauty Aids products which would include putting automotive anti-freeze in toothpaste and poisoning milk and chocolate that children love.
They are trying to steal American technology and innovation.
The PRC is a perfect example of what American citizens are against:
Democracy and Freedom of thought, ideas and open criticism of government and non-violent demonstrations against public policy.
It seems that the top PRC are for capitalism, however, they will pollute and destroy their countryside to make the most money for their all powerful inner circle only. And when they have destroyed the farmlands and have enslaved all the common citizens in work farms then they will take off in their expensive planes and yachts to private islands and resorts after they have raped and exploited the "commune" they propagated that they would protect them from the greedy Democratic counties.
PRC = money lovers who rule the starving and overworked masses who will be beaten down for complaining about brutal conditions.
Reply
lasertekk
146 Comments
Re: Communism
Ah, just in time. From the people who gave us the Soviet Cold war, then the little dirty wars in Central American, then the war on drugs, followed by the war on terrorism. Since that last one was getting old, the military-industrial welfare block now needs the Chinese Cold War to continue absorbing our tax dollars. It never ends, every generation needs an enemy.
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aymeric
30 Comments
Re: Communism
lasertek...I am confused. While I admit that the previous post is a bit of a rant I am not sure what you are saying? Do you actually condone the acts of the PRC? Do you condone the poisoning of milk that went on for months with the knowledge of high ranking official? Do you condone the spying on free speech...you must be a card carrying republican then. OR do you only protest when teh america gov. is spying on known terrorists, or when legitimate and legal products get sued by letigious lawyers for no other reasons than to make money.
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scrutonizer
2 Comments
Re: Communism
Gosh, it sounds a bit like working for a large American company. Could the PRC be the ultimate expression of corporate rule?
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