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Falun Gong Hacks Chinese Satellite
maetenloch writes: "Last week Falun Gong hackers in China were able to briefly take over the Sinosat-1 satellite and broadcast a banner for several minutes on all channels of China Central Television. This was apparently repeated several time on different channels on Sunday but so far the Chinese government has imposed a news blackout on the incident. However thanks to the Internet and the millions of witnesses, word has leaked out. Surprisingly, security on satellites can be very weak - often transponders are left on when not active and will continue to rebroadcast whatever is beamed at them. It's believed that Falun Gong used a 3 meter dish antenna mounted on a vehicle to overpower the government's uplink signal. This is not the only time that satellite signals have been hacked - there was the famous 'Captain Midnight' incident in 1986 and it's believed that Iraq has been attacking Kurdish satellite tv channels for several years. Hackers have even (discreetly) made use of the U.S. Navy's FleetSatCom satellites."
Whatever you think of Falun Gong vs. The Chinese Government, you've got to admit that this is a cool hack. The kind of thing you used to see in 'futuristicky' 1980's sci-fi movies.
Moments like this, along with the Anthrax outbreak last year, are beginning to define socio-political conflict in the 21st Century.
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
Hmmm. So they hacked the satelite, did they? They didn't just broadcast a stronger signal then from the ground then?
With the internet now readily available in Beijing, it's very difficult for the ChiComs to keep news like this from the general public. I seems to me at first glance that tricks like this could be a good way to undermine a particular government's confidence in it's "right" to rule. Similar stunts all put together over many years time (e.g. Boston Tea Party) have worked in the past...
Error: Success
No more zealot than a Jew trying to get the message out about persecution by the Nazis.
From what (little) I know about Falun Gong, hacking a satellite doesn't sound like something they'd do, since it's much more likely to be illegal than a sit-down type protest, and MUCH more likely to bring the jackboots down on them.
I'm inclined to think it was some other band of kiddiez that just wanted a good cover for their actions, like the "Hacked By Chinese" incidents from last year.
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Try "Civil Rights Activists", and before you rail at me for being some so-called militant leftist, why don't you actually research the recent government reaction to the Falung Gong movement in China.
I doubt they will be branded as terrorists, since no harm or threat was caused by this prank. However, the government will be in its rights to question every FG member, and maybe arrest a lot of them for participation in this deed.
But the more FG does what it just did, the clearer it becomes for the West that FG is indeed what Chinese government claimed all along - an army of militants, not a health club. The hack of a satellite falls into territory of sabotage and propaganda, something that health clubs don't do.
Are the Falun terrorists for "hijacking" Chinese TV? Or are they rebels in a quest against the evil empire?
Insofar as they aren't practicing any actual form of terror, I'm going to vote "not terrorist."
To the best of my knowledge, they aren't...
I think, at worst, you could call them an insurgent organization. But in my book, no terror = no terrorism - and popping "falun gong is good" on the telly signal for a few seconds is not "terror" by any definition I've ever heard.
I'd say that very few of the hacks that say "Hacked by Chinese" are actually by mainland Chinese....
.02
they may be taiwanese or falungong members... but probably not mainlanders. (Why to I think this? I've been in the Chinese tech industry for almost a decade now and I don't think that many mainlanders would see a point to hacking a site and leaving that message. They just don't have the motivation. Also, as I do follow the news both here (US) and ther (China), I'd say that some falungong or taiwan crazies have more motivation (making China look like the backwards police state that everyone seems to want to believe) than the mainlanders do)
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
By that defenition, the self bombing palestenians who are resisting the
israeli occupation are NOT terrorists but freedom fighters. Do I read you
correctly?
It is. See all the comments about the US's almost-elected leader, Dubya. In a time when the National Guard wasn't accepting any more applications, he managed to get accepted. He then supposedly didn't actually show up for most of it.
Any cite for this? Yes he served in the NG, lots of people did, but your claim here is completely unbacked by evidence.
And yes, he's pretty much thought of as a useless coward whose daddy bought him safety and runs him like a puppet now.
Oh. That must explain the 76% approval ratings. Face it, you want people to think like this, but the fact is that 0.76 * 285,000,000 Americans disagree with you completely.
I doubt this was a computer hack, just a RF hack.
I am assuming that the Chinese are using a simple analog transmission over the transponder without any CA (conditional access/security).
If you have a big enough dish and enough power, you could get the transponder to lock to your carrier and get rebroadcast. The picture would look crappy, but it can be done.
There's no great defense against it other than implementing a secured digital transmission system where the IRDs (integrated receiver/demodualtors) do not have analog reception capability.
All the Falun Gong needed was an Earth Station anywhere in Asia that could see the bird and was willing to transmit. I doubt it was done from inside China. They'd know where all the 5+ meter dishes are in China and who was working them.
Information warfare of this type has a bit of a financial barrier to overcome to engage in, but once on the offensive, it is quite tough to defend against. The Soviet Union and Cuba were unable to stop the US radio and TV propaganda broadcasts throughout the cold war, no matter how much they spent.
nuclear iraq bioweapon encryption cocaine korea terrorist
USA PATRIOT defines domestic terrorism as activities that attempt "to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion".
Dictionary.com defines "coerce" thus: By that definition, Falun Gong are terrorists. So are all of us that marched on federal buildings attempting to use "pressure" to "compel" the DOJ to free Dmitry. Which serves as a good example of one of the many things that are wrong with USA PATRIOT.
Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the terrorist party?
ehintz
I don't disagree with your points. However, I have come to the conclusion that there are really two kinds of freedom.
The first kind of freedom is what we have in the USA. It is the freedom of the majority to be able to change things when the majority is dissatisfied. The American colonies didn't have that under british rule.
The second kind of freedom is personal freedom which we no longer have (or maybe never really had) in the USA. This is the freedom to do whatever I want as long as it hurts no one. For example, prostitution hurts no one, but is illegal in the USA except in rural nevada. Gambling used to be illegal most places (because it was morally wrong), then the majority of americans decided it was morally okay and now we have it just about everywhere. The war on drugs is really a war against a minority of US citizens and has more in comon with a "war on high prices" than a real war.
Freedom of religion? You have the freedom to practice some religions, but not others. For example, if you are a mormon and part of your religion involves polygamy, you are forbidden from practicing it. Why? Only because the majority of americans are against it for no reason that is obvious to me.
Alcohol used to be illegal because it was "morally wrong". Now it is okay. (I guess God changed his mind.)
Slavery used to be legal. Jim Crow used to be legal. Jim Crow only changed because the majority changed their minds. Slavery was only outlawed because the civil war was going on so the south didn't get to vote on it.
If you are an atheist, you are basically demonized by the majority and by the current government. I can't turn around without some bozo telling me about Jesus. (Guess what, I have heard your stupid ideas already - get a clue.)
There was a time when there was "voluntary" prayer in school. My father was severely beaten regularly after school for not participating in this "voluntary" prayer.
That's all Christians are - a gang of thugs who will use whatever violent, branwashing techniques they can to further their idiotic ideas.
I would be for respecting their freedom if they would respect mine, but they won't and they never will. That's why we must use any means necessary to fight christianity - the enemy of thinking people.
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