Slashdot Mirror
China Releases Own WLAN Security Standard
Lownewulf writes "This NetworkWorldFusion article describes the release of the GB15629.11-2003 wireless networking standard in China, a wireless standard similar to 802.11, but with better security. The IEEE is worried that this may lead to the need to support two different standards in wireless networking hardware." ziggyboy adds a link to CNET's article, noting that
"all wireless devices sold in China are required to comply to this standard from December 1."
I disagree with the assertion of the poster that the Chineese standard has better security. For starters it does not use AES (the new advanced encryption standard) and the article does not specify what (if any) encryption protocol the Chineese standard uses. What this seems to me to be is an attempt to give the Chineese government a larger voice in the implementation of new networking standards. If hardware vendors and the IEEE roll over on this one the next thing you will see out of China (and other like minded countries who will follow suit) are the emergence of protocols which make it easier to censor and control content on the web. The market pressure to comply with this standard will be huge however. Given the size and growth of the Chineese market the financial rewards for early adopters will be great not to mention the potential to establish a major vendor footprint in an emerging market.
a wireless standard similar to 802.11, but with better security
If it has better security why isn't it a worldwide standard?
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
No, not at all.
The US has all of the above (or rather, US *Corporations* do)... I personally think that for this power to be shared among countries is good - too much one way is bad.
I'm not sure I trust US corporations to 'do the right thing' any more than I trust the Chinese government.
David
China is likely to become the world's largest economy in the not so distant future. The technical community there _will_ want to make their mark on important standards in IT. The real way around this for the United States and the EU is to cultivate technical excellence among their own citizens-something the current corrupt governments and corporate elites are hesitant to do.
I still don't understand why people get so wrapped up on encryption at the AP level. Wired switches and routers don't encrypt data. That is reserved for firewall/vpn devices which makes sense because the overhead associated (beyond security concerns) doesn't make sense to burden your transport mechanism.
What do people want encrypted? Their credit card numbers? Encryption of sensitive information like CC#'s is (should) be handled by SSL where the data is encrypted BEFORE it leaves the pc. No wireless encryption needed. Their e-mail? If they are sending that sensitive of information, they probably shouldn't use standard e-mail in the first place. They should encrypt a document and then e-mail it or encrypt the e-mail itself.
I am still yet to find a situation where encrypted wireless signals make sense for home or even business situations. If it is a business that is in need of securing their communications, they should use VPN's anyway.
I think it makes more sense for an additional independent circuitry to be installed on AP's that does VPN's and build into wireless cards a VPN client or include VPN software. Hell, even make an externally pluggable device that attaches to an AP so that it can be upgraded as future VPN's get stronger in encryption.
Leave AP's to do what the do best--serve wireless clients.
We've never heard of that before (like 802.11a, not compatible with 802.11b, and the lack of standardisation in bluetooth devices)
That being said, I don't think any US corporations are going to start executing competitors and charge their families for the cost of the bullet.
They're not supposed to be able to profit or spin off of the freeworld's innovation. What was the UN thinking?
I thought the whole point of building a government the right way was so that one day you could reap technelogical benefits for the greater good. But now, after we've made the cake, China gets to eat it too. Something is dreadfully wrong when a country like China is given a go-card to get 50 years of technology for nothing and continue in its old ways.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
Coincidentally, the majority of members of the WI-FI Alliance are American companies, so I would be skeptical to pass this off as nothing more than a `shit China is gonna kill us with their low manufacturing costs' response. If the security is supposedly better as the post states, than why not verify this, and migrate to it. Wouldn't that make more sense than basically stating "you're security is good! but it's not a standard so we don't want it"
MoFscker
The IEEE is worried that this may lead to the need to support two different standards in wireless networking hardware.
...or any other 'standards' for that matter.
MHO: I do not think the IEEE has anything to worry about. For all I care, any Government can release their own home grown networking stack/protocol standard in regards to IEEE's 802.3
Will people accept this new standard? Who will manufactures trust: One Government/Country, or a respected body encompassing more than 380,000 individual members in 150 countries..promoting consensus-based standards?
As a consumer, which would you choose/trust?
Stop bashing China people... How many times have some American company came out with their own standard that's different from IEEE's? TOO MANY TIMES! A new standard from China is just another drop of water in an ocean full of non compatible standards......
Has been dead a long time, so stop beating it. 802.11b is not a standard, Linksys has their own proprietary 22mb scheme. 802.11g uhh Dlink/Linksys etc all have their "own" 72+ mb g network products. Even the standards have been bastardized with (I'm guessing) compression layers. WEP is horrible, there are ways to get around it (that require nearly as much bitspace overhead per/packet) ssh, openvpn, winblows vpn, ipsec etc etc.
So what if china wants their own wireless standard, there are so damn many already, one more quasi-secure wireless network isn't going to be revolutionary.
My guess is that this has to do more with patents than with anything else. China has been consistent in their drive to force the industry towards products that they can manufacture without having to pay patent licensing. Since the Chinese probably don't have much wireless equipment already installed, they don't really care about existing standards based on someone else's patents. They would much rather use their tremendous market power to drive industries towards commoditization.
In short, the relative security of 802.11[bg] is a red herring. They don't give a crap about that, and they won't change their mind if the security in their standard gets busted tomorrow.
The Chinese plan is to force current wireless manufacturers to be compatible with the Chinese standard, and then come out with their own chips that implement the Chinese standard. They can then sell these new chips without paying any patent licensing fees and use their inexpensive labor to undercut the foreign products.
Of course, if it means lower prices for wireless products I am all for it. Heck, I would gladly buy products that only supported the Chinese standard if it worked and was less expensive than the current standards.
Example: the NTSC, PAL, SECAM, MESECAM, etc standards for broadcast TV. Why do we have so many of them?
Another example: HDTV (US picked 8-VSB, Japan picked COFDM).
China has now realised that it is heavy enough (in "Gorilla" terms) that it is beginning to throw its weight around. A recent example was the new DVD format, EVD
The current standard security scheme in wireless device is weak enough that the Chinese governement has no need to supply a less secure protocol.
Oh, for those trolls who might want to respond, "Yeah, but that was a hundred years ago..." might do well to read this link. Here's a short excerpt;
So governments are NOT the only organization that oppresses people!Debunking the "59 Deceits"
Sounds like the Chinese government are learning from the experts. Take a standard. Modify it a bit. Use your monopoly (whether commercial or state) to make everyone use your version. The US justice system has made it clear it is okay to behave this way so why shouldn't the rest of the world?
The IEEE is worried that this may lead to the need to support two different standards in wireless networking hardware."
That concern is entirely unjustified: 802.11 currently doesn't have any meaningful security. So, there won't be "two different standards", there will be just one: the Chinese one. Let's hope it catches on.
The IEEE should bow its head in shame--802.11's WEP was a complete fiasco and an embarrassment to engineering profession.
Think about it
...). While in the USA this isn't such a big problem (yet), it might be a bigger on in China where bandwidth isn't as cheap nor plentiful.
In the USA, having bucket loads of bandwidth is easy and cheap. However I suppose that isn't the case in China.
Wifi makes it real easy for one to steal another's bandwidth. (Especially with WEP
While China is a communist gov't that doesn't care for freedom of speeh blah blah blah blah. It does need to look out for its own people. I for one see this only has a preemptive measure against what might be a serious problem in the future (especially for China's high population density).
Sunny Dubey
...it's because you can't do anything right...even when you behave exactly like a real capitalist. Do you realize how brain-washed some of you are about china? You even live in a sociaty with free press :(
Because TV was invented before the computer chip. Back in the dark mists of time you needed a way to get a clock cycle for your video signal. The easiest way to do this was to use the cycles in your AC mains power. In the US that is 60Hz while in Europe 50Hz was used, leading to two different framerate standards (NTSC is not 30 fps because of a hack performed when color was added to the broadcast signal.) PAL was developed after NTSC and fixed a few problems with the earlier standard, and Brazil created a PAL variant (M-PAL) that worked with a 60 Hz clock signal from the mains power.
SECAM was closer to the example being set here with the China wireless standard, it was created to be different for the sake of being different (we are French so our standard must be different, vive la difference...) as a way to help the French electronics industry of the time. Of course it was then chosen as the Soviet-block standard and then modified for the Middle East market into MESECAM.
It is all too wierd for words, but there was a method to the madness...