China Plans Surveillance System for Internet Cafes

nasty writes "According to Interfax China, China will install a special surveillance system in order to prevent 'unhealthy information and websites'. All internet cafes in China will have installed the new system by the end of 2004. This according to China's Ministry of Culture (MOC). The system requires the customers personal information, such as name, age, and their national citizen identification number, before they are allowed to log onto the Internet." Reader Dr.Hair submits another blurb about the system.

Comments

Eventual failure

[rbanzai]

No matter what they try to do they will eventually fail to contain the information they are frightened of.

Re:Eventual failure

[trentblase]

Well they can just filter on keywords so no unencrypted proxy will work. Something using SSL, however.... If they have control over the machines (which they do) they can disable SSL in the browsers. You can't do an SSH tunnel cause you don't have any privelages on the computer. And if you're smart enough to bypass any of that, you probably already know what they're trying to hide from you.

Re:Eventual failure

[ninti]

I set up an encrypted proxy for my father who is working in U.A.E., so he could get around their national firewall. After he used it once, they found it and banned my IP in less than a day. The belief that no censorship can work on the Internet is a common one here, but basically a wrong one.

Re:Eventual failure

[YankeeInExile]

I am somewhat amazed to see how little /. readers can full comprehend the world outside of first world, mostly-free countries

This should be a wake-up call to the "chilling effect" of government intervention. It is not necessary to have a 100% effective technological solution against the dissemination of "unhealthy" information.

As long as they can keep on top of the "troublemakers" when they are few and far between, and make them "disappear", the deterrent effect will be strong enough to keep others from even trying to evade their control.

The Chinese government is not the RIAA. They don't mail you a friendly summons to a lawsuit. They drag you out in the dead of night for "re-education" or a date with a firing squad.

Human Rights / Trade Agreements

[normal_guy]

I'm stumped as to why we're so eager to deregulate trade with China when such basic human rights as "Freedom to Worship" and "Freedom of Speech" are suppressed.

Perhaps an anonymous proxy could be set up and funded by the US, as it has in Iran.

Re:Human Rights / Trade Agreements

[LordKazan]

Are you kidding? The bush administration is completely against BOTH of those freedoms. Bush and all his chronies are Neoconservatives - AKA the Christian Right (Christian Taliban).

It is clear through his actions, and the actions of his cabinant, and party - that they are trying to push christianity on everyone in this country. Furthermore the attitude of "You're a traitor if you don't agree with Bush" that Schrubya is pushing is evidence of the fact that they don't respect Freedom of Speech.

These are but two of the hundreds of violations the bush administration has commited/would like to commit.

One simple question:

[Henrik S. Hansen]

As most of us know, this is not an incident unique to China. Increasing surveillance is happening on a global scale. And most people seem not to care, which is actually the most scary part.

How long until we get telescreens?

Impersonation

[mariox19]

Name, age, and national ID number?! Unless they have some kind of picture ID with a magnetic strip on the back which has to be inserted into a computer, after the photo has been checked by an official, how are they going to keep people who have somehow gotten hold of someone else's name, age, and ID number, from using that information when they log on?

Pity the poor bastard who has to explain to the chinese authorities that it wasn't he who was reading Slashdot at the local cafe, but an impostor.

If only.

[kabocox]

Customers personal information, such as name, age, and their national citizen identification number, before they are allowed to log onto the Internet.

If only, we could have that here. Hold on. I have to pay for internet access. They usually want my name and some other identifying infomation such as address. I don't tend to use internet cafes though. I'm speaking of home internet. Why shouldn't they be required to write their name, age, and drivers license number here? What if the FBI came knocking on the door with printouts and said we know the guy that was here 2 nights ago at this IP and computer name is planning a bombing we need all the info. you have on him, now! It would be useful if you could provide a Name and Address.

I don't think that it should be required myself. I do believe that it will be required in libraries to "prevent minors" from viewing "adult content."

If Ashcroft thinks along those lines, a regulation here or there in licensing could bring it about with out any troublesome laws.

Remember, you only have to think around those pesky laws if you don't argee with them.

Re:Having lived there.

[aussersterne]

My Chinese father has lived in the west for decades; this hasn't changed his opinions about authority and respect. I can attest to the fact that Chinese culture is a patriarchal culture of not questioning.

There are clear lines of authority in Chinese culture, and to attempt to question these is to dishonor not your family (perhaps by extension), not your nation, but yourself.

There is nothing more shameful in Chinese culture than questioning the wisdom of elders. Elders are not only generational (i.e. grandfather -> father -> son) but also hierarchical (national government -> local government -> individual). To question authority is to show that you have no regard for your family, your citizenship, your fellow man... it is to show, in some sense, that you are a kind of sociopath.

Even in the west, even disagreeing with government policies in democratic nations, my father feels that it is embarrassing and dishonorable to complain too loudly about what government does, because government is, after all, government--the embodiment of the collective. Activism, for him, is certainly sociopathic behavior of the most base kind, disrespectful to fellow citizens.

Yes which is why the Chinese don't commit crimes.

[Adolph_Hitler]

We all know that China has one of the worlds lowest crime rates. So perhaps they do respect authority.

This is good and this is bad, its good because there's less wars, less terrorism, less crime. It's bad because there's less freedom.

Overall though the USA is no better, people at work never question authority. Everyone is anti government pro Boss, we kiss our bosses ass here and never question the word of the great boss at our job.

So in a way, the USA in the corporate world is no better when it comes to authority than China. I've never been pro authority, which is why I hated school and I can't stand the corporate world.

But there generally are two kinds of people, the ones who accept authority and the ones who can't. Generally the people who can't have a much harder time than the people who can, are more likely to drop out, or end up in prison.

It's not a cultural thing, its human nature for some people to respect authority and others not. In China however rebelling isn't an option because deviance is an American ideal. The rebels in China are quickly killed. Rebels in the USA are just locked in jail and then released after a while.

If the Black Panthers were hung, shot and murdered on national TV live, instead of just locked in jail people would think twice about challenging the government.

Perhaps this is why the Waco incident was on live TV.