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China Will Monitor, Censor SMS Messages
maggeth writes "Early reports on the AP (via Yahoo) indicate that China will begin monitoring and censoring SMS communications in real time. China's 'great firewall' is infamous, but the move to censoring SMS has been slow due to technological roadblocks. Algorithms are used to identify key words and combinations of words that might be associated with 'political rumors and "reactionary remarks,"' and the system automatically notifies local police. Something to think about on your Fourth of July weekend!" Reader ackthpt adds links to coverage at the BBC and The Register, asking "What next, a massive government database system to track every message and contacts between people?"
This story provides an intriguing corollary to what is happening in the US. It's a sober reminder of what the end result can be when Big Brother gets too much power over technological lines of communication and the ordinary lives of citizens.
I'm sad to say that I have noticed a disturbing gravitation towards this kind of draconian system by our government who has somehow convinced the majority of the populace that they should be granted whatever monitoring rights they want because we need them to protect us from terrorists. Personally, I could give jack sh*t about terrorists on a minute by minute basis throughout most of my day. I feel much safer keeping certain parts of my life private and away from the Washington watchdogs.
The reality of the situation is that if we willingly give up all rights to privacy something like this type of system is not going to be far away, though few see it.
- the CIA used to be prevented from spying on US citizens, not the NSA.
- Patriot act I and II (which was quietly approved on the day that we announced the "capture" of Sadaam) stripped all that pretense away. Any group is allowed to spy on us, with any group being (NSA, CIA, Fatherland Defense, and DOJ).
Are we any different than China? Yes we are. We have the ability to auto spy on most aspects of our life. That allows the feds to focus on the otherI don't think the US goverment really needs appreciation.
While one is worse than the other, that still doesn't mean that both aren't undesirable, infringing or wrong.
I think the US government should be rightfully criticized for a level of surveilence that is likely illegal, or was highly illegal before the PATRIOT was enacted.
The existence of MATRIX and ECHELON aren't exactly winning my confidence in the US government. The kind of things that they fail to cover up completely makes me wonder what they did manage to cover up, just didn't get any people with enough guts to be whistle blowers?
For a government that is supposed to be about checks and balances, neither seem to be used much.
Dont take your party hats out and celebrate just yet. The US has an even bigger system that spies on just any communication. Nothing stops Bush or anyone in charge from using it in political games since its all under a [Top Secret] stamp. The new antiterror laws that lets the govt detain someone indefinitly without telling anyone is also a great tool to stay in power.
The US is just as bad as China but its more polished on the outside. The difference is that china is open about what they do.
HTTP/1.1 400
Do you think you any ordinary American is going to change the Patriot act by writing letters or running for any office short of Senator or President which requires million of dollars to ... buy ... errr ... win.
A concerted letter writing campaign is more likely to get you additional scrutiny from the PATRIOT act.
If you try to run for office based on this platform you are going to be branded unPATRIOTic. Why do you think they picked that name, to discourage anyone from criticizing it. You will be painted as either soft on terrorists if not one yourself and I assure you those kinds of charges play very well with at least half of America's less than smart voters.
If you look at Kerry he was stumping against the Patriot Act only in the Democratic primaries which is where most of the American against the Patriot act are, excepting a few true conservatives, like me, that hate it too along with all big government. In the general election I doubt Kerry will mention it, and if he is elected he probably wont support doing anything about it, except fine tuning it which will probably end making it worse, not better. He is a former prosecutor and probably has a fond spot in his heart for tools that make prosecuting people easier.
I'll probably get slammed for it but multinational execs probably love China's repression of its people and America's repression of its own. Most corporations deep down really want quiet subservient people who go to work every day, keep secrets, keep their mouth shut, don't complain and don't organize to get better wages and benefits. Multinational execs in China might get upset with China's rules if they interfere with their SMS traffic but I wager China is being selective and not putting this filtering on foreign executives phones.
@de_machina