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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?"
I'm almost tired of hearing stories about this sort of thing. Is it an Amercian "we are better" additude or what? Check out the policy that AT&T has regarding SMS, turns out they log 3 months worth ... ala, the Amercians monitor it too.
However, because its written in black and white in the agreement it's no news... ahh yahh..
Wireless Security Cameras
Gamblers Forum
If you make a call that the NSA has processed your conversation. The only difference is the "in the U.S. we protect personal freedoms", but don't worry, the Bush administration is working hard to remove that distinction.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
Good thing programs like Trillian allow encryption of instant messages, largely defeating such a system (not only do the messages need to be scanned, but cracked and then scanned)
... it's the Chinese. Their government just serves as a reminder of how far we in America have yet to fall. Even though our rights have been eroded significantly, we'll always have China to remind us that the good old USA still remains the land of the free.
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
"What next, a massive government database system to track every message and contacts between people?"
Like this, or maybe this, or this
I don't know if the Chinese have a system like this yet, but we already have Echelon, so were set.
(For those of you to lazy to read all the articles, Echelon is a global communications spy network run by the NSA (with cooperation, in the form of listening posts, from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. It gives them the capability to listen to and monitor any broadcast transmission on the planet.)
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thraktuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
d1Z NU c3N50R5h1P 5uX.
D G0v3RNm3n7 5ux. m40 5UX.
D 0NL3 7ru7h 1Z PH4Lun D4F4.
l37Z g0 8uRN 0Ur53lV3z n pr07357.
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.
Though the Chinese Government now trying to maintain such control over it's population is fighting a losing battle. Control WAS just about possible before the prolification of IT for the masses, but now the Chinese Government is trying to stop the tide. There is NO WAY to keep up such control on modern communications. Even with auto-text-pattern matches and auto-calling-of-the-local-police, all the participants need to do is use code words!
I think we can expect the Chinese Government, in the next couple of years, in effect throw in the towell and permit uncensored communication to occur. If they do not the populus will have found ways round it anyway. Then what - who knows... I hope not another Tiananmen Square.
Web Sig: Eddy Currents
I live in Shanghai for almost a year now, and I have never seen anyone showing any ID card when buying or recharging a mobile phone card.
Most people use a prepaid card that they recharge in 30, 50 and 100 Yuan quantities.
It works quite well and I have been using such a quasi anonymous card for almost the whole time.
How would the government track down such numbers to names? Maybe through correlation of SMS communication?
yeah there are im clients that can be used for semi-secure conversations, like trillian and gaim, but the fact is that if someone with resources (like china) wants to break the code, then the code will get broken, its just that simple unfortunately, although it may take a while to do, with todays most modern and highpowered computers, you could easily crack a message perhaps even within a day. But the fact of the matter is that noone really cares, we have secure email, but almost noone actually bothers to encrypt their email do they? People allow emails with sensitive information to fly across the net, unencrpyted, and this happens all the time, my estimate is that at least 3/4 of all computer users dont know what encryption is past a rudimentary concept, and 9/10 of the remainder don't bother to actually use encryption although they know about it... just my two cents
I cannot leave the patriot act.
No differents as far as I'm concerned
Wireless Cameras
Gamblers Forum
Our sales guys are known to send SMS messages about "got [big client]" and similar.
If someone can listen in to such communicatios, there's a big opportunity for really hard to detect illegal stock-market trading with insider information they pick up from sales people in other companies.
The US already collects China's SMS data. It's called Echelon--maybe the US could just sell access to it's database to the Chinese?
All your SMS are belong to U.S.
- 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'm sure, almost POSITIVE that Echelon reads SMS messages in the US. They don't censor them, but I'm sure if you're up to something they notify authorities. How else will they achieve the New American Century? ... yes you know.
... yes we know.
I'm sure they have tons of backup plans. Including
Sharks with freakin
*DrugCheese rants*
th3r3 r s3v3ral way to 3vad3 filt3rs bas3d 0n w0rds, 3v3n with0ut using crypt0graphy
atm a large proportion of the population of China are really benefiting from its governments rule.
'A Large proportion of the population' also benefited from segregation.... Free societies are judged by how well they protect the rights of the individual.... not how many they sacrifice 'for the greater good'
I don't think you would need anything as sophisticated as encryption to defeat this. I assume that encryption would be banned anyway if it worked (sounds a bit familiar...)
A low tech solution is just to use code phrases - SMS people seem to use enough of those already. Won't fool a human but it'll get past the automatic filters. A funny example was the use of the number 9 on restaurant signs which sounds like "dog" in Cantonese to advertise that delicacy while avoiding the wrath of the British. Since people in China already know that their e-mail and chat rooms are monitored I assume that they are already doing things like this.
The government could of course, adjust their filters from time to time as they learn of these things but my guess is that the clueless party official who suggested this is happy that it has been implemented and that it looks like they are in control and doing something. Whether it works or not is not really that important.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/03/text_punk/
And I'm sure it happens in the USA as well.
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
Today one can use some Java app that runs on a Java-enabled phone. This way at least you know what you are running. But a generic solution would need to be built into all the phones, and that can't happen overnight.
It's better to have some idea when you're being watched, if you live in a police state. If in a police state you're being watched and /not/ censored, you never really know if /you're/ the one being watched. If your messages start getting censored, well it would be obvious.
In some ways, China has a more honest approach with their barbarism than the US. China is at least very upfront about their intentions. They are watching and you may go into a gulag. It's pretty clear. In the US, you are being watched and instead of being clear coherent about it, they always try to mindfuck you. "For your safety. For the Homeland."
If there was ever a word that would come from a sociopath, it would be the word "Homeland". That is not a common word in the American lexicon.Words like this don't appear out of the blue. Lot of thought went into that. A lot of thought about thinking. Kind of like how Pavlov thought about his dogs.
All this bold and blatent meddling with the American psyche is starting to scare me. Such disrespect and careless tampering sends a message loud and clear. "We own you." And it's true. Americans, and most people around the world are owned property in so many subtle ways, that once you add them all together, there is no room left over for anyone (who desired it) to be free. Let's let debt be one of the less subtle methods to allowing yourself to become property. Consider cultures immense pressure to encourage debt for everyone. Consider what is happening to culture itself. No longer a free and natural exchange of information between human beings but a top down force-feeding of this sick "television culture" we have. You are composed of the information you allow yourself to be exposed to.
You fools will protect your computer with a firewall but when it comes to your own brain you feel invincible and plop down on the couch for hours on end and let an entire universe of sociopaths(a direct metaphor for marketing) have their way in any way they want with your own brain.
This is a sad and critical time in human history. I wonder what's going to become of us? Keep an eye on the television brain-washed crowd. I suspect whatever strange crap happens, they're gonna get it first. Think about it. You might consider life as some 70 odd years of crossing busy intersections. If you aren't paying attention the more subtle trucks will run over you first, followed by whatever else crosses your path when you're not looking.
What did your television tell you do do in the days shortly before the big internet/stocks crash. your television told you to buy. *splat*
This is common sense. Pull your heads out of your asses. Thanks.
If the leash is removed right now and the Party dissolved, only the worst types of people - the most despicable arch-villains, mobsters, aspiring politicians - will be on top, simply because they know how to wield power. It would be awfully reckless to give them the power. China will be torn into pieces, and every one will have The Bomb.
I just ended a vacation in China, and pre-paid SIM cards could be obtained over the counter at the local supermarket with no ID check or anything. Then you could recharge it with other cards similarly bought over the counter. So how's one supposed to control anything when you don't know who's sending and to whom?
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
In Australia during the Tampa "crisis" (when four hundred odd refugees were rescued by the contaainer ship Tampa Bay), the Defence Signals Directorate intercepted phone conversations between the Maritime Union of Australia and the Tampa, and passed on transcripts of the conversations to the government.
They were caught that time, but it's probable that they're routinely scanning both internal and overseas (the Tampa is Norwegian) conversations. The tapping was judged to be illegal, but no prosecutions occurred, and nothing has been changed to prevent a repetition.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
I was going to mod a lot of posts down due to stupid conspiracy theories, but I didn't see any posts with this point in mind.
(1) We have the second amendment. The chinese don't. If the government gets out of hand, we always have the upper hand. Mao said it best: Government comes from the point of a gun.
Don't like Bush? You have three options: (a) vote for the other guy, and do everything you can to get him elected, (b) pick up your rifle and follow the example of our founding fathers, pledging their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in open rebellion, or (c) shut up and sit down, coward.
(2) We have a seperate judiciary, for the most part. Once appointed, a judge is pretty much left alone. This leads to some corruption, but the net effect is that President Bush can't order the judiciary what to do. Chinese don't have this.
Before you get your panties in a bundle over Gitmo, notice that Pres. Bush is bringing them into the homeland to prepare for arraignment and trial because Supreme Court said so. Who really controls the US? It sure ain't Bush.
(3) Patriot act gives the police the same rights that they have for prosecuting drug crimes and organized crime but now for terrorism. I certainly wish we didn't have the Patriot act, but what are the alternatives? Citizen vigilance, or martial law. That's about it. How many terrorists have you caught today? Didn't think so.
Citizens (that means YOU, unless you are a cop) have more rights to investigate crime and build cases against criminals than police do. Don't think so? Ask a bounty hunter about what he is able to do. Hint: Breaking and entering a felons home is not a crime for a bounty hunter. No warrant needed, either. Go ahead and arrest anyone you find in the house, and tie them up if need be. Bring them all downtown to get booked.
(4) The United States is the BEST and the LAST defense agaisnt tyranny. Make no joke about it, in no other country do you have as many rights that are protected by government as you do here. Is it perfect? Of course not. Rather than complain, get off your butt and do something about it.
If you really think the US is stinkier than other countries, then you are more than welcome to leave and rescind your citizenship. No one is keeping you here, unlike China.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
According to Xinhua, over 220 billion text messages were sent in China in 2003, making up some 55 percent of the world's text messages.
A dream is good. A plan is better.
Some guy gets picked up by Special Branch for sharing Clash lyrics by SMS.
I imagine this happens to most SMS messages in Europe. (Echelon conspiracies, yada yada) The US may have a less joined-up Big Brother, but that will probably have more to do with the general lack of integration of their mobile network.
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
Echelon = american
Carnivore = american
they do not censor, they just infiltrate your peace group or get you arrested for speaking against Bush (yes this is a reference to scenes of Fahrenheit 911).
It's easier to be shocked by other nation than our own but to critisize China for openly doing what the US are doing hypocriticaly (we all know it but still pretend it's just "stories") is disturbing to the least, it's like saying that removing people right is ok as long as you don't tell them which and you keep it a "secret".
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
"we'll always have China to remind us that the good old USA still remains the land of the free."
Excepting the U.S. is becoming completely dependent on China for just about everything. Imagine if they shut off their imports how empty the shelves will be in your local stores, especially WalMart.
Today the U.S. might weather it but at the rate multinational corporations are rushing to move everything to China the U.S. will be totally at its mercy in a few years. Is America a sovereign nation and bastion of freedom when all its jobs are in China and all its dollars go to China and China can destroy the U.S. by stopping all the container ships from leaving its ports.
Its my conjecture China a decade or two ago deduced it couldn't beat the U.S. idealogically or militarily so its opting to beat the U.S. by exploiting its greatest weakness, its greed, and beat the U.S. economically.
They manipulate their currency to make China a great place for foreigners to invest and there good ridiculously cheap on foreign markets. They have a huge, subservient, labor pool which will be unlikely to ever see pressure for higher wages. They dangle that in front of greedy American execs who don't think past the end of the quarter and the U.S. guts its own economy and moves all its capital and intellectual property to China. One day the U.S. wakes up and realizes that the trade deficits have destroyed it, it doesn't make anything any more and China will has taken control of all the capital and IP. Some of the multinationals, and there execs, might survive and make a killing, but America's as a country is finished.
Last week figures came out on foreign investment in various countries. The U.S. was passed for the first time in recent history by China and it was by a lot. China had $50 billion in foreign investment versus $40 billion in the U.S.
@de_machina
1.the CIA used to be prevented from spying on US citizens, not the NSA.
...), potential legal issues if their information is used in a criminal investigation , and to preempt inter-departmental turf wars by clearly defining the boundaries.
2.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).
There's plenty of misbehavior to point at on both sides. But let's understand it.
From at least the mid '70s to about the mid '90s (as far as us outside the "security community" wall can tell) the breakdown was this:
- FBI was responsible for investigations involving interstate lawbreaking, kidnapping (assumed to involve intestate flight), and domestic security (including investigating spy rings and conducting security clearance investigations). Their operations often lead to prosecutions and are intermittently subjected to court scrutiny and on-the-record congressional investigation. So they must meet strong constitutional tests, or risk losing cases, injunctions, and civil-rights suits.
- CIA was responsible for spying and covert operation. Their operations are compartmentalized for security - which limits oversight and control - and are often outside the law in the areas where they operate. They were prohibited from operating inside the US at all - due to constitunal-authorization concerns, practical concerns (like coups, political sabotage,
- The NSA was charged with signals intelligence - both decoding to hunt for enemy action and protecting US communications - government, corporate, and personal - from foreign spying. As a side-effect they end up intercepting lots of private domestic communication content that the government isn't authorized to use. So they held it tightly (which also helped protect their methods) and dribbled it out pretty much only to the intelligence community (because a drop of it in a criminal case could blow the case). (Indeed, for decades the US claimed they didn't exist. Joke: NSA = No Such Agency.)
Info from NSA (apparently) fed mainly into CIA (which had the political/military implication analysis section). CIA would give info to FBI when appropriate, mainly stuff related to domestic spying and security clearances. (CIA and NSA info generally could NOT be used in criminal cases, because it's collected without probable cause or warrant. The constitutional protections would get stretched by using it to generate a "tip", telling the FBI where to look for something - but the info they developed had to come from open observation -> probable cause or warrants to be used in court.)
During the Clinton administration the wall between CIA and FBI was raised: ALL communication between them had to go up a bureaucratic red-tape chain and be handed over through a special office headed by a Clinton appointee (after approval by that office). The same set of Clinton administration officials came up with the idea that terrorism should be treated as a criminal offences rather than acts of war.
The result: No information was passed through the red-tape gauntlet from NSA and CIA to FBI. First fallout: The "nuclear secrets for campaign contributions" investigation was gutted (leading to leaks from frustrated agents.) (Some speculate that gutting this was the reason for the change.) Second fallout: Info about Bin Laden's activity didn't reach the FBI. The Clinton administration had several offers from Middle Eastern powers to hand over Bin Laden, which they turned down because the FBI couldn't make a criminal case against him. Third fallout: The mechanism hadn't been dismantled by 9/11.
The Bush administration went overboard the other direction. The Constitution's protections of the accused are relaxed in wars and the like - apparently because holding a trial in the middle of a battlefield is impractica
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way