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Study Shows China Tightens Internet Filtering

Torrey Clark writes "China is the world's leading censor of the Internet, filtering web sites, blogs, e-mail, and online forums for sensitive political content, according to a study released Thursday. The OpenNet Initiative said that China employs thousands officials and private citizens to build a 'pervasive, sophisticated, and effective' system of Internet censorship. 'ONI sought to determine the degree to which China filters sites on topics that the Chinese government finds sensitive, and found that the state does so extensively,' said the study. 'Chinese citizens seeking access to Web sites containing content related to Taiwanese and Tibetan independence, Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, the Tiananmen Square incident, opposition political parties, or a variety of anti-Communist movements will frequently find themselves blocked,' the report said."

6 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Which is one good reason why... by Sanity · · Score: 4, Informative
    ...we are working on Freenet and supporting efforts like Freenet-China. We are also beefing up Freenet's security to more effectively thwart Chinese censorship, allowing extremely vulnerable users set up a "global darknet", where they only communicate directly with people they trust. Read more about it here.

    As always, if anyone would like to support our development effort, please feel free to donate.

    1. Re:Which is one good reason why... by Andr0s · · Score: 2, Informative

      It sounds like a noble and good cause, by all means. It also reminds me of a project/operation/movement I read about quite a while ago...

      Book called "Steal this computer Book 2" by Wallace Wang (a very good read, if I may stray slightly offtopic) mentions, in addition to "Human Rights in China" website ( http://www.hrichina.org/ ) existance of 2 mail-newsletters, distributed via e-mails, that focus on issues of Freedoms of Speech and Information in PRC:

      http://www.bignews.org/ - seems to be still pretty much alive and well, I'm pleased to say, and

      The Tunnel Magazine ( http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/5598/ ) - sadly, this page was "Last updated at 3:10am GMT 15/01/2003." - though it's at least good to see all the archives are still online and available for perusal.

      Clearly, these 2 groups have/had the right idea - while a government might, more or less easily and successfully, block access to web sites with information it doesn't wish to be available to its population, same government will have a rather hard time filtering all the e-mail traffic, especially in the modern world of free, anonymous, web-based ISPs...

      In a way, this brings back memories of pamphlets and leaflets printed in dark, damp cellars, distributed by students and workers right under the noses of hounds of government, church, party or army...

      --
      '...computers in the future may have only 1000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons...' Popular Mechanics, 03/49'
  2. Anon-Proxy by Honest+Man · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are tons of anon proxies people can connect to to mask what sites they're going to. I'm sure the tech-savy are just using one them and surfing anyway.... The only way around that is to block all access to all ip ranges outside China's blocks.

  3. Falun Gong by mldqj · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those who don't know much about Falun Gong. Here is a link to an interview with Li Hongzhi (the leader of Falun Gong) by Time in 1999 (just before Fa Lungong was banned in China). The following conversation on the 3rd page is particularly entertaining:

    TIME: Where do they(the aliens) come from?
    Li: The aliens come from other planets. The names that I use for these planets are different . Some are from dimensions that human beings have not yet discovered. The key is how they have corrupted mankind. Everyone knows that from the beginning until now, there has never been a development of culture like today. Although it has been several thousand years, it has never been like now.
    The aliens have introduced modern machinery like computers and airplanes. They started by teaching mankind about modern science, so people believe more and more science, and spiritually, they are controlled. Everyone thinks that scientists invent on their own when in fact their inspiration is manipulated by the aliens. In terms of culture and spirit, they already control man. Mankind cannot live without science.

    The ultimate purpose is to replace humans. If cloning human beings succeeds, the aliens can officially replace humans. Why does a corpse lie dead, even though it is the same as a living body? The difference is the soul, which is the life of the body. If people reproduce a human person, the gods in heaven will not give its body a human soul. The aliens will take that opportunity to replace the human soul and by doing so they will enter earth and become earthlings.
    When such people grow up, they will help replace humans with aliens. They will produce more and more clones. There will no longer be humans reproduced by humans. They will act like humans, but they will introduce legislation to stop human reproduction.

    TIME: Are you a human being?
    Li: You can think of me as a human being.

    TIME: Are you from earth?
    Li: I don't wish to talk about myself at a higher level. People wouldn't understand it.

    TIME: What are the aliens after?
    Li: The aliens use many methods to keep people from freeing themselves from manipulation. They make earthlings have wars and conflicts, and develop weapons using science, which makes mankind more dependent on advanced science and technology. In this way, the aliens will be able to introduce their stuff and make the preparations for replacing human beings. The military industry leads other industries such as computers and electronics.

    TIME: But what is the alien purpose?
    Li: The human body is the most perfect in the universe. It is the most perfect form. The aliens want the human body.

    TIME: What do aliens look like?
    Li: Some look similar to human beings. U.S. technology has already detected some aliens. The difference between aliens can be quite enormous.

    TIME: Can you describe it?
    Li: You don't want to have that kind of thought in your mind.

    TIME: Describe them anyway.
    Li: One type looks like a human, but has a nose that is made of bone. Others look like ghosts. At first they thought that I was trying to help them. Now they now that I am sweeping them away.,


    Obviously he was inspired by The Alien, Man In Black, Species, and Matrix.
  4. Other Anonymous P2P Applications by Famatra · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are also other end-user (working) anonymous-p2p programs such as:

    • I2P
    • AntsP2P
    • Mute (It has an anonymity bug so do research on this one before using it).

    The site Anonymous-p2p.org has a good list of anonymous p2p programs as well.

  5. L2TP In China by moogle10000 · · Score: 2, Informative
    *Opens Up L2TP Connection Back To The States*

    Okay... 100% Access Back Open Again

    Oops! Nooooooooooo They Blocked Port 1701!