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Outrunning China's Web Cops
conq writes "BusinessWeek has an interesting story on an outfit, DIT, that provides people in China access to censored sites. To do this, 'the company distributes software, called FreeGate, which disguises the sites a person visits. In addition, DIT sends out mass e-mails to Chinese Web surfers for clients such as VOA, which is banned in China. The e-mails include a handful of temporary Web addresses that host off-limits content and springboards to other forbidden sites.'"
It's FREEDOM MAIL!
My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
I wonder how they'll feel when some chinese people end up in jail for using their service.
This is great news, I think. I've often wondered when someone would start an agressive, concerted effort to bypass the Great Firewall of China. Having a native speaker of Chinese working on this is a big asset.
Props to Bill Xia and co! Sounds like his company is doing a lot to promote Internet freedom in China, and for all the right reasons.
My bicyles
While some of these companies offer services aimed towards the people of China and ignoring federal regulation (which combined is generally a good thing), the hammer will be brought down and somebody will have to pay for this!
What I don't understand is why an alternative 'internet' has been setup yet, using encrypted/disguised routes to the western world in a P2P fashion. If there's one niche in which open-source software can prosper it's going to be here.
Anyways, the main point I'm getting at here is that the Chinese government will choose somebody or an organization as an example of what will happen to future law-breakers/benders, but it'll still continue..
How are users in China supposed to be assured that this isn't just a honeypot-style operation, meant to catch users who wish to access content the government there wishes them not to access?
Not that I'm suggesting this is the case, by any means, but one would have to be quite trusting (or at least willing to face the consequences of getting caught) to use such a system.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
This clearly is terrorism and new laws must be enacted to prevent this from happening. The government needs more "tools" to monitor people and help keep them safe. These radicals who's only purpose is to destroy the great Chinese empire need to be rounded up, questioned and put to death. They are "cowards" and don't wear a uniform to a sovereign state. They refuse to work within their countries political systems, thus making them criminals.
It is imperative China protects its interests, especially against nondescript criminals who could strike at any time from anywhere. China has rights to protect itself and hopefully they deploy troops to the suspected countries of these people if their governments cannot or won't cooperate.
"If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer
What those people need is an "Independent Satellite Television" broadcasting all over China. There are no firewalls in the air.
:-)
And for internet some sort of low orbit "Satellite Internet".
Who wants to pay for all that?
Unfortunately, that doesn't usually work in countries ruled by repressive Communist regimes
My bicyles
This is one thing which has disuaded me from trying something similar. This is likely to be a serious offense in China and in the future it is actually going to be more difficult to avoid going there for one reason or another.
I can see several chinese cities becoming transport hubs along the lines of Singapore or LAX before long. You don't want to have to spend the rest of your life avoiding places like that.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
No, unfortunately. They won't.
//I'm going to get angry drunk tonight. How 'bout you guys?
We're stuck in an endless cycle of civilization -> golden age -> corruption -> dark age. Forever waging war on ourselves.
I assume you're an American, and that is why you cannot see the parallels between China and America. Label somebody who points out those similarities a "troll" all you want. That doesn't change the fact that such points are completely correct.
If you're a frequent reader here, I'm sure you've heard all about the problems associated with the recent elections in the US. While there will always be difficulties with any election, especially when electronic voting machines are used, a republic cannot function when it experiences the severe issues it has during 2000 and 2004 elections. There are many worldwide who question the legitimacy of the last two American regimes.
Regardless, what we all know today is that neither America nor China stands for freedom. What they do stand united in, however, is perhaps best described as fascism, even if they are self-described as "communist", "republican" or "democratic".
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Well done you just failed at it all.
Heres a hint : If you want to by pass laws and help people, don't scream and shout abut it. The more news you make the easier it is to get heard..
So nice try, but next time keep it under hat and print off copies of sites and nail them to walls. You'll be harder to catch and spreading the news beyond the few in your group.
I like muppets.
they might start arresting people, but they can't arrest them all!!!
oh wait it's china...
Gov. Press Relase: General Population? What general population? We never had one, honest.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
MOVE ALONG. NOTHING HAPPEND.
i don't care
Earlier this week, I read an article in the paper about Iran whining about some cartoon that picked on Muslims. But that wasn't the important part.
The important part of the article was the large photo of protestors, with their signs, but 5 of them in the front had one in English:
"OUR RELIGION DOES NOT ALLOW UNCONDITIONAL FREEDOM OF SPEECH. PLEASE RESPECT THAT."
As Americans, we VALUE the rights that we have. HOWEVER, we must also respect other societies' views, even if they are detrimental to human rights. If we expect to do business in another country, we MUST follow their laws. If the people of the oppressive country do not like this, then THEY THEMSELVES MUST REMEMDY IT.
We have the right to inform. Google, Yahoo, MSN, and the others should simply say "Due to your government's regulations, this search result has been censored." We DO NOT, however, have the right to violate that government's laws and expect to continue to do business there. Google is not an army, it is a business.
I completely agree with you. Communism on a large scale would only work in a fantasy land. It ignores basic human nature.
There are many problems with Communism.. but lets take a look at one (possibly the largest) problem:
"The people" as a whole, own the property.
But the government controls the people.. so in reality, the government controls the property.
And if the government controls the property, what we are really saying is a handful of people (our representatives, if you will) control the property.
That small group of people is a few hundred (at best).
In capitalism.. even if the wealth is distributed extremely unfairly.. there are still more people in control of that wealth than in communism. Lets say 1% of the people in a capitalist country control 99% of the wealth.. well in the U.S. that 1% would be 3 million people; Russia: 1.5-2 million; China: 12 million people.
So instead of millions of people in control of 99% of the wealth, in communism we have a couple hundred people in control of 100% of the wealth.
In other words, communism results in power and wealth being _MORE_ consolidated than in capitalism.
And with the power consolidated in the hands of a handful of people, we get the abuses we see when it is implemented. Those handful of people will abuse their position in order to keep their position of power. They will abuse their position for their own gain, and 'The people' will be the losers in the system.
Yes, I know this is the opposite of what Marx imagined.. but that is the result in reality.
Karl Marx wrote, ". . . the human essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In its reality it is the ensemble of social relations." Marx's idea was that a change in the "ensemble of social relations" can change "the human essence."
He really did think human nature could be changed.. And if that is what you believe, why not ignore the aspects of human nature that you don't like? They can always be changed.
And with regards to the government control of wealth, don't reply with: "why would there be a government at all"... Because people naturally form hierarchies.. so there will always be someone who will be in control over The People.
So in summary: The abuses we see/saw in the Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba, and China are exactly what Communism is in reality.
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
The page links in the emailed page are automagically morphed into email links so the user can continue browsing in email-slow-motion.
Zen tips: Pay attention. Don't take it personally. Believe nothing.
ummm.... Finland? 8-}
[ducks]
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
Why not create a VPN Railroad? It worked to get American Slaves to Canada.
Using strategically placed vpn points, it may be possible to access an "internal" Chinese server that actually has a tunnel to a northern/European internet portal. From there, the world is open...
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
In a sense, Falun Dafa is very revolutionary, just not in the way the CCP claims it is. Likewise, true Christianity is very revolutionary, and activities of christian groups are heavily restricted in China...
Falun Dafa is also like Linux. Certain recent leaders of the CCP claimed that it had some sort of secret, central backbone, because that's how the CCP itself was for many years. However, it doesn't, no more that Linux has a secret backbone. Anyone who's studied Falun Dafa could go teach a new science based on it at any moment.
I repeat, I am not associated with Falun Gong, but I think your statement that "Anyone associated with falungong seems a little bit shady" is misinformed or disingenuous. Certain elements in the Chinese government (who, we hope, will be corrected by the Chinese people) are a little bit shady, or perhaps very corrupt; however, I'll avoid making blanket statements because I haven't yet been physically present in any part of China.
Unfortunately, that doesn't usually work in countries ruled by repressive Communist regimes :-)
Or simply in countries ruled by repressive regimes. No need for them to be communist to censor the crap out of the country.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book