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China Does U-Turn, Lifts Ban On Websites

Posted by kdawson on from the by-some-definitions-of-complete dept.

krou sends in a Guardian (UK) article reporting that overnight talks with the International Olympic Committee have resulted in the Chinese government lifting a ban on websites such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the BBC Chinese language service "in Beijing, Shanghai and possibly further afield." Websites with information on the Falun Gong, Chinese dissidents, the Tibetan government in exile, and the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests are still inaccessible. (We've been discussing Chinese Olympic censorship right along.) Quoting: "A spokesman for Amnesty International said: 'It's good news that our site has been unblocked in Olympic venues and perhaps elsewhere in Beijing, but it is still a long way from the "complete media freedom" promised. It seems public outrage has succeeded where the IOC's "quiet diplomacy" had failed.' Chinese engineers quoted in an article in the Atlantic Monthly said they had been told to prepare to unblock access for a list of specific internet protocol addresses to used by foreign visitors. But Andrew Lih, a new media author in Beijing, said it seemed the authorities might have simply decided it was easier to lift blocks for everyone. 'It's possible [to block individual locations] but would be very complicated,' he said."

18 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. U-Turn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's no U-turn. At best, it's a hard left.

    1. Re:U-Turn? by 4D6963 · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's no U-turn. At best, it's a hard left.

      So that's more like a L-turn then?

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    2. Re:U-Turn? by databyss · · Score: 3, Funny

      What do you mean?

      We've always been at war with the Eurasians.

      --
      Hmmm witty sig or funny sig? Maybe elitest techy sig!
    3. Re:U-Turn? by mrboyd · · Score: 3, Funny

      Come the end of the game and everyone will see it's just a roundabout...

  2. What better way? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What better way to nail subversives ?

    Let them convict themselves by allowing that whicvh is is deemed illegal in China ?
    The Historical approach..

  3. Interesting... by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Didn't they say they were going to spy on visitors' traffic too? Nothing about that here, maybe they're hoping we'll forget.

    If I was going, I'd take tor with me on my laptop. Also I'd buy a laptop first.

  4. I confirm it! by vivaoporto · · Score: 4, Funny

    Right now I'm browsing the sites mentioned on TFA and nothing happ&/"$%& NO CARRIER

  5. More Accurately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    China Does U-Turn, Lifts Ban On Certain Websites

    Title is way too optimistic.

    1. Re:More Accurately by Kleinbottler · · Score: 4, Informative

      China Does U-Turn, Lifts Ban On Certain Websites

      Title is way too optimistic.

      Totally agree. As an expat Beijing resident with press connections the story moves by the day. Bottom line is that while generally open at the moment (i.e. in the Olympic press center) there are still sites that are blocked including a China blog at a major US news outlet. The Chinese generally allow VPN but if you go to certain sites you will still be stopped. Free proxy servers are tissue paper and generally not useful. The authorities, from observation and experience, can and do target individual computers. The Chinese are getting cleverer and more subtle at "shaping" the internet landscape and where you can go. Overall bottom line is that whatever little concessions might be made to the press center users the control of internet access will get worse not better. People who give credit to the Chinese for the access they have allowed are living in lalaland. The Chinese are grudging every concession and reneging whenever they can.

  6. Tempest in a teapot by mu11ing1t0ver · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm surprised none of the stories about this mention how easy it is to VPN out of China and thus bypass any blocks they throw up.

  7. Why Tor? by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Chinese firewall doesn't block encrypted traffic. A far superior solution is to simply VPN to somewhere. That's what I do when traveling if I am in any location that I don't completely trust (airport or hotel network for example). I SSH to a server I have at home and tunnel traffic through the connection. It is then as though I was surfing at my house.

    1. Re:Why Tor? by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Informative

      I use XP. I've used a VPN connection (using it as my default gateway) from Shanghai to Houston. But browsing the web is much faster through a strait RDP session back to my desktop.

      You would think screen refreshes would take more bandwidth then redirecting HTTP requests, but that doesn't seem to be the case in my experience.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  8. Re:Makes little difference by negRo_slim · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, I am full of hope for the armored train races. I maintain a good outlook that Kim shall triumph over his competitors.

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
  9. Can everybody swallow the blue pill? by jopsen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm surprised none of the stories about this mention how easy it is to VPN out of China and thus bypass any blocks they throw up.

    The problem is that ordinary citizens in China doesn't know what happen on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Do you seriously expect the average Chinese citizen to be able to get VPN out og China, and risk his/her life/career on it because the sites are illegal.

    1. Re:Can everybody swallow the blue pill? by lumierang · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm surprised none of the stories about this mention how easy it is to VPN out of China and thus bypass any blocks they throw up.

      The problem is that ordinary citizens in China doesn't know what happen on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Do you seriously expect the average Chinese citizen to be able to get VPN out og China, and risk his/her life/career on it because the sites are illegal.

      The ordinary citizens in China (at least those over 20) know quite well what happened on Tiananmen in 1989,just talk to any Chinese cab driver.

      Most Chinese don't think it has much relevance to today's business. While they agree the government in 1989 committed horrible crimes, hell it is two decades ago and both China and Chinese government has changed a lot. Most of Chinese are happy with the current government.

      As for Tiananmen square most think it will resolve over time . Even a lot of 1989 demostrators support the Chinese government.Here is an interesting interview.

      Here I quote the most relevent part

      " Q. But what Deng achieved - could he not have done it within a more democratic system? Did there have to be the ruthlessness?

      After going to the US for five or six years, I saw that the level of democracy there can only happen in a society with a certain level of education. What the people of China now need is leadership. China is one century behind the US, and you canâ(TM)t expect us to change that fast.

      This is why many Asians resent it when Americans try to insist that the Chinese adopt their style of democracy. Shanghai may be ready, but if you go out to the surrounding areas, youâ(TM)ll see it just isnâ(TM)t possible, that it will take more time. I believe that one day, China will have Taiwan-style democracy, but it has to be built on a strong economy.

      Q. I agree that Western-style democracy isnâ(TM)t right for China today. But canâ(TM)t there be a compromise? Canâ(TM)t the government be strong, without tolerating abuse of the poor by corrupt officials, without tolerating the marginalization of AIDS victims, without arresting kids who write about government reform on the Internet?

      The way we view human rights is so different from the Westâ(TM)s. We have 1.3 billion people and many of them go hungry. Putting food on the table and a roof over its peopleâ(TM)s heads is what our government has to worry about. AIDS, corruption, the Internet - that is all secondary to the leadership of 1.3 billion people. If I were running China today, I would not be able to hear all the different parties. I would have to have my own agenda and stick to that agenda. I believe that if a secret vote were held today most people in China would vote for the CCP.

      For more than 150 years, starting with the Opium Wars, our national pride has been bullied by the Europeans, the Russians, then the Japanese. Now China is an economic and a military power. And it has no intentions of being aggressive. So I am not giving up my Chinese citizenship. Ten years ago I would have jumped to do that.

      Looking back, I firmly believe the government did the right thing, though they could have handled it better. We paid a high price. Our leaders in 1989 could have shown greater human skills and greater negotiating skills. But letâ(TM)s live with Communism for now and change things one thing at a time. The Chinese now have a much better life than they did 100 years ago. Not so long ago, my house was the first in our hutong to have a television set. The whole neighborhood would come to our backyard and sit on the ground to watch. It was just a 9-inch TV, and we put a la

    2. Re:Can everybody swallow the blue pill? by Daemonax · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not actually true. I'm currently living in southern China, and the common people know what happened... The problem is that it's a social taboo to mention it, they're scared to talk about it, and they'll get angry if a foreigner brings it up and reminds them. It's a rather sad state of affairs, but I have met some people here that are very critical of the current situation with regards to freedom of speech and are willing to talk about the problems the country has. It's a shame that the common people won't talk about it though. They say they love their country, but I don't think they know what that really means. I myself love China, I love the people, the food, the mountains, the rivers, the old buildings and lots more... But there are problems with China, and I hope they'll be fixed soon.

  10. Re:You really think China can break AES? by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because they are new to the cryptography game and don't have the computing resources of many other countries. It seems extremely unlikely that even the NSA can break AES (given that they've certified it for top secret data) and when it comes to crypto, they are the best in the business. They are to information espionage what the KGB was to physical espionage. If I'd bet on anyone being able to figure out how to break a cryptosystem without anyone else knowing, the NSA would be my bet.

    Regardless, my primary point is I find it extremely unlikely AES has been broken. It is an open algorithm that underwent an exceedingly rigorous selection process. Because of that, it was scrutinized. Once it was selected and made the official AES standard, it then underwent even more. As I said, it's the most tested cryptosystem out there. Thus far, it has held up wonderfully. So basically for a break to happen, there'd have to be a new field of math developed that would allow for some new way of attacking it. That seems very unlikely to happen, and I find it unlikely the MSS have already done so.

  11. Facts instead of speculation by hweimer · · Score: 3, Informative

    I configured Tor to use a Chinese exit node. Here are my results:

    - Chinese Wikipedia: accessible (used to be blocked)
    - BBC Chinese (via bbcchinese.com): blocked
    - BBC Chinese (via direct URL): accessible
    - Article on Tibet in English Wikipedia: accessible (used to be blocked)
    - Human Rights in China: blocked

    --
    OS Reviews: Free and Open Source Software