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Free Tools To Evade China's Web Censorship

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the just-in-case-you-are-curious dept.

narramissic writes "The Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIFC) offers a set of free tools that can be used to circumvent Chinese Internet censorship. The group claims approximately 1 million people in China use its tools to access the Internet. And, says Tao Wang, director of operations for GIFC, 'it's a very good time to remind Western reporters that there are such tools.'"

15 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Like they won't just block the site? by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the websense software on my workplace computer can block this site, I'm pretty sure the Chinese government can too.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Like they won't just block the site? by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's a good thing no one has developed a way for the same software to be hosted on more than one site. Imagine if we had that? We could call it a reflection... no wait, a silver-backed glass... no...

      --
      http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
    2. Re:Like they won't just block the site? by negRo_slim · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm pretty sure the Chinese government can too

      I'm sure they can and they can't. It seems any time there is some sort of institutional effort to establish controls on the content delivered via the internet there are always a myriad of ways to circumvent any given system. The problem with a article like this is, we will all feel very good about ourselves, "See they have the tools! The people can take democracy into their own hands!". But I'm sure Chinese are just like Americans, if it just works, whats the fucking point? If what they connect to walks, talks and acts like the Internet and provides them with useful services. Where is the benefit for them to go out and find and use tools like this at the risk of being labeled as subversive? There are too many more pressing needs in place for some while the more well to do have many diversions to keep them occupied from exercises in futility such as this.

      --
      On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
    3. Re:Like they won't just block the site? by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not only can the Chinese government block them, they can detect who is using them and declare them enemies of the People.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    4. Re:Like they won't just block the site? by Daimanta · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Call it silver-backing, that will be a smashing buzzword.

      --
      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
    5. Re:Like they won't just block the site? by severoon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well...I think perhaps you guys aren't respecting the full range of personalities out there. These tools aren't necessarily for everyone, I'm sure. They're for the Chinese citizens that: (a) feel they should be free to engage information as they like and/or (b) have information to share with the outside world that the Chinese govt may not want shared and (c) are willing to take the personal risk to engage their vision of the way things should be.

      One of the things that I have found in my travels to China is that they do not regard their govt the same way we do (I'm assuming the parent and GP poster are Americans, b/c I'm American, and that's what we do :-) ). Chinese do not identify their country with their govt, they're two separate things. In the US, because our govt is supposed to have been founded on (and with the aegis to protect) the principles of the social contract of our country, we do not make a distinction. The Chinese attitude is, the country's been there long before this regime and will be there long after.

      In the meantime, here are some tools to stir the pot a little. So what's wrong with that?

      I will say this, though. It's not enough to have the tools. You also have to have the know-how to hide them properly. I suggest storing all of these apps on an encrypted partition. (I wonder if the Chinese govt blocks linux sites.)

      --
      but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
  2. missing by pak9rabid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tao Wang to go missing in 5..4..3...

  3. western reporters by ebonum · · Score: 5, Informative

    I doubt many western reports will have problems. If you work for a company of any size, the company has a VPN. You log into the company VPN. ( I promise you China does not block them. I live here. ) Once you are logged into your VPN, you surf where ever you want. Plus, it is encrypted - so no spying.

    One problem that is not commonly discussed is what I call the "great American firewall". For better or worse, a lot of western sites block all requests from China. It is really annoying if you want to make a few online purchases and you aren't trying to hack their site. I should start to compile a list of specific examples.

  4. Stopping censorship by Scutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "It's a very good time remind Western reporters that there are such tools," said Tao Wang

    I don't know. You get a couple hundred (or thousand) reporters getting censored while reporting on a very high-profile event? I think it would do more to call attention to China's policies. They'll talk for months about how hard it was for them to do their jobs and the freedoms they had to live without. If they use these tools, they'll go home afterward and forget all about the fact that they needed them at all.

    --

    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    1. Re:Stopping censorship by bugeaterr · · Score: 4, Funny

      Last time I let a Wang tell me what to do I became a father.

  5. Here we go again... by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I predict insightful moderated posts about how people are going to be executed or "disappeared" for downloading some software, by people who have never left their own country before.

    Yes there are many technical ways of circumventing the Chinese firewall or any other net censorship. The real issue here is that the vast majority won't use them because they can't be bothered, leading to widespread ignorance about issues that really need to be addressed.

    The reason censorship works so well is because people are generally lazy, regardless of country or race and don't go hunting for information that isn't spoon fed to them.

    So to summarize, the definition of success when it comes to censorship isn't that they stopped 100% of information getting though, but that they stopped it a little, combined with a disproportionate amount of easily digested propaganda leading to an impenetrable wall of ignorance that no little circumvention tools are going to help.

    1. Re:Here we go again... by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You mean, like the lazy masses that like to get their information/propaganda spoonfed to them without even noticing how their right to say (and even to listen to) what they want is eroding away, that make up the vast majority in other countries, too?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. Will you be caught though? by derekw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The big question is will you be caught circumventing the censorship.

    From what I understand, it's not that hard to break through the censorship. But will you leave any tracks behind--however small--for the government to see? That's the big question.

    If you just want to read one NYT article, go ahead and chances are nothing would happen to you. But if you plan on doing this day in day out, from your home connection, then a few months down the road you may get a knock on your door in the middle of the night.

  7. possible malware in download by Aryeh+Goretsky · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hello,

    My antivirus software said the "GIFC Anti-Censorship Tools Bundle" download from the Global Internet Freedom Consortium contained "probably a variant of Win32/Delf trojan."

    I am not sure if this is a false positive alarm or a bona-fide infection, but you may want to exercise some caution before installing the software on your computer.

    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky

    --
    Dexter is a good dog.
  8. At least Chinese Censorship is Obvious by MrSteveSD · · Score: 4, Insightful
    With this kind of blatant State censorship, at least people know they are being censored. People in the west are in some ways not so fortunate.

    Czech dissident writer Zdenek Urbanek once said...

    In one respect, we are luckier than you in the free west, because we have learnt to read between the lines, and you believe you have no need; but you do.

    George Orwell recognized that western media operates on self-censorship way back in the 40s. He wrote a preface to Animal farm all about it, but the preface itself was censored and never published. Amongst other things, he said...

    The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. ... [Things are] kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that 'it wouldn't do' to mention that particular fact

    For example, if you read the BBC online, you probably know that Hugo Chavez shook the Spanish King's hand recently after their previous spat. Hardly Earth shattering news. Yet you probably won't be aware that Colombian President Alavaro Uribe is under investigation for possible involvement in the planning of a massacre by right wing paramilitaries. The general trend is that bad stories about allies are either ignored or only reported in passing, whereas those about official enemies such as Chavez are accentuated and repeated ad infinitum.

    Anyone interested in censorship in the western media should read "Manufacturing Consent" by Hermann and Chomsky, or watch the documentary on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wksCW3ooJ5A