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Chinese Govt Spyware Puts Computers At Risk
Ihmhi writes "China's mandatory 'Green Dam Youth Escort' web filter software apparently has a series of severe flaws. In addition to not working on Linux or MacOS, traffic between the software and its servers is unencrypted."
I'm sure it only gets better after that.
FFS, just run it in Wine!
Do not write any code that could intentionally be used to DDOS your ass.
But seriously, this is great. It's going to be one hell of a show when it gets cracked.
So does that mean that selling computers with Linux or OSX installed is illegal? Or will they get away with "installing" the software on those computers even though it can not function?
after all the slating given to china over censorship, it would be interesting to be able to browse from behind such a filter and see how much it would affect the surfing of a typical westoner
The first result will be that more people will use Linux.
Hey, it's Chinese stuff for god's sake, did you expect some quality out of it?
Perhaps I am cynical, but do you think the Chinese government would require this software to be distributed with every new computer if there wasn't a backdoor to monitor citizens?
I hardly consider the lack of Mac or Linux versions a "flaw". In fact, I consider that one of the few positive aspects of the software.
What we need more of is science!
The Chinese government said that the Green Dam Youth Escort software, as it is known, was intended to push forward the "healthy development of the internet" and "effectively manage harmful material for the public and prevent it from being spread."
Surely "effectively managing", as they do with the economy, growth in "harmful material" might limit said growth to, say, only 5% per annum - well within the the scope of our fine Western tradition of the "healthy development of the internet" :-) Hiweed anyone?
If it was sending encrypted traffic, we'd all be bitching about how the Chinese were sending a bunch of super secret encrypted data to their servers.
The "mandatory" software these computers will be shipped with is no different than a VChip inside of all modern American TVs; it's a feature people may use, but are allowed to uninstall at their sole discretion. Besides, this stuff runs on Windows, it's just one more straw on the pile of ways to hijack an unprotected computer. We also choose a tool that doesn't run on Linux because we're sick of typing 'sudo apt-get install wine' everytime we install a new Linux distro. This assures minimal typing for all Chinese Linux users.
"Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad." [Ecclesiastes 7:3]
"We found a series of software flaws," explained Isaac Mao, a blogger and social entrepreneur in China
... when contacted later for further comment, it was discovered that Mao had been assigned to 18 years of reeducation through labour in the coal-mining provinces.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
and i thought yeah i know they have a new album but this is ridiculous
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Lately it's like all the countries of the world are engaged in an Olympic competition to see who can screw themselves up the most through acts of extreme stupidity and greed. What the fuck is wrong with people?
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
"We have buttiduously canvbutted the industry, buttessed what is available and buttembled the finest selection of contractors chosen in a completely open manner for this buttignment. Butterting free speech is one thing, but a triparbreaste committee considers that that does not justify mere pbuttive breastillation at the expense of others. The filters will buttociatively clbuttify all communications and filter then, I can butture you, rebuttemble them with surpbutting exacbreastude in any quanbreasty. Consbreastuents can be rebuttured that a mulbreastude of industry compebreastors will butture quality and keep our clbuttrooms safe. Green Dam will not embarbutt us!"
http://rocknerd.co.uk
From the article: "One blogger posted a screenshot of the software purportedly blocking an attempt to visit a porn site using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. But, he said, there was no problem accessing the site using the Firefox web browser. "
data mining and wiretaps found still patriotastic and OKAY for your computer and facebook...film at 11.
Good people go to bed earlier.
China: home to the largest population and now also the largest botnet.
Excuse me, and no offense to the submitter of this story; But since when did the question begin to revolve around the security issues with the actual program the government uses to control your webhabits and not the actual attempt to control free speech?
I know, we are geeks and we like to talk about this stuff, but let's not forget the elephant in the room here.
Ok, so it's a pretty ham-handed first attempt. My question is: with all the US computer companies outsourcing to China, will my US PC or Apple eventually be affected? Perhaps we should stop buying US PCs made in China.
"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
Pravin Lal, Alpha Centauri
I don't know what you just said except "Olympics", and we all know what we do at the Olympics, right? Support your country to be number one, no matter WHAT the event!
U-S-A! U-S-A!~
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First, it's incompatible with all of those Windows-only worms, now it won't run invasive government-mandated spyware. At this rate, it will never be the year of the Linux desktop.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
After spending a number of years living/working in China, I've come to the conclusion that the government just doesn't care if this new "feature" works or not. The goal isn't to really censor here, but to let people know that "the man" is watching. In China, that is enough to keep the vast majority of people in line. There are still tens (perhaps hundreds) of millions of people that have vivid memories of the Cultural Revolution. They know all too well what happens to the squeaky wheel and tailor their activities accordingly. Sad, but that's the way it is.
Government controlled botnet! A technological "Cultural Revolution" seems to be the obvious goal, under the guise of Greater Good and "thinking about the children".
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
"While the justification may be pitched as protecting children and mostly concerning pornography, once the architecture is set up it can be used for broader purposes, such as the filtering of political ideas."
In particular, the system could be used to report citizens' web habits.
"It creates log file of all of the pages that the users tries to access," Mr Maclay told BBC News.
"At the moment it's unclear whether that is reported back, but it could be."
The EU's data retention directives already mandate that ISPs log such things. And then it is a good thing??!!
FireFucks.
Spyware Puts Computers At Risk
I nominate this for the most awesome headline ever.
...but is the Chinese government just creating their own personal, huge botnet to use in DDOS attacks in the CYBERWARS OF THE FUTURE?
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
...it's the lack of encryption that really bothers me. After all, that could let some unknown party watch what I'm doing online!
shhhhhhhh... don't tell em.
It seems that China sent all of their super coders to participate in the NSA challenge, and they left the apprentices back at home writing the domestic software.
I don't want to sound like a troll, but considering all the oppressive crap we see coming out of China, it seems pretty petty to whine that their mandatory web filter software does not have a Linux version (or Mac)...Now if you want to talk about why China is so Microsoft-friendly, that one thing, but when someone installs a mandatory net nanny on a cheaply assembled PC and connects to a watered down approximation of the internet, where one thing internet users do best, "bitch about stuff", could possibly get them arrested, the inability to run Linux is not their biggest problem.
According to the BBC website, Linux (and Mac) machines don't require this censorware (they're just allowed on). In any case what's to stop you from uninstalling it when you get a new computer, if computers only have to be sold with this software?
Excuse for why is your room always messy?
But it won't be much longer, thanks to drawing their attention to it.
Microsoft must be so proud.
Step 1: Install Virtual PC, or other VM Software
Step 2: Install the Mandatory Software INSIDE the VM
Step 3: Leave the VM running in the background and never touch it
"Others have reported that the system only runs on Microsoft Windows, allowing Mac and Linux users to bypass the software. "
thats pretty cool i.m.h.o.
'Green Dam Youth Escort' will ship with Windows 7 in Europe as part of the security software suite so as to replace the missing exploits caused by the removal of Internet Explorer 8.
Err...."pirate" the oss project?