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Chinese Censor-Beating Software Resembles Malware, But Isn't

Posted by timothy on from the good-to-know dept.

coondoggie writes "Software designed to beat Chinese censorship may behave in ways that seem suspect, but it is all part of the application's strategy to fool the Great Firewall of China, according to one programmer of the software. 'There are many built-in tricks that do all kinds of things to confuse the firewall,' says David Tian, a scientist for NASA who works spare-time on UltraSurf, the free software designed to promote unrestricted Internet access for citizens of China persecuted for being members of Falun Gang, the religious group the Chinese government is trying to suppress."

4 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Falun Gang by argux · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think it's Falun Gong

    1. Re:Falun Gang by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think it's Falun Gong

      Great, now Slashdot will be censored in China. I hope you are happy.

    2. Re:Falun Gang by rchh · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I am currently in China and the Internet censoring is not as bad as I had thought. I can open most websites, including BBC and New York Times. Most online proxies work. I can read any article from wikipedia- including that of Falun Gong ,Tibet and Human Rights.The most notable failures are Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch websites. Maybe I can read most websites because they are in English?

      --
      Computers can reverse entropy.
  2. Confuse it? How? by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You shouldn't be trying to "confuse it", you should be making sure that the traffic patterns aren't unique and discernable. In other words, using steganography. All this "confusion" stuff I read in the article gives the user a distinct pattern of behavior that can identify the user as actively using said software. If you're trying to get under the radar of the government, don't start by sending up a big digital flare that says "Hey! I'm trying to bypass your crap." It usually ends badly for the would-be revolutionary, who's first job (I might add) is to survive.

    Even in so-called "free" countries like the US, the government can imprison people indefinately on the off chance that the encrypted data may be subversive. How do you suppose China would handle it? Encryption doesn't enable free speech -- a gun to the head is a pretty effective way of recovering the key.

    Save lives: Use stenography.

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