Weibo Traffic Temporarily Redirected To Freedom Software

jjp9999 writes "Weibo, China's replacement for Twitter and Facebook, went offline for about two hours on Jan. 20, when a DNS attack switched its IP address to overseas VPN software used to circumvent censorship. On Jan. 21, the brief IP switch was the most discussed topic on Weibo, with one user, ITHome, saying posting 'What IP is 65.49.2.178? It's sure to go down in history.' The IP address is one of those used by Freegate, which is free software released by Chinese dissidents in the U.S. intended to help Chinese people break through the Great Firewall. However, Bill Xia, president of Dynamic Internet Technology, which makes Freegate, said he and his team of volunteers thought their networks were under attack when they got a surge of traffic with about 100,000 users a second hitting their IP address. Xia said they are still trying to analyze the incident, but he assumes it was a slip-up [on the part of] the Chinese authorities in charge of censoring content. 'Our guess is they messed up again,' he said. 'This doesn't make sense for them, so I assume it was a mistake in their operation.'"

Comments

How do you like them apples?

[tippe]

'Our guess is they messed up again,' he said. 'This doesn't make sense for them, so I assume it was a mistake in their operation.'

Oooooh! That's exactly the kind of excuse/veiled accusation the Chinese government would make. Brilliant! I love it.

Re:How do you like them apples?

[LifesABeach]

What I find kind of funny is the "l", and "w" missing on the second syllable.

An "accident"?

[ElectricTurtle]

Exactly who would fall of the turnip truck and believe that one of the most popular web services in China would be rerouted to another service whose main purpose is to undermine censorship by accident? I'll believe that Freedom Software wasn't complicit, it was probably some lone wolf, but to think this wasn't a deliberate hack is naive beyond words.

Re:An "accident"?

[Sockatume]

I would imagine that their most popular social network and a high-profile freedom-enabling tool are part of a high-priority subset of the internet filtering operation's targets. They would be configured by a more trusted group than the rest of the rest of the sites they control. Having them in the same subset would make it all the more likely that a DNS configuration mistake would involve both.

It does seem more likely that it's deliberate, though.

Last day on job.chines new year.

[leuk_he]

Maybe some chinese guy had his last day on the job, have a long newyear holiday , and Start a new job after the new year holiday.

Re:Last day on job.chines new year.

[crimson tsunami]

Well it's certainly one of his last few days on the job, as soon as they find him that is.

Re:Last day on job.chines new year.

[TangoMargarine]

The Chinese new year isn't until the 31st.

Re:Last day on job.chines new year.

[TangoMargarine]

Auggh crap please completely disregard my comment. My apologies.

define "weibo"

[Gravis Zero]

Weibo is the Chinese word for "microblog". It refers to mini-blogging services in China ... Weibo uses a format similar to its American counterpart Twitter

i'm so glad it's clearly defined in the summary so that i dont have to look it up.

this is why we cant have nice things.

Re:define "weibo"

[plasticsquirrel]

To be fair, it's probably one of the most popular sites on the Internet (100 million messages each day). Some of these sites are good to know about -- like Baidu, QQ, Taobao, Sina Weibo, Weixin, etc. While you and your friends may not use them, they practically define the Internet for hundreds of millions of people. In China, people don't commonly use eBay, Facebook, or Twitter, and they also rarely use email (even elderly people would typically use QQ instead).

Re:define "weibo"

[TangoMargarine]

Do any of those sites have actually meaningful names in Chinese, or are they just syllables like Hulu etc.?

Re:define "weibo"

[Gravis Zero]

To be fair, it's probably one of the most popular sites on the Internet (100 million messages each day). Some of these sites are good to know about -- like Baidu, QQ, Taobao, Sina Weibo, Weixin, etc. While you and your friends may not use them, they practically define the Internet for hundreds of millions of people.

The same can be said for processors, programming languages, pop culture icons/events or video games. there are billions of ARM based devices and yet few have even heard of an ARM processor. people all around the world use magnetrons on a daily basis and yet few people even know the very name of them or even where they are. there is no reason anyone should have to know about the existence of any of these because they will never need to.

it's all about relevance.

Re:define "weibo"

[isorox]

In China, people don't commonly use eBay, Facebook, or Twitter, and they also rarely use email (even elderly people would typically use QQ instead).

No shit. that's because they're blocked (well not ebay)

I love the firewall

[isorox]

The great firewall of china is brilliant -- it blocks facebook and twitter, but lets slashdot through.

Re:I love the firewall

[Megane]

Too bad that Slashdot's Unicode filters prevent you from actually entering any Chinese text.

ugh, paywall...but more importantly.

[nimbius]

can we please agree that linking paywall articles is as productive to slashdot as not linking any source at all? can someone scrape for justice?

This likely wasnt the work of an american NGO. American manufacturing and trade has a substantial dependence upon the stability of the chinese government. as corporations are the voice of the american people in the context of 21st century democratic discourse, its undeniable most corporations would fight to maintain the censorship and regime heirarchy in china. If we cared about chinese human rights more than just lip service soundbites in presidential primaries, we would focus on our factories and labor practices (the part of chinese society we exercise greatest control over).

instead american presidents ignore foxconn and freedom intentionally until the political climate is convenient or the message is dialed in to a specific local demographic like chinese ex-pats.

Kinda like the editors

[TangoMargarine]

but he assumes it was a slip-up the Chinese authorities in charge of censoring content

They accidentally the whole thing?

Re:Kinda like the editors

[UnknownSoldier]

LOL Engrish. Nice one!

Chinese did it

[Arkiel]

"You used an Uncensored search engine on the following dates xxxxxxxx. You are an enemy of the party. You are going to prisoner." Yeah, I can see this being a long con by the party to get people to distrust or fear exploiting holes in the firewall. I expect it would be easy to detect the traffic in question if they were set up to look for it before the 'breach' even occurred...

"first syllable acronyms'

[peter303]

Most modern Chinese technical terms have two to four syllables. Some of these syllables are meaningful words, while others are phonetic "sounds-like" of a foreign word. "Wei" means micro. "Bo" sounds-like blog. Often an acronym-like word is created from one syllable from a phrase of words (usally the first syllable of each word). Sometimes you get acronyms of acronyms nested several times deep (possible in English too).

Also Wyoming

[mspohr]

Looks like a screwup, not intentional.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/blog...

The Slashdot Anti-China Hate Train Rolls On

[compucomp2]

So when your guys hack us, it's funny and awesome and great, while if we supposedly hack you, without any evidence of government involvement you proclaim it as an evil injustice and proof that EVIL RED CHINA is up to no good? The Western/American hypocrisy is thick in this thread, but that's typical because the Slashdot Anti-China Hate Train is always rolling in high gear. You sanctimonious Americans believe as usual that just like in a sports match, your team cannot commit a foul, while everything the other team does is a foul.

Re:The Slashdot Anti-China Hate Train Rolls On

[compucomp2]

You mean you want China to be under the dominion of the Western powers so you can take our riches and enslave our people. Your "freedom" and "democracy" are nothing else than code words for Western imperialism.