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Chinese ISPs Caught Injecting Ads And Malware In Their Network Traffic (thehackernews.com)
Chinese Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been caught red-handed for injecting advertisements as well as malware through their network traffic. Three Israeli researchers uncovered that the major Chinese-based ISPs named China Telecom and China Unicom, two of Asia's largest network operators, have been engaged in an illegal practice of content injection in network traffic. Chinese ISPs had set up many proxy servers to pollute the client's network traffic not only with insignificant advertisements but also malware links, in some cases, inside the websites they visit. If an Internet user tries to access a domain that resides under these Chinese ISPs, the forged packet redirects the user's browser to parse the rogue network routes. As a result, the client's legitimate traffic will be redirected to malicious sites/ads, benefiting the ISPs.
See? We're not so different after all!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
"Three Israeli researchers uncovered that the major Chinese-based ISPs named China Telecom and China Unicom, two of Asia's largest network operators, have been engaged in an illegal practice of content injection in network traffic".
As a matter of interest, what laws does this contravene? If it happens in China, isn't it a matter for Chinese law? And is it likely that the Chinese government, which is often said to monitor all network traffic assiduously, would fail to notice such practices?
Also, I am doubtful about taking the word of Israeli researchers on such a matter. Israel, like the USA, has been deeply involved in hacking, spying, mass surveillance and even the insertion of (no doubt "illegal" an certainly extremely damaging) viruses such as Stuxnet. Presumably people who would engage systematically in such activities would not be beyond falsifying research findings.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
I lived in China for a number of years, and this has been going on for a long time now (at least, with my ISP China Unicom). Absolute PITA, but that pretty much describes most online experiences in China (with the exception of Taobao, which is head and shoulders above Ebay).