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Someone In North Korea Is Hosting a Facebook Clone (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the curious-case-of-North-Korea dept.

Reporter Jason Koebler shares: Someone in North Korea appears to have created a Facebook clone, according to an internet analytics company that traced the site's DNS to the notoriously isolated country. The social network is an off-the-shelf Facebook clone called dolphinPHP.
Dyn Analytics researcher Doug Madory said that "very few websites resolve to the North Korean address space, and this one does."From the screenshots in the article, the user interface, and other elements do look similar to that of Facebook.

55 comments

  1. ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who cares? It's not relevant to anyone. Why would you use a Facebook clone with virtually no users instead of actually using Facebook?

    1. Re:ok by Art+Challenor · · Score: 1

      Doesn't it bother you that someone has created a site that tracks your every move, monitors your posts and even tries to detect your face in photos?

    2. Re: ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And why would you trust something in North Korea to not engage in nefarious activities? Like that government doesn't have a history of violating the rights of its citizens.

    3. Re:ok by SeaFox · · Score: 2

      Who cares? It's not relevant to anyone. Why would you use a Facebook clone with virtually no users instead of actually using Facebook?

      Of course we should care! It's not a Facebook clone. Facebook is obviously an inferior clone of Best Korea's social networking site.

    4. Re: ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think by not being on Facebook you're protecting your privacy, I'm sorry to tell you but that horse has long bolted. The only thing you're protecting yourself from is annoying videos posted by "friends".
      It's hardly a big secret conspiracy theory - corporate USA and Uncle Sam already know who you are, what you do, who you do it with and what colour socks you're wearing while you do it. All that information has been sucked up everywhere you go and every time you buy something.

    5. Re:ok by smelch · · Score: 1

      I wonder if they're trying to say this social network is the best in Korea, or that North Korea is the best Korea.

      --
      If I can just reach out with my words and touch a butthole, just one, it will all be worth it.
    6. Re: ok by kheldan · · Score: 1

      Like that government doesn't have a history of violating the rights of its citizens.

      By definition the North Korean government doesn't violate any of it's citizens' rights, ever, because their citizens have no rights to begin with.

      --
      Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    7. Re:ok by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      Why would you use a Facebook clone with virtually no users instead of actually using Facebook?

      Maybe Dear Leader is just a little lonely. Maybe he joined Facebook and nobody wanted to friend him.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    8. Re: ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless you believe in fundamental human rights.

    9. Re:ok by Howitzer86 · · Score: 1

      Also, if you sign up now, there's a chance you could win a golden ticket to tour the Hermit Kingdom with the young Kim himself.

    10. Re: ok by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I don't, but Santa Claus does. The tooth-fairy? She's sitting on the fence, as usual.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    11. Re: ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By definition it's means it is.

  2. DolphinPHP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can you imagine the number of crappy RoR, Java and Python websites that thing will add?

  3. Has someone already hacked it? by SeaFox · · Score: 2

    (referring to the ninja in the lower-left corner)

    1. Re:Has someone already hacked it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now it redirects to a truly bazaar youtube video.

  4. Again? by jbmartin6 · · Score: 5, Funny

    North Korea again? What next, a story about North Korea forcing people to upgrade to Windows 10?

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    1. Re:Again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      North Korea again? What next, a story about North Korea forcing people to upgrade to Windows 10?

      Quit whining and absorb the propaganda citizen.

    2. Re:Again? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      At least N.K. wouldn't be so sneaky about Windows 10: they'd simply force it on you; no surprises or gimmicks.

      MS: "The corner 'X' only means "cancel" on Tuesdays of odd months, blah blah blah..."

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    3. Re:Again? by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      At least N.K. wouldn't be so sneaky about Windows 10: they'd simply force it on you; no surprises or gimmicks.

      MS: "The corner 'X' only means "cancel" on Tuesdays of odd months, blah blah blah..."

      In some ways I would kind of prefer the brutal honesty of being told to upgrade at gunpoint in comparison to the sneaky shit that they've been pulling with Windows 10.

      Plus you already expect North Korea to be trying to watch your every move and thought. It's not really something that you'd expect from an operating system that you thought you purchased. I'm starting to pine for the days when you owned the OS on your computer, and not the other way around.

    4. Re:Again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Story twist: Mass migration to North Korea to AVOID upgrades to Windows 10! Red Star OS FTW!!

  5. they can save so many resources... by bkmoore · · Score: 3, Interesting

    by getting people to spy on themselves.

    1. Re:they can save so many resources... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      That would have very limited usefulness, only the wealthy elite in NK can afford to get online (and by "online" I mean "onto the national intranet." The Internet is only for a select few of the political elite and military). They already know they're being watched and to keep their heads down.

      More likely, it'll be populated with millions of dummy accounts talking about how EVERYTHING IS AWESOME in North Korea. A digial Potemkin village.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    2. Re:they can save so many resources... by bkmoore · · Score: 1

      That would have very limited usefulness, only the wealthy elite in NK can afford to get online (and by "online" I mean "onto the national intranet." The Internet is only for a select few of the political elite and military). ...

      Those are exactly the very people Kim would be most interested in spying on. He probably care much what your average peasant thinks, but he does need the support of the Army to remain in power.

  6. "traced the DNS" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    traced the site's DNS to the notoriously isolated country

    Because the domain name ending in .kp is too obvious, so they had to "trace" it. Did they use a GUI interface written in Visual Basic?

    1. Re:"traced the DNS" by aicrules · · Score: 2

      Do you think that TLD is a guaranteed identifier of where the site is hosted? Google's URL shortening service is hosted in Greenland? Nope. So, yes there would have to be tracing involved to find where the site is actually hosted.

    2. Re:"traced the DNS" by Zocalo · · Score: 1

      I doubt there are too many hosts (zero, in fact) in the .KP domain that don't fall under the remit of the DPRK regime. Anyway, the site (starcon.net.kp) resolves to the IP address 175.45.176.19, which whois confirms is within the limited amount of IP space directly allocated to the DPRK. Assuming the information is accurate, then the owners of the IP space are Star Joint Venture Co. Ltd. of Ryugyong-dong, in the Potong-gang District of Pyongyang. That doesn't mean that someone hasn't hacked one of the web servers that they host and set up a webserver on it though, which seems quite probable given that the size is not completely covered in DPRK propaganda and many of the links go to "Lorum Ipsum" texts...

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    3. Re:"traced the DNS" by aicrules · · Score: 1

      Yeah, so that's not MUCH more tracing, but still more than "oh it's a .KP so it must be DPRK".

  7. FYI... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    DolphinPHP and PHPdolphin are two different things.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:FYI... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      DolphinPHP and PHPdolphin are two different things.

      Dolphins and PHP are very different things.

    2. Re:FYI... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Let me guess... Another pooch-screwed summary?

      http://phpdolphin.com/

    3. Re:FYI... by Tukz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Are they?

      They are both adored by women and both kinda fishy.

      --
      - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
    4. Re:FYI... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      So the one from Sicromoft is not legitimate?

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    5. Re:FYI... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      No, they're pretty much the same. Autistic kids love to play with them and everyone else thinks they're cute for a few tricks, but nobody could really think of any useful use for them.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:FYI... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I play with my "dolphin" all the time. Usually in private...

  8. Shouldn't be that difficult to re-create by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I never understood how the fuck FB could become worth billions of USD. I think the 3-letter agencies might have had something to do with that.

  9. A great way to do mass surveilance of citizens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a dictator's dream, a place where people voluntarily call out their associations with each other, their travel plans, their hopes, dreams, what they find interesting. Someone with this kind of knowledge could implement massive manipulation of public opinion.

    1. Re:A great way to do mass surveilance of citizens by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Glad that we don't have anything like that out here in the free world.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:A great way to do mass surveilance of citizens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... and with a ready tools to assess each citizens degree of patriotic zeal. Because you just know that someone there will teach an AI to work out a sincere patriotism score based on each persons posts, likes and omissions. It might not be perfectly accurate, but the government might still come in and give a little "boost" to citizens whose enthusiasm is flagging. If nothing else, it will make all your friends work hard appear worshipful, and that might actually reinforce a sense of divinity around the dead and living leaders.

    3. Re:A great way to do mass surveilance of citizens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm so glad nothing that would ever happen in the West, that people here respect what privacy and other rights that others have died for (q.q.v this weekend), and that they won't freely click away all their rights. Imagine what damage a provider could do if they were given rights to listen on the mics of people's cell phones, to identify what media someone is listening to.

      Glad people here in the US are proud and would never put up with invasions of privacy. What next... OS makers being allowed to search through documents and sending content back to the mother ship? Glad that wouldn't happen here.

  10. Chairman Meow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    N.K. tried to clone YouTube also, but somebody ate all the cute cats.
    *duck head on cue*

    1. Re:Chairman Meow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a country! In Soviet Russia, ads are watched by you!

  11. FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I play with my "guppy" all the time. Usually in private...

    Tell the truth, it's tiny

  12. Is this where all the fake pages are coming from? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

    Every Facebook user has at some tie or another gotten that flurry of messages from people on their Friends list that they are getting requests to sign up again. Your Facebook age has been copied by a spammer who will then start selling magic diets and Florida real estate to everyone on your list. This scam is so common now that facebook has a special button for reporting it.

  13. Surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What is more surprising to me. Is it that North Korea has citizens who have computers, or that it took them this long to realize they could use it to keep tabs on their citizens with their real names?

  14. Kim Jong Un by operagost · · Score: 2

    Kim created it because he is so ronery.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  15. already hacked by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    seriously, there is no way this hasn't already been hacked by multiple agencies. PHP isn't exactly known for it's security.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:already hacked by Tom · · Score: 2

      Nor is any other commonly used language. PHP has a bad reputation because it's easy to get started with, so lots and lots of people write crappy software with it who wouldn't get their piece of shit to compile in other languages.

      The security of your application still primarily depends on your application.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  16. Just when you think it can't get worse there! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The country is already a kind of hell, and now it's hell with Facebook, which really takes it up a notch.

  17. Probably more secure than the real Facebook by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    I repeat: It's probably more secure than the real Facebook.

    In fact, I'd be surprised if it wasn't.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  18. You Know It's North Korea by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 1

    All of the pages are Kim Jong Un pointing at things.

    --
    Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
  19. Why are we reading an article about a website by Punto · · Score: 1

    Why are we reading an article about a website instead of just going to the goddamn website to see for ourselves? This was typical of the off-line media about 20 years ago, "let me tell you about these crazy internet kids (but never provide any URL)", now even the internet news sites are doing it, what's the point of your article if I can't experience the source for myself? Do they really think I'm going to experience the world only through their description of it and be grateful about it? That may have been what journalism was 100 years ago, not anymore.

    --

    --
    Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!

  20. Can only be better by allo · · Score: 1

    And WTF didn't the summary link the facebook clone?

  21. Who writes this sh@t! lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Quoted from the article, "North Korea also notoriously created its own Linux-based operating system, called Red Star OS." It's as if the NSA doesn't bake in spyware on your Windows or Mac PC and phones. I guess the important part is the NSA doesn't NOTORIOUSLY perform these actions.

    Regardless of what NK does, it must be notorious. The North Korean man notoriously picks rice. The NK woman notoriously washes clothes.