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China Forces Muslim Minority To Install Spyware On Their Phones (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bleeping Computer: Chinese authorities in the province of Xinjiang are forcing locals of the Uyghur Muslim minority to install an app on their phones that will allow the government to scan their device for "terrorist propaganda," local media reports. In reality, the app creates MD5 hashes for the user's files and matches them against a database of known terrorist content. The app also makes copies of the user's Weibo and WeChat databases and uploads it to a government server, along with the user's IMEI, IMSI, and WiFi login information. The app is called Jingwang (Citizen Safety) and was developed by police forces from Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. Authorities launched the app in April, and also included the ability to report suspicious activity to the police. At the start of July, Xinjiang officials started sending WeChat messages in Uyghur and Chinese to locals, asking them to install the app or face detainment of up to 10 days. Police have also stopped people on the street to check if they installed the app. Several were detained for refusing to install it. Locals are now sharing the locations of checkpoints online, so others can avoid getting arrested.
Erm... you should know that the Uighurs are not foreigners to the land but natives.
They have been Muslims for centuries and before the formation of the PRC were semi autonomous.
However they are seen as a threat as they are not part of the Han ethnic group that the current chinese government comes from.
I'm living in this city. And yeah, they forced me to install their crazy china app. I deleted all my critical information such as photos from the phone before handed to the police.
This app is constantly sending my phone data to CN servers. I could filter them out using my VPN, but some of my friends are already caught by police for attemting "app decompile".
So I changed my phone. Install 2 OS on one phone.
1 is infected by china, and the other 1 is safe.
This system works like Veracrypt's Hidden OS. I made this for myself about 4 years ago.
You can switch OS1 and OS2 using smartphone's hardware button. I don't write details because I don't want chinese to fuck my phone.
I've already asked by the police to show me the app. When my phone was moved suddenly, it automatically switched to OS1.
Only I can use OS2.
Technology is not for a noob. Fight against them, digitally.
You've hit the nail on the head. This actually makes the position of the extremists arguably easier. Now you don't have to second guess whether or not your phone is being monitored, you can count on it and work around it. And the solution doesn't have to be fancy or technical: you just setup a set of code word/phrases via snail mail using everyday common phrases, and instead of sending "proceed with the next stage of the operation", you send "pick up milk and rice from the store".
Which is to say: the point of eavesdropping on potentially dangerous individuals is negated by the idiocy of asking these people to assist you in their own eavesdropping by installing the required software.
But the Chinese are not dumb enough to not realize this, which means the real cause of this is something else entirely: first it's a PR move to appease the populace by appearing to do 'something' to react to the threat, but more importantly this gives the authorities a convenient reason to detain anyone for 10 days. I mean, all they have to do is 'inspect' the phone and remove the app and BAM the guy's away for 10 days while you go through and mic his apartment and car, and if need be plant some evidence so that he can be jailed for longer. Or they can just change the log files they have from the apps to include something suspicious and arrest anyone on terrorism charges on that grounds. It's not like the chain of evidence in the Chinese system is reliable: they control the log and the phones, so that means you provably said what they claim you said, after all that's what the records show.
So in the end this is just a way of making sure they have the ability to jail anyone at any time for any reason, which they've had all along, but usually it's been a slightly longer process, this seems to be just a step to make it easier and faster.
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
Actually Muslims are specifically allowed by the Koran and Hadith to lie about being Muslim in order to save their hides. See Taqiyaa, kitman, and the various other officially sanctioned types of deception.
Christians are expected to proclaim their faith though it may cost their lives, and many have done so.
Another poster mentions St. Peter as denying his faith, but those three denials occurred four days before the capstone of the Christian faith was put in place- the ressurection of Christ.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
Islam is not a race.
Look, this policy is NOT being applied to muslims, it is being applied to Uyghurs REGARDLESS OF THEIR RELIGION. 80% of muslims in China are NOT Uyghurs, and these policies DO NOT apply to them. The largest majority muslim ethnicity in China are the Hui, who are well assimilated into Chinese society, mostly speak Mandarin, and often you wouldn't even know they are muslim until you see them skipping the pork dumplings at the all-you-can-eat buffet.
This policy is based on ethnicity.
It is NOT based on religion.
If you need this to be repeated a few more times, just ask.
are you saying they don't speak much Mandarin and don't share culture with the rest of China?
Exactly. It is based on culture and ethnicity, and NOT on religion. If you promote separatism, you are going to get hammered, whether you are a muslim Uyghur or a buddhist Tibetan, and the punishment is going to be applied collectively.
China is not "anti-muslim". There are 50 million muslims in China. There are mosques in every major city. Most of these muslims dress, speak, and act just like other Chinese, and consider themselves Chinese. Xinjiang is a much more recent addition to China, and was originally conquered by the Qing (Manchus), not Han Chinese. Xinjiang continued to resist, broke away many times, and was independent as recently as 1949. Many Uyghurs feel more kinship with the people across the border in Kazakhstan that with the rest of China.
Not that that makes much of an argument in favor of Beijing's actions, though.
This policy is not coming from the central government in Beijing. This is an initiative of the Xinjiang provincial government.