Oops!
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
It's kinda funny that so soon after China hired Microsoft to "embrace and extend" censorship of the Internet, that a major Chinese Internet "security firm" has been hacked!
Hackers, apparently Chinese, worked their way into the website of a Chinese government Internet security firm, and defaced the company web page. This caused some embarrassment, although the company, Beijing General Security Service, was not noted for Internet security, but for hiring and supervising 4,000 "internet security guards" to monitor what Internet users in the Chinese capital do online.Is there a connection? Probably not, but it would be very amusing if it turned out that said "firm" deployed Microsoft internet software. If I were trying to keep the proles down, I'd run something more secure myself. Heh!
On a more serious note, the article goes on to explain the nice dilemma posed by the Internet for China.
Police states, like China, have a serious problem with the Internet. They need it, for economic reasons. The Internet has become part of the worldwide economic infrastructure. But the Internet also allows unfettered exchange of information. For a police state, this is bad. A police state remains in power, in part, by controlling the media. China has a booming economy, and cannot afford to lock down, or keep out, the Internet, as has happened in police states with poor economies (North Korea, Cuba, Burma). So China is adding more software, and personnel, to police Chinese Internet users.Good thing to keep in mind.
-- CAV
3 comments:
I imagine that China's censorship program will be booming, keeping more Chinese employed than would otherwise be employed -- kinda like the highway and dam construction boom that helped America out of the depression...
Funny thing about freedom vs. oppression (software or otherwise) give someone a little taste of the first and big dose of the second and you get one motivated hacker or activist, your pick.
I do not think China will be able to completely control the internet even with the HOLEY temple of Microsoft on their side. All you need is a little peer-to-peer encryption and you’ve blown away any keyword filter algorithm beanie head Bill comes up with to stop the word freedom from being emailed around.
CGW: I wouldn't say that hiring all those censors necessarily helps the Chinese economy or even that FDR actually got the U.S. out of the Great Depresssion, but that's a debate for another day.
But I think we can both agree that China's death grip on dissent is a bit shakey. That is both funny and great news.
LL: Yes. It really is good news that 'bloze runs on so many computers over in China. It almost makes one wonder whether Bill "Armand Hammer" Gates is intentionally hurting China by pretending to be helping their censorship efforts. Almost.
Gus
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