Archive for: firewall
And the battle wages on…
The latest in an almost juvenile yet entertaining (and I’ll admit it, liberating) move by Google has them yet again, sticking it to the red man. We’ve already seen Google close up shop with their .cn search page, choosing to redirect it to google.hk — Hong Kong’s freer flowing version. China responded by filtering results. So Google countered again with another “catch me if you can” by implementing the now common accompanying Twitter feed essentially killing two censored birds with one stone. First off, the Twitter feeds included in search results are not censored, including plenty of highly controversial topics involving China. Second, Twitter itself has been more or less banned in China for obvious reasons. Awesome, a twofer!
So now we all just sit back and wait for China to make their next move and then see how Google responds. It’s fun for me and I’m sure it’s fun for a lot of you out there. Nothing like a little playground justice, huh?
LA Times Tech Blog
Have your own case of the “Berry Thumb” and happen to also fall under Uncle Sam’s umbrella of employment? Some bad news is headed your way — The Air Force is take large steps to increase cybersecurity starting with BlackBerry phones. Up until now, using the devices has been pretty much the same as civilian users. That’s all changing however under a new policy which will see Bluetooth disabled for all but special card readers for employees’ Common Access Cards and text/mms messages blocked indefinitely. It may not seem like those two things in themselves are that important. But to a BlackBerry/power user on the go, a crippled Bluetooth stack and no ability to send quick messages is a real sore point.
The bigger picture in this scheme isn’t merely “just because”. No, in this instance there is some actual common sense reasoning going into the move, with the goal of mobile devices being transitioned into ” Public Key Infrastructure” devices. These devices will then be secure enough to send and receive secret, encrypted information that before was too risky to send to a device with so many options to send it back out to unauthorized sources.
Generally the lock down of any gadget is a bad thing. But this is one of those few times I can see it being a necessity. God knows we don’t want some deep country secrets being leaked because some Berry toting government employee was a little loose with his text messages after bar crawling one night.
If it’s all really that much of a bother, government officials can always go and pay for their own phone. Novel concept.
Warranted?
Wired
Since Google made their bold stance to pull out of China regarding censorship issues earlier this year, the internet world has been in a firestorm. More recently however we’ve actually seen more controversy and actions taken regarding the “bigger picture”. For instance, this past week GoDaddy announced that they too would be following in Google’s footsteps and abandoning any further .cn domain registrations. Also on the list of potential movers is Dell, whom stated the idea was on the table.
One company whom so far has publicly (and rather proudly) voiced that they will continue operations in China is that of Microsoft. Former CEO Bill Gates was quoted saying:
At some point you have to ask yourself, do you want to do business in that country or not…”
Microsoft PR has gone on further stating that while they [Microsoft] appreciate other companies’ stances on the censorship/China issue, Microsoft remains committed to China and obeying local laws.
It is this stance that has Microsoft in the cross-hairs of the US Government body who took to their podiums today to denounce Microsoft’s decision as foolish and short sighted while simultaneously praising Google for theirs. And for the most part, I agree with the governments stance.
For me personally, Microsoft’s viewpoint leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Their defense — that they’re merely obeying local laws — is a bullshit excuse and response. What if China supported mass genocide and the killing of red headed step children thanks to specially crafted chips implanted in every person residing in the country at birth that allowed constant 24/7 tracking? If Microsoft made such a chip for much broader users, would they continue to directly deal with China and sell them said chips simply because they were merely “obeying the law”?
Now I realize the genocide example is an extreme example that fortunately is not taking place (in China anyway). But the main point still stands. Merely pushing off all of their reasoning as “because they said so” is the worst defense Microsoft could use. In the end it leaves them looking like pro-communist anti-consumer rights supporters which isn’t exactly the image they want to portray.
So again I ask: Is this all getting overblown or is Microsoft treading a fine line?
DailyTech
Google took the tech world by storm back in early January by stating (out of the blue I might add) that they were going to cease censoring search results in China and that if China pushed back, the California based company was going to pull out of China all together. Yet here we sit almost two months later and not much else has developed besides a few comments hurdled back and forth between the Chinese government and Google. To most, we’ve already written off Google’s future in China as pretty much finished. I mean, China is one of the most censored markets in the world whereas Google is one of the most outspoken on such policies — complete opposites. Consider it a pretty substantial surprise then that Google announced today, more or less “positive” negotiations with the Chinese government.
Today at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, CEO Eric Schmidt went ahead and stated that “while there was no set in stone time-table yet, he sees a resolution happening in the not too distant future”. Should we cheer? Or should we stand back, holding on to our truckload of caution? I’m siding with the latter for now. China isn’t exactly the negotiable type at the world table, nor have they every really shown that they care what the rest of the world thinks of them. But if there is any truth in Schmidt’s response, consider it one of the greatest revolutions in the modern technical era. If such a concession is made by the Chinese government, I will be generally intrigued to see how other companies follow suit.
Think there’s any chance Google can “win” in China?
Cnet News
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- January 25, 2010 10:28 am
After watching the events surrounding Google and China displayed across the world’s various media sources unfold, word of Google not being the default Android search engine shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. While Google is for all intents and purposes “done” with China, those who already had or want any more Android lovin’ and find themselves between a firewall rock and a hard place were left wondering what would happen without the core Google products on board.
For search anyway, Baidu is here to save the day, pushing out Google and furthering it’s progress to 100% market share. What is still unknown however is what will happen to the two delayed Moto Android handsets that were destined for China Unicom. And so we wait….
MobileBurn
Getting a good education in todays world is a must if you plan on getting anywhere in life. Those looking for such an education have many fine and prestigious schools across the world to choose from. Here in the states, Harvard is often heard when comparing various top schools as is Oxford for those in the UK. Today however we’re focusing on the latter and one decision in particular that has students bloddy angry. It all involves P2P file sharing, though, not in the way you’d think…
I’ve written about Spotify several times before because frankly, it’s awesome. Compared to all of the music streaming services in the states, it’s simply the best option. Unfortunately, numerous amounts of red tape and corporate push over have so far kept the UK born service out of the states. But a new development at one of the UK’s most recognized colleges: Oxford.
As is similar with most colleges, P2P and any type of file sharing service is banned on campus computers and networks. Up until this point, Oxford students were able to use Spotify anyway. I mean, it is a legal service with the only knock against it (according to the school’s policies) is that it was a P2P service. Like most of you know, P2P use is generally accompanied by hefty bandwidth usage meaning it puts a heavy burden on networks. Oxford’s network is apparently buckling under the load.
Naturally, students who have come to survive on Spotify’s vast streamable library to offset the overplayed and overhyped top 40 that routinely flood the airwaves aren’t the slightest bit happy. Likewise, the school maintains their position on P2P bans pertaining to Spotify.
So where do we go from here? In all honesty it isn’t that big of a deal in the grander scheme of things (read: Haiti). Not to mention, if school related functions on their network are starting to puke because of all this new fangled music streaming stuff, Oxford has every right to maintain the integrity of their network. Still, in the digital world, it’s a pretty big thing I’d say. It begs the question: Is there a better way to handle it? Perhaps time limits tied to a particular school logon — hourly, daily, weekly?
One possible way that Oxford and schools in general can get around this is by using tunneling and other network management technologies to limit how much bandwidth is allotted to applications and services such as Spotify. Doing so would keep school and student bodies equally happy (in theory).
With restrictions and false boundaries comes those looking to get around said limitations in order to get back to what was once theirs. Such tactics to geeks are like an “Independence Day” of sorts, reclaiming lost freedoms. To the IT/school organization however, it can often lead to various punishments including a blanket computer ban and expulsion. So tread lightly.
Any Oxford students or those familiar with the matter feel like chiming in?
Pocket-Lint
- December 15, 2009 7:21 am
Every time I hear the words DRM, censored, “it’s for the children”, and so on, I get the urge to vomit. So many times in the short time span of the last 10 years, we’ve seen various groups and individuals alike trying to safety proof the world — sanitizing our daily lives because a select few feel it is their duty to encroach on other peoples’ lives. If I were ever thinking of moving to Australia, my hopes, dreams, and ambitions would be severely squelched after learning of the recent “green lighting” of a new internet censoring program being employed by the Australian Federal Government. As you guessed, it’s all for the kiddies.
The main goal of the censorship smackdown is to week out harmful sites such as child abuse, child pornography, sexual violence and anything else along those lines. According to the government, this so called blacklist of “refused classification” is the best method for blocking harmful content and keeping the internet in the land down under running at 100% optimum speed. It’s worth noting that the government and supporting agencies boast of the list method’s extremely quick operation. However, one thing we all have to keep into account is that the list from the start isn’t that big considering how many websites are on the internet. The true test would be after a few years when millions upon millions of sites are clogging this so called “great idea”. Only then will we see how it truly performs.
But the most frightening and sadly unsurprising realization is that the list of blacklisted sites doesn’t just contain your normal allotment of kiddie porn and other “harmful” things. Earlier this year, a blacklist-in-the-making leaked onto the web allowing all to see the direction and scope of this censorship. To the fear of many, the list did in fact contain far more material than one would think. Common sites such as YouTube, countless online gambling sites, various Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, “fringe” religions (Satanists apply here), fetish sites, Christian sites, and even normal gay/straight sex sites. As you can see from this small example of blacklisted content that in no way should be blacklisted, the future consequences of employing a country wide net nanny have far reaching consequences. Consequences that future governments will abuse.
It’s the age old story: Government liberates for the people, returning power to the civilians. Over time, government grows larger. In the end, government is just as oppressive and large as before. Mind you, the U.S. isn’t squeaky clean either. There isn’t (or at least shouldn’t be) a doubt in anyone’s mind that the U.S. government doesn’t enact at least some small scale internet filtering. It’s the sad state of the world we live in today. Australia’s new direction is a sobering one that should scare not only tech geeks, but simple civilians as well.
While the Great Firewall of Australia has the weight and support of the federal government behind it, it still has to be elected into law come spring time. Hopefully Australia has a few more tech minded, competent people in office that actually understand anything digital and realize the terrible idea this is quickly becoming.
Safety proofing the world will never remove harmful content. Those who truly seek socially blacklisted content will always find it. The only people blocked, affected, and ultimately hurt by such things are the vast base of the general population — in this case, the general internet using population. At some point, the human race is going to reach a point where they one day wake up and realize that policing the world, monitoring everything, and having nanny eyes spying on every corner completely ruins the entire aspect of this little thing called life.
Fark > The Age
[Image Source] [Image Source]
- September 21, 2009 11:25 am
In what was one of the worst ideas yet in regards to censorship and “safety”, the forced install of the Green Dam Youth Escort software that was mandated to be installed on every PC in China has been dealt another and potentially fatal blow. The last three major manufacturers whom also started shipping or installing the software from the factory are now backing down as well. Lenovo no longer installs the software from the factory, though, they will provide an install CD if asked. Acer announced that they too will stop shipping PC’s with the Green Dam install CD. Sony meanwhile stopped shipping Green Dam two months ago after the initial July deadline was repealed. It’s worth noting that while the July deadline was repealed for an outright mandatory install on all PC’s, the public sector including schools, cafes, etc. were still required to install the software.
It appears however that the line in the sand will be moved even further back as public domains are starting to blacklist the software with the latest being Number 50 Chinese High School which is requiring the Green Dam software to be uninstalled from all school computers as it caused conflicts with grade and attendance software already in use. If you don’t recall, the original outcries were caused by privacy concerns as Green Dam was extremely invasive as well as the fact that it was being forced on everyone. Now that there has been some secession on the governments part, could one interpret this as a more consumer friendly movement moving through the Chinese government? Can I get a whoop whoop?!
In all reality, the makers of Green Dam are most likely working on the various bugs and maybe even a few privacy concerns so that they can come back at a later date? Have we seen the last of Green Dam?
Tech Vi < Yahoo
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Count this as a small victory for computer users everywhere, especially those residing in China. Announcing via Xinhua, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that a mere 1 day before the July 1st deadline was to go into effect, they have decided to hold off on any mandatory install deadline indefinitely as to give “computer producers more time to put the order into effect”. Which…loosely translated and stripping out the PR BS means “there was so much public outrage and disapproval at home and abroad….we just scared!!!” Not everyone will benefit however as school and internet cafe computers are exempt fromt his new revelation. The Ministry also went on to say that Green Dam would be available for download to anyone who wanted to install it on their own terms, (like that’s going to happen).
**Update** As suspected, the rollout of Green Dam is not cancelled, but merely postponed. Several manufacturers are already bundling the software with new PCs. Those manufacturers include: Acer, Benq, Haier, and Sony. Other PC manufacturers such as Acer have stated that they are planning to roll out the software bundled in with new PCs at a near term future date. Manufactuers HP, Dell and Toshiba are still mum on when or how they plan to rollout Green Dam.
