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Thread: China is turning its ISPs into internet police (VPN blocking software)

  1. #1

    China is turning its ISPs into internet police (VPN blocking software)

    http://www.extremetech.com/internet/...nternet-police

    China has long been a home to internet censorship, but it has been relatively lax until recently. Internet users have been able to easily and cheaply thwart the restrictions for years, but a number of concerning events show a trend toward more substantial censorship in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Scary new legislation that was recently approved will effectively turn China’s ISPs into the internet police. Now, ISPs will be forced to delete content deemed illegal and file a report with the government.

    This troubling legislation requires individuals to register with ISPs using their real name and contact information — even a copy of their passports or IDs. While the Chinese government bills this as safeguarding “national security and public interests,” the power this grants the PRC leadership is worrisome. Not only will ISPs need to silence illegal content such as political dissent, but this also ties real-world information to that content. If internet users in mainland China start posting about Tiananmen Square or the freedom of Tibet, the Chinese government will be able to find them and punish them more easily while quickly silencing their message with compliant ISPs.

    Even worse, the communist government is making it even harder to get around the Great Firewall of China by blocking VPN access. In a disturbing article in the Guardian, the PRC’s anti-VPN technology is highlighted. Using monitoring techniques such as deep packet inspection, ISPs like China Unicom are able to detect when a VPN is being used. Once detected, those connections are then terminated. As far back as May of 2011, we saw a disruption in VPN usage. Now, four common VPN protocols are being blocked. Sadly, this means escaping the Great Firewall is getting harder.

    This isn’t just a trend in China, though. Internet denizens still have to fight off control and censorship around the world. Earlier this month, we saw an attempt by certain UN members to wrestle away control of the internet from private leadership. In the United States, ridiculous legislation like SOPA and PIPA came far too close for comfort. The freedom the internet provides is scary to the ruling class around the world, and the only way to prevent censorship like China’s from making its way to other countries is to fight tooth and nail every time legislation of this type in introduced. Even now, bills like CISPA are still on the table in the US. If we want to see where this leads, just take a look at the PRC. Internet censorship is a real threat, and it won’t be going away any time soon.

    -t



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  3. #2
    China tightens 'Great Firewall' internet control with new technology
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...ternet-control



    News
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    China tightens 'Great Firewall' internet control with new technology

    Companies and individuals affected by new system thought to 'learn, discover and block' encrypted communications

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    Charles Arthur
    guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 December 2012 11.30 EST

    China computer in an internet cafe at Changzhi
    The Chinese government has introduced new technology to tighten controls on internet visibility within the country. Photograph: Stringer Shanghai/Reuters

    China appears to be tightening its control of internet services that are able to burrow secretly through what is known as the "Great Firewall", which prevents citizens there from reading some overseas content.

    Both companies and individuals are being hit by the new technology deployed by the Chinese government to control what people read inside the country.

    A number of companies providing "virtual private network" (VPN) services to users in China say the new system is able to "learn, discover and block" the encrypted communications methods used by a number of different VPN systems.

    China Unicom, one of the biggest telecoms providers in the country, is now killing connections where a VPN is detected, according to one company with a number of users in China.

    VPNs encrypt internet communications between two points so that even if the data being passed is tapped, it cannot be read. A VPN connection from inside China to outside it also mean that the user's internet connection effectively starts outside the "Great Firewall" – in theory giving access to the vast range of information and sites that the Chinese government blocks. That includes many western newspaper sites as well as resources such as Twitter, Facebook and Google.

    Users in China suspected in May 2011 that the government there was trying to disrupt VPN use, and now VPN providers have begun to notice the effects.

    Astrill, a VPN provider for users inside and outside China, has emailed its users to warn them that the "Great Firewall" system is blocking at least four of the common protocols used by VPNs, which means that they don't function. "This GFW update makes a lot of harm to business in China," the email says. "We believe [the] China censorship minister is a smart man … and this blockage will be removed and things will go back to normal."

    But the company added that trying to stay ahead of the censors is a "cat-and-mouse game" – although it is working on a new system that it hopes will let it stay ahead of the detection system.

    -t



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