More on China Flip-Flops on Mandatory Filtering - because the software was pirated?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ethan Ackerman <eackerma () u washington edu>
Date: June 16, 2009 4:41:22 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] More on China Flip-Flops on Mandatory Filtering -  
because  the software was pirated?
Reply-To: eackerma () u washington edu

Greetings Dave,

Some more interesting developments in the story surrounding China's
'mandatory' filtering order.

California-based Solid Oak Systems, makers of the Cybersitter
censorship software, is alleging that the Chinese military
front-company providing the Green Dam software, Jinhui Computer System
Engineering Inc, copied blacklists and actual functional code from its
software.

The allegations arise from a U.Michigan report on the Green Dam
software, which noted the similarities as well as several
vulnerabilities in the program.  Jinhui intends to sue the authors of
the U.Michigan report for disclosing those vulnerabilities.

Solid Oak has also sent cease-and-desist letters to major US PC makers
directing them not to export machines containing the Chinese software
while legal actions are pursued.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124486910756712249.html

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348834,00.asp

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/15/content_8282225.htm




On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 1:37 PM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
> From: bnmeeks () verizon net
> Date: June 16, 2009 10:30:00 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: China Flip-Flops on Mandatory Filtering
> Dave -- for IP if you wish.  All I know is what is in this story,  
> haven't verified any part of it.  However, I will say that just a  
> week ago Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of GlobalVoicesOnline.org and  
> an Assistant Professor, Journalism & Media Studies Centre,  
> University of Hong Kong, noted in an email that such a move by  
> Chinese authorities wasn't beyond the pale.  She cited sevearl  
> examples of previous official pronouncements by the Chinese  
> governments that where never enforced or allowed to simply fade into  
> the background without implementation.
>
> Here's the Guardian story:
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/16/china-backs-down-censorship-software
>
> China backs down over controversial censorship software
>
> Green Dam, which blocks access to porn and politically sensitive  
> websites, will not be compulsory, state media reports
>
> by Jonathan Watts in Beijing
>
> The Chinese government appears to have backed down in the face of  
> public opposition to its plans for mandatory installation of  
> censorship software on all new computers.
>
> The Green Dam Youth Escort program, which restricts access to  
> pornography and politically sensitive websites, was due to be  
> compulsorily incorporated in the hard drives of all new machines  
> sold after 1 July, but the state-run media announced today that it  
> would instead be an optional package.
>
> The softening of tone appears designed to head off a wave of  
> criticism about the program, which has brought the government  
> culture of information control into an unusually harsh domestic  
> spotlight.
>
> But it is unlikely to allay suspicions about the developer, Jinhui –  
> a military-backed software firm – and about Green Dam, which  
> tightens government control of the internet at the level of  
> individual computers.
>
> Secret documents published online and investigations by hackers have  
> revealed an embedded blacklist of politically sensitive words in the  
> program, a hole in the system that potentially allows remote users  
> to take control of an individual's computer and a defective  
> pornography algorithm.
>
> Wikileaks has published what it claims is the initial bidding  
> document to develop the software by Jinhui Computer System  
> Engineering. In the April 2008 paper, the Henan-based company  
> promised the ministry of industry and information that it could  
> provide international standards of blocking technology to restrict  
> access to pornography and other "harmful information".
>
> [snip]
>
> "The users have the final say on the installation of the Green Dam  
> Youth Escort, so it is misleading to say the government compels PC  
> users to use the software … The government's role is limited to  
> having the software developed and providing it free."
>
> Chinese language media have yet to make similar reports. In any  
> case, netizens will take a lot of persuading. A survey last week by  
> China's largest portal Sina found more than 80% respondents opposed  
> to Green Dam.
>
> [snip]
>
> Online reaction has been furious. One bulletin board, Fuck the Great  
> Firewall, contains a long list of rants. Another website offers anti- 
> Green Dam software. Gay and lesbian groups have initiated an online  
> petition against the software, which they fear will target them.
>
> Even the usually more compliant official media have criticised the  
> censors' plans.
>
> "The government ought to delegate rights to individuals and start  
> becoming a service-oriented government rather than a controlling  
> one," noted a columnist in the Economic Observer.
>
> The Beijing News asked why people without children were forced to  
> install software intended for minors and why two unknown companies  
> won the bid for this national software.
>
> Investigative journalists claim several of the patents in the  
> software have been channelled from the People's Liberation Army via  
> a Jinhui executive named Li Bicheng, who also works for the PLA  
> Information Engineering University in Zhengzhou. Zhao Huiqin,  
> chairwoman of the board of Jinhui, also graduated from a Military  
> Engineering Collage in Harbin. Under military law, servicemen are  
> forbidden from commercial activity.
>
> Lawyer Li Fangping has filed a lawsuit against Green Dam. "The  
> impact of this software will be huge. It will violate the rights of  
> many citizens," he said. "But people were not told anything about it  
> until a few weeks before its launch. This seriously violated the  
> citizen's right to be informed."
>
> In the face of this unprecedented public backlash, Rebecca McKinnon,  
> an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong's Journalism  
> and Media Studies Centre, said the authorities were under pressure  
> to climb down.
>
> "The people who clearly made a very bad decision are trying to avoid  
> becoming the laughing stock of China by suppressing the mounting  
> public scorn but they're unlikely to be successful," she said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Archives




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