New Tech Allows China to Tighten Internet Control
January 10, 2013
If you hoped China might see the light and ease up on its Internet censorship, I’m afraid they’re going the other direction. The Guardian informs us, “China Tightens ‘Great Firewall’ Internet Control with New Technology.” Reportedly, the government is using new tools to interfere with VPN services that some in China have been using to skirt its constraints. This should make search interesting.
The article states:
“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.”
Though VPN providers are just noticing the effects of government interference, Chinese users got an inkling in May of 2011 that the government would attempt to disrupt VPN use. Now, according to VPN provider Astrill, at least four of the common protocols are being blocked by China’s “Great Firewall.” Though Astrill is working on a system it hopes will outstride censors, the company compared the effort to a cat-and-mouse game. Yes, that sounds about right.
Will China ever respect its citizens enough to trust them unfettered online?
Cynthia Murrell, January 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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[…] These two news outlets, as well as Bloomberg, seem to have been targeted as a result of their coverage of Chinese politics. Though there is yet no evidence to support the theory, security experts suspect that the Chinese government is behind the intrusions. Such charges are nothing new to China, who is also known for its embrace of Internet censorship. […]