Associated Press September 24, 2002
Chinese government: Falun Gong tapped into nationwide satellite system
By TED ANTHONY
Supporters of the outlawed Falun Gong movement hacked into China's top TV satellite system with their most audacious breach so far, beaming flashes of their own material across the vast land during programming aimed at millions of rural Chinese, the government said Tuesday.
In a full-throttle condemnation Tuesday night on its national newscast and through its official news agency, the government blamed a pirated broadcast operation from Taiwan for the "TV hijacking" and demanded that authorities on the island track down and punish the culprits.
"Why do some Falun Gong die-hards dare to blemish modern civilization in such a barefaced manner?" the Xinhua News Agency said in a blistering editorial that accompanied a 1,100-word report about the incursion.
Xinhua said the commandeering of a signal from Sino Satellite, or Sinosat, began Sept. 9 and had affected signals of a service designed to enable remote villages across the country to see broadcasts from China Central Television, or CCTV, the leading government-run network. The hacking also interrupted transmission of the China Education TV Station and some provincial-level TV stations, Xinhua said. It cut off television entirely for viewers in some rural and mountainous areas. Other interruptions happened Saturday during China's Moon Festival, Xinhua said.
"This seriously damaged the rights and interests of the audience and affected the normal education order of schools and as well as the learning activities of students," Zhang Tianlin, vice president of the education station, was quoted as saying.
Broadcasts promoting Falun Gong flashed for some moments on five TV channels, broadcast officials said, and service interruptions continued for more than an hour. It was unclear if the interruptions were caused by Falun Gong itself or by attempts to block its broadcasts.
Falun Gong has made a practice in recent months of hacking into local TV feeds and broadcasts, often broadcasting pirate transmissions to tout the benefits of the group and persuade the citizenry that Chinese authorities have treated it unfairly. China says such transmissions have "disrupted the public order" and go against international communications standards.
The television break-ins have embarrassed the government, which calls the protest videos "reactionary propaganda" and says they threaten social stability. It considers Falun Gong - and the support it has - a direct threat to communist rule.
Levi Browde, a U.S.-based Falun Gong spokesman, said he had no information about any transmissions originating from Taiwan - or any made in recent days. But he praised the "heroic act," which he said was not internationally orchestrated.
"In the environment they're in, they have no voice on TV, radio or any media in China," Browde said. Such a broadcast "pulls back the veil on the lies and deception upon which the propaganda campaign against Falun Gong has been built."
Previous hackings have targeted cities and regions, but this appears to be the first time Falun Gong supporters have breached such a widely distributed nationwide signal. Officials said they were certain the hacking originated in Taiwan.
An official with the Taiwan Affairs Office, which handles relations with the island's government, said Taiwan authorities must track down and punish the hackers. "The Taiwan side is responsible for stopping the criminal activity immediately," said the official, whom Xinhua did not name.
In Taipei, Taiwan's government did not immediately respond to the accusation.
Though Taiwan operates as a sovereign nation, Beijing considers it part of China and referred to the hacking as originating in "Taiwan province."
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va., organization that follows security issues, said jamming broadcasts is expensive and requires expertise but is not difficult, though replacing them with your own is quite challenging.
"It's definitely not something you could try at home. You could not do it from your backyard," Pike said. "It would have to be somebody who had a lot of money and also had a location they thought they could do it from without getting immediately caught."
Last week, 15 people convicted of breaking into a cable system to show Falun Gong videos were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. The sentences were among the longest yet imposed in the campaign to crush the spiritual movement, which had millions of followers before it was banned.
Thousands of Falun Gong followers have been detained since the group was outlawed. Most are released after a few months, though a government official told The Associated Press earlier this year that nearly 1,300 had been sentenced to prison.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press
