China's Internet "Information Skirmish"
A January 2000 report from U.S. Embassy Beijing
Summary: The Chinese government and some Chinese both inside and outside China have been fighting an "information skirmish" on the Internet for over three years. The Chinese government filters the flow of information into China. Dissident groups mail thousands of electronic periodicals into China. They constantly switch originating addresses to evade filtering. Some foreign websites are blocked but Chinese surfers often use proxy servers to evade the Great Red Firewall. Email from China cannot reach certain foreign addresses but using a foreign email account (such as Hotmail) can solve that problem. The old Chinese saying "For every measure taken on high there is a counter measure down below" is illustrated by the wide use of anti-filtering countermeasures. Many Chinese government rules such as the October 1999 net rules banning foreign news articles on Chinese websites have short half-lives. Even banned books sometimes appear in full text on PRC web sites.
PRC Government, Dissidents in Net "Information Skirmish"
The PRC government blocks foreign websites including VOA, some U.S. newspapers and Stanford University (www.stanford.edu may be blocked because of the Stanford Falungong student group web page on that site) as well as dissident sites. Blocking of foreign websites and of individual foreign newspapers comes on and off unpredictably. One U.S. journalist told U.S. Embassy Beijing Environment, Science and Technology officer (ESTOFF) in November: "Our newspaper isn't blocked anymore. Don't tell anyone! The last time our paper was unblocked, the reporter from the other paper asked the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs why our paper was unblocked. The next day our paper was blocked again!" Just a few days after ESTOFF heard that story, the Great Red Firewall had risen once again between that paper and potential visitors from China.
Many Use Proxy Servers to Evade the Great Red Firewall
Many Chinese surfers understand how to use proxy servers to reroute connections through a third computer in order to deceive the Great Red Firewall of China. Search engines as well as public domain software available on Chinese websites helps surfers find proxy servers. Many PRC newspaper and magazine articles are slyly slipped past editors and propaganda bosses by describing proxy servers as "a way to speed up access to foreign websites". One Chinese journalist proudly told ESTOFF recently about how he had written an article introducing proxy servers to millions of readers. Mail from China to certain addresses overseas is blocked but this can be sidestepped using an overseas mail online account (for example a Hotmail account). Proxy Hunter is freeware used in China to search for proxy servers.
Picture.exe Virus Mails Encryption Keys Back to China
Software for searching for proxy server websites and e-mail encryption software such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is widely available in the CDs distributed with some Chinese computer magazines. One program that combines Internet telephone with PGP encryption raises the spectre of inexpensive secure communications for dissidents. We do not know how widely personal encryption software is actually used in China. The picture.exe virus searches for PGP passwords on the computers it infects and emails the passwords back to China. It may be a government anti-PGP measure. A Chinese government official told Embassy officers that he knew of but was not permitted to discuss the picture.exe virus. See the June 1999 report China: Information Security.
Chinese Language E-Publications From Abroad Come to China
Another flavor of "information warfare" on the Internet is the large-scale emailing into the PRC of Chinese language electronic publications such as "Huaxia Digest". The Digest, a combination of articles selected from the PRC press and original articles by Chinese scholars abroad can also be found on the web at http://www.cnd.org . Readers in China need a proxy server to get to this website. Big Reference [Da Cankao] and Small Reference [Xiao Cankao] are edited by Chinese organizations in the USA . The PRC government response is to block email coming from certain addresses. The dissident publications respond by constantly shifting their email origination address. Chinese who supply email large numbers of email addresses to organizations abroad have been prosecuted. The authorities do not consider Chinese who receive dissident email publications responsible for having gotten onto a mailing list but forwarding these messages to others is not permitted.
VOA E-Mail Broadcasts Are Usually Blocked
Email blocking sometimes comes on and off unexpectedly. For example, over the past year the VOA has put out a Chinese language email news broadcast which delivers several paragraphs of news stories to thousands of recipients in the PRC. Unfortunately the VOA email service is often blocked. For example, the VOA Chinese-language email broadcast website was blocked from April to July 20, unblocked on July 20. Blocking resumed on August 5, continuing until October 15. Blocking resumed on October 22. On that day the VOA email broadcast transmitted Part II of its "The Great Firewall of China" series on the blocking of websites by the PRC government. The VOA email broadcasts have been blocked since October 22.
Yet blocked VOA email broadcast can still be received using a Hotmail or similar account located outside of China. Similarly, reception of email broadcasts within China can be checked using a mailbox within China. Many free email boxes are listed on major PRC websites such as Eastnet (www.eastnet.com.cn), Sina.com (www.sina.com.cn) and Netease (www.netease.com).
Internet Forums, Books Online, Military Websites and ICQ
Chinese discussion forums in China are often limited to less controversial topics such as computer operating systems, hobbies, dating and health. After the May 1999 Embassy bombing, some Internet forums attacked not only "U.S.-led NATO" but also the Chinese government for being too weak in its response. Discussion forums have become features on many popular PRC websites including the People's Daily website at http://www.peopledaily.com.cn The popular website Sina.Com has branches in the USA, China mainland and Taiwan. Free wheeling Chinese language discussion forums in Taiwan are easily accessible but cost more to access than domestic websites. This is changing as Internet connection costs continue to drop sharply.
Over the past year many PRC military information websites -- generally hobby websites -- have appeared on the Chinese Internet reflecting the higher interest in military matters generally during 1999. During Summer 1999, a Sichuan Province man was arrested for putting confidential military information on his hobby website.
Sometimes recent books appear in full text on free websites. During the Fall of 1999 several Chinese authors sued a website for putting their books online. Several Chinese bookstores including the Beijing Bookbuilding (Beijing Tushu Daxia) accept orders online. For more information on these websites see "Beijing Bookworm" at http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/english/sandt/bjbkwrm.html
Online Chatting, Telephony Opens The Door Ever Wider
ICQ, the online chat site that informs you when your friends are online, has many Chinese users since it supports messaging in Chinese as well as in English. Internet telephone software and indeed nearly all shareware and some commercial applications software become available on CD-ROMS or on Chinese websites soon after release. A Chinese service similar to ICQ, PICQ, makes it possible to connect not only with people online but also to send message to over one million Chinese who are listed with a particular pocket beeper service. Search robots -- software that simultaneously queries multiple Internet search engines -- are becoming popular in China. One U.S. Searchbot, Copernic (www.copernic.com) works well in Chinese since it queries the Yahoo! and Alta Vista web sites that both index many PRC web pages. A quick guide to PRC web sites is available on the U.S. Embassy Beijing webpage at http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/english/sandt/Sandchw.htm
October Ban on Foreign News Stories on Web Sites Has Faded
In October the Chinese government apparently banned links to foreign Chinese language newspapers from PRC news websites. Some of these sites such as Newshoo (http://www.newshoo.com.cn) and Netease (http://www.netease.com) feature thousands of news stories from today's newspapers collected from dozens of newspaper websites throughout China. Many of the most prominently featured news stories were from foreign Chinese-language newspapers such as the Singapore Morning News (Xinyapo Zaobao) as well as Chinese newspapers in Malaysia, and The Philippines. Foreign newspapers disappeared from the news websites in October. Yet by early December, these news articles were back.
Information about China seems to be considered differently than information about the outside world. Net users are ready to believe information about Chinese problems but often suspect hidden agendas behind foreign information relating to China's relations with other countries.
The Short Half-Life of Chinese Regulations
The October ban on foreign news on Chinese websites seems to have been relaxed or quickly fallen into disuse. Chinese regulations often have a short half-life. They are very often ignored after the first few months. Why? Chinese political scientists often point to very poor interagency coordination and very poor links between the central government in Beijing and the various layers of local governments that is built into the system. A very high-ranking Chinese central government official explained this to ESTOFF recently saying "The County Magistrate is not as powerful as the official on the spot." [Xianguan buru xianguan -- STC: 4905 1351/4619 0008 1172 3807 1351] In GB encoded Chinese characters: ÏعÙ/¹Ü²»ÈçÏÖ¹Ù
Banned Books on Chinese Government Websites
One final example from the China web world: a number of banned books are available in full text on several PRC internet sites. Some of these sites even belong to local governments! As Louis Armstrong said, "It's a wonderful world!"
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
