Chinese Authorities Orders Two Million Paid Commenters to ‘Intrude’ Social Media

Star Chang, Jan 20, 2013 2:24 AM, 789 views, 10 Comments »,

According to the Beijing News, a meeting of Beijing propaganda department heads was held to unveil the city’s latest plans to control online content, plans which place microblogs firmly at the centre of propaganda efforts. Those in attendance were told by the management to mobilise the city’s combined force of over 2 million propaganda workers in opening accounts on microblog sites to spread “positive energy”, a mission as the guidance of online discussions of sensitive topics in a “positive” direction. In simple words, the Communist government is getting two million paid commenters to post comments favorable towards party policies in an attempt to shape and sway public opinion on Chinese social network, this is really, really terrifying …

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Google Stops Warning Chinese Web User of Censorship in Searches

Star Chang, Jan 5, 2013 12:03 AM, 490 views, 3 Comments »,

In China, Google added a warning that searching for certain terms might “temporarily break your connection” as the results were blocked. Now, after extended clashes with the Chinese government, Google decided to remove the feature which had previously informed users from China of censored keywords. This indicates a new development in the relationship between the Chinese government and Google. Since Google moved its search engine to Hong Kong in 2010, censorship of its services such as YouTube, Google Plus and thousands of keywords on Google Search has been done by the GFW. The latest move was now fully controlled by Google and can as such only be described as self-censorship …

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Apple vs. Great Firewall of China, Who Will Win ?

Carson Cheung, Jan 1, 2013 9:13 PM, 732 views, 1 Comment »,

The “Great Firewall” of China has properly killed many VPN connections recently. It has blocked searches for VPN apps on iTunes App Store in China too. But Apple, not to be out-gunned by the communist, has just switched connections to the App Store to the HTTPS protocol, a secure connection that is not easy to selectively filter. There is no doubt that Apple decision is brave enough, but it’s also extremely risky and may end up with more restrictions from the authorities. Apple’s move is actually building an unrestricted commercial platform which is free from the GFW’s control. It’s not clear how long the secure connection will be available. At the moment, Chinese Apple users can download or buy VPN apps freely in App store. In China, nothing can stay out of Chinese government’s eyes, especially the flow of information. It is highly likely that the government have noticed this loophole and they would step-up regulation on the Android and iTunes App Stores …

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Chinese Government Introduces New technology to Power-up its Great Firewall

Star Chang, Dec 20, 2012 3:40 AM, 1,337 views, 4 Comments »,

China appears to be tightening its control of internet services by upgrading the abominable “Great Firewall”, which prevents more Chinese web user from reading overseas content. Companies and individuals are being hit by the new technology deployed by the Chinese government to control what type of info where people are getting 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 …

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Chinese Web User Becomes Furious After Discover Their Country News agency is Allowed to use Twitter

Star Chang, Dec 18, 2012 4:42 AM, 490 views, Got something to say ?,

Chinese netizens are now aware that the Xinhua state news agency has been posting on Twitter since March despite China’s GFW and its attempts to block the popular western micro-blogging service. The presence of the official press agency of the Communist Party on Twitter has sparked discussions among Chinese web users. Xinhua’s official account now has more than 5,500 followers with 3,000 tweets. Now most of the China’s netizens are questioning why the state news agency is allowed to use Twitter service, but not the people. Other question raise up why Xinhua has kept a low profile about its Twitter presence. Internet users in mainland China usually access Twitter and other blocked websites via a VPN …

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China’s Web Censorship Drives Free Traffic to a Pet Club’s website in Miami

Star Chang, Dec 7, 2012 12:02 PM, 782 views, Got something to say ?,

According to a report in New Scientist, in one case the Chinese web censors have seemingly poisoned the DNS record of a torproject.org (a tool for anonymous use of the Internet), and redirected it to a pet shop’s website in Florida. The site is now receiving an insane number of hits every day. China’s well-known for its long and illustrious history of censoring the web. But rather than just blocking sites, it’s now employing this kind of strange techniques to stop the Chinese web user from seeing the real world …

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China Banned New York Times Website After Exposes Prime Minister’s Wealth

Star Chang, Oct 27, 2012 2:28 PM, 956 views, 3 Comments »,

CHINA has blocked the New York Times website and censored social media after the paper published an article saying Premier Wen Jiabao’s family members and relatives control assets worth at least US$2.7 billion. The state has blocked the report despite that fact that the Times makes it clear that no holdings have been found in Wen’s name and says it is uncertain how much the 70-year-old knows about his family’s wealth. On the blocking of the paper’s website, government spokesman said only that “China manages the internet in accordance with laws and rules” …

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Ai Weiwei’s ‘Gangnam Style’ Video is Banned in China

Star Chang, Oct 26, 2012 1:44 PM, 1,446 views, 3 Comments »,

Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei is pushing Chinese authorities’ buttons again, this time with a “Gangnam style” video spoof that was quickly blocked from Chinese websites. In the video, Ai sports a neon-pink T-shirt, black jacket, dark sunglasses, wearing a handcuffs and energetically mimics rodeo-style dance moves made famous by South Korean rapper PSY, whose original video became an Internet sensation, especially in China. What is Ai’s message ? The artist calls his version ‘Grass-Mud Horse Style,’ a reference to a Chinese Internet meme that employs a pun on an obscene phrase to mock government censorship of the Web …

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Watch: The Great Firewall Of China Song

Star Chang, Oct 16, 2012 1:39 PM, 363 views, Got something to say ?,

“The Great Firewall of China”, a well-known part of the Chinese government’s censorship of the Internet. It is one of the most powerful tools ever created for controlling public discourse in China. And yet it’s also a notoriously leaky construct that Chinese web user can circumvent by using VPN or speaking in code words and innuendos. So how does it all work ? Silicon Valley’s “site of record” Pando Daily channels have this music video to explain it all.

Millions of Chinese Internet Users Pour onto Facebook and Twitter ?

Star Chang, Oct 3, 2012 9:56 AM, 580 views, 2 Comments »,

According to new data by a global Internet research company, social media use in China has reportedly skyrocketed over the last three years despite the government’s strict bans on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other social-networking sites. The data estimates that Facebook users have increased from nearly 8 million to more than 63 million since July 2009, and Twitter users have gone from 11 million to 35 million. Despite these wild jumps in numbers, they are still only a small percentage of China’s population — with 15 percent of Chinese Internet users on Facebook and 8 percent on Twitter. Apparently, China’s “Great Firewall” is permeable …

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