China Hacked Asian Telcos To Spy on Uighur Travelers (reuters.com) 22
Hackers working for the Chinese government have broken into telecoms networks to track Uighur travelers in Central and Southeast Asia, Reuters reported, citing two intelligence officials and two security consultants who investigated the attacks. From a report: The hacks are part of a wider cyber-espionage campaign targeting "high-value individuals" such as diplomats and foreign military personnel, the sources said. But China has also prioritized tracking the movements of ethnic Uighurs, a minority mostly Muslim group considered a security threat by Beijing. China is facing growing international criticism over its treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang. Members of the group have been subject to mass detentions in what China calls "vocational training" centers and widespread state surveillance. Beijing's alleged cyberspace attacks against Uighurs show how it is able to pursue those policies beyond its physical borders.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. (Score:4, Funny)
Er Mah Gerd! (Score:2, Informative)
Stop the presses, government uses telecom access to track threats!!!!
I am certain that this does not happen every single fucking day in the US, EU, RUS, or...
Um, what's that? Every single sovereign nation uses these exact same tools in the exact same way?
Um, I don't suppose we can get them ALL to stop, uh... what's that *BONK*
Nothing to see here folks, just remember China BAD!!!
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you for giving me some new nebulous distraction to get upset about! Russiagate was getting old by now.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Stop the presses, government uses telecom access to track threats!!!!
Well more accurately it's:
"Government uses telecom to supress people in occupied territories."
Let's not forget that Uighurs are a conquered people who by and large just want their independence back.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
"Freedom fighters" and "terrorists" are, if not synonyms, flipsides of the same coin. I'd rather just settle in the middle with "insurgents."
True, although most separatists are not terrorists in this case; however the Chinese government considers "separatistism" to be as large a crime as actual "terrorism". Using China's doctrine of the three evils, the people in California who want a referendum on Californian independence are as evil as the people who crashed planes into the world trade center.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
You think the US government wouldn't at least 'monitor' the separatists/terrorists to see what they were planning next?
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Let's not forget that Uighurs are a conquered people
Xinjiang was conquered, but not by the Chinese.
They were conquered by the Manchus, back in the 1700s.
If you go back far enough, everywhere on earth was conquered by someone.
who by and large just want their independence back.
Uyghurs are a minority in Xinjiang. There is no support for independence from other ethnic groups, and even among the Uyghurs, it is not clear how many support independence. Even many of those who have a romantic attachment to the idea of independence, realize that it is an unrealistic fantasy.
Re: (Score:2)
> If you go back far enough, everywhere on earth was conquered by someone.
Not sure why this was marked as trolling, but you are exactly correct. And a situation like this shows how history can be viewed from multiple angles. The same situation is viewed differently depending on who is in power at a given time. That is not to say that the actions of the people in/out of power at a given moment are always equivalent, but that those actors may have motivation based on their position vis a vis access to powe
Re: (Score:1)
Fair enough (Score:1)
Nobody cares about the Uighers (Score:1)
Propaganda (Score:1, Troll)
It's pretty clear that there is an anti-china propaganda campaign going on. That means that there are teams of people whose job it is to churn out stories which are damaging to China and sometimes to those who get along with them too well.
The stories can be true or false , but usually contain truth which given a spin. It's the constaint stream which makes it effective though. It's like always asking the same question until nobody thinks about any other questions anymore.
Re: (Score:2)
And you can see that the propaganda works because this is already modded as troll. I mention it not because I'm such an enemy of propaganda, but because the level of propaganda has gotten out of hand, partly because too many like to take part in it for their own purposes. I still can recommend this report of war propaganda in 2003 : http://www.flatearthnews.net/f... [flatearthnews.net]
Things have gotten worse since.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it has gotten _much_ worse
#RememberMoab
Incorrect use of Past Tense (Score:2)
This is an active and ongoing operation.