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China Privacy

WeChat Surveils International Accounts To Decide What To Censor for Chinese Users, Study Says (scmp.com) 60

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
WeChat, the Chinese messaging app, is systematically monitoring the content sent by international users to build up its censorship algorithms applied against accounts registered in China, a new study has found. From a report: Researchers at Citizen Lab, an academic research lab at the University of Toronto, determined that WeChat screens images and documents shared by accounts registered outside China after they are sent, then adds the digital signature -- or "hash" -- of any files deemed sensitive to a blacklist. Those files then cannot be sent or received by China-registered users. Numerous studies have identified WeChat's use of censorship tools against China-linked accounts, but this research provides proof for the first time that non-China registered users are also swept up in its surveillance apparatus. Published Thursday in a report called "We Chat, They Watch," the Citizen Lab findings are likely to add fuel to existing concerns, particularly in Washington, about data security and the international reach of information control tools used by Chinese tech companies.
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WeChat Surveils International Accounts To Decide What To Censor for Chinese Users, Study Says More

WeChat Surveils International Accounts To Decide What To Censor for Chinese Users, Study Says

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  • China = Censorship (Score:3)

    by SirAstral ( 1349985 ) on Thursday May 07, 2020 @11:51AM (#60032534)

    We know and no one cares.

    If they did China would be busted back down to a 3rd world cuntry and shunned by the global community and consumers.

    Most people talking about human rights are just virtue signaling and contributing to global warming.

  • China is getting its tentacles into western countries by way of business partnerships.

    Google, Hollywood studios, Facebook, etc. don't want to endanger benevolent mother China's almighty cash-flow by upholding the free flow of information, basic human rights.

    We are complacent .

    • In the 13th century, they used to sail around the southern coast of Asia with a huge massive fleet, ten times bigger than anyone had ever seen, landed in your harbor, bringing lots of amazing gifts, and kindly ... suggesting ... you join their empire. *looks over at the huge fleet filling the horizon*

      Obviously, everybody joined.

      They almost got to Europe!
      And they would have conquered it too, it the leadership hadn't gone nuts, and decided to completely lock itself off from the rest of the world due to some s

      • I just don't get the need for all the evilness.

        Their evilness or evilness in general?? As you seem knowledgeable enough about history to spot recurring themes for what they are, I assume that your confusion is philosophical...

      • And they would have conquered it too, it the leadership hadn't gone nuts, and decided to completely lock itself off from the rest of the world due to some spiritual nonsense.

        What spiritual nonsense did you have in mind? The Chinese emperor at the time the fleet got back didn't want the rise of a wealthy merchant class. It was a power play, not a religious moment.

      • Zheng He's fleet wasn't conquerors. They barely made war on anyone at all. It was a gigantic, expensive vanity project that didn't benefit the Chinese people at all, and was called off as soon as the emperor died. They didn't make it anywhere near Europe, Madagascar and Ethiopia are still thousands of miles away.

        The reason that China is doing so well in Africa is that, according to the locals, they're offering much better deals than the former colonial overlords. Why do you think they're getting such an

  • The aspect of the story that interests me is not that China is invasively spying on its citizens. Not even surprised that they extend the invasion to any channel that can reach their citizens from outside. (Both ways, of course.)

    What surprises me is that the story makes it sound like the Chinese are being blunt and obvious about it. Where's the famous Chinese subtlety? Where are the oriental head games? It's almost as if the Chinese don't really care. They want their citizens to know they are being watched

    • USAsians are very naive if they think that their spy agencies are doing any different. The FBI even tried to disrupt the presidential election campaign of President Trump.

      • The FBI even tried to disrupt the presidential election campaign of President Trump.

        Damn you FBI, you had one job.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by shanen ( 462549 )

          I'd give you the Funny mod if I ever had a mod point, but I don't think he was joking or even setting up for a joke, but just trolling. At this point, anyone who is defending Trump has to be regarded as deranged (and dismissed accordingly).

          The way exponential growth works, we might be looking to beat the Civil War record before the election, so forgive me for not laughing. Tiny redeeming feature: The Civil War death toll of 620,000 was for a much smaller population, so the percentage-based mortality of SARS

        • Well, let's be fair: As soon as it was limited to "Democrats" versus "Republican", it was already fucked.

          • The moment political parties form and people see value in them, it's all fucked.

            People must be free to associate with the things they like and not be held to some group standard. But we already know that the old school racists now need a new group identity to dehumanize so they find people in certain groups and well... try to dehumanize them.

    • What surprises me is that the story makes it sound like the Chinese are being blunt and obvious about it. Where's the famous Chinese subtlety? Where are the oriental head games?

      Outside of movies, what evidence do you have that these stereotypical Chinese qualities exist?

      Real life seems to demonstrate that the current Chinese leadership prefers to solve problems with a cudgel rather than a gentle nudge.

      • Alright then, stereotypical Chinese subordination?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        My humor doesn't work very well, does it? I was joking about the "racial" or "cultural" stereotypes. However I think real life is much more subtle than your second paragraph suggests.

        In China these days no one is quite sure what the Chinese government is going to censor or permit. The limits are deliberately kept vague and unclear, though there are some topics that are clearly defined as over the edge--and yet even there you have to wonder if they are joking. Does Xi truly feel his authority is threatened b

  • Facebook Announces Its new "Censorship Board" Who Determine If You Get Banned Or Not [youtube.com].

    "Facebook announced the first 20 members of its oversight board. The board is an independent body that can overturn the company's own content moderation decisions. Facebook said the board will begin hearing cases in the coming months. This way when something negative appears on Facebook they can say "hey don't look at us, look at them" and then and then that governing body will just bend the knee as well." Notable members

    • Because if it is private, it is somehow "OK".
      Nevermind that the US has no democratic government but an oligarchy OF those privatr corporations. ... Unless you consider *them* the actual citizens. :)

      But in any case: We know. The US us shit too. But that's not what this is about. This is about China being shit. They are both shit, OK? But right now the topic is China. So let's ponder that right now.

    • One goes through a committee, another one feeds an algorithm that automatically censors for a billion people.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Wolfier ( 94144 )

        Also, one that's announced publicly, vs another one that's carried out as a clandestine operation until someone reverse engineers it.

        Differences are numerous and trivial to spot.

      • I knew there would be Facebook censorship apologists. You people get paid, right? You would have to - who in their right mind would defend Facebook, of all organizations - for free?

  • "We Chat, They Watch"

    People should start calling it "WeeChaDeWa" instead of "WeChat".

  • Like reporting the Nazis ogling some Jews.

    The real news is what you and I are gonna do about it.

    Seems an empty page makes for a bad front page.

  • So how about trying to cause a hash collision on signatures?

    Just create a few thousand random texts known to trigger the censor and build trillions of messages/files with random filler text in between to generate as many possible hashes as possible. Then sit back as the filter flags trillions of files and hashes to the point where there is a good chance that something is blocked because it matched some signature hash.

    Even if the hashes are fairly large whatever database that is being used will eventual
    • I think you overestimate the [adultered] packet throughput of the common Chinese citizen. I suspect over-publishing is flagged for neutralization, rather than passively tolerated. You'd never manage to write enough. Generating collisions based on future predictions or leaked documents not yet released could be viable if the system's hashing algorithm is known.

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