China Requires ID for Mobile Phone Numbers

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Windell Oskay

By Michael Wines | New York Times | September 1, 2010

BEIJING — China’s government began on Wednesday to require cellphone users to furnish identification when buying SIM cards, a move officials cast as an attempt to rein in burgeoning cellphone spam, pornography and fraud schemes.

The requirement, which has been in the works for years, is not unlike rules in many developed nations that force users to present credit card data or other proof of identification to buy cellphone numbers. The government’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that about 40 percent of China’s 800 million cellphone users currently are unidentified. Those users will be ordered to furnish an ID by 2013 or lose their service, the Communist Party’s English-language newspaper, Global Times, reported.

A government center that deals with cellphone complaints reported that an average Chinese phone user receives a dozen spam messages a week, and that three in four users received messages that involved fraud, the state-run English-language newspaper, China Daily, reported on Wednesday.

Some analysts, however, questioned whether the new requirement would substantially reduce illicit messages. Instead, they warned that it could give the government new tools to locate and punish individuals who send cellphone messages that censors deem unacceptable. China’s central government has steadily tightened its censorship of the Internet and wireless communications since 2008, blocking increasing numbers of Internet Web sites, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and, most recently, shutting down microblogs that it regards as subversive.

The new regulation will be implemented largely by the three government-controlled companies — China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom — that provide all cellular service.

“Is China prepared for this?” David Bandurski, an author and media analyst at the University of Hong Kong’s China Media Project, said in a telephone interview. “Does it have the legal framework and the institutions in place to guarantee they can do this and still protect the privacy of consumers?

“People are basically providing their phone numbers and ID numbers” to the mobile carriers, he said. “Those are the two most important pieces of information that most people have.”

In an article posted Wednesday on the China Media Project’s Web site, a legal researcher at the government-sponsored Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhou Hanhua, expressed doubts that requiring users to register their names with the companies would control spam.

Initially, he wrote, the rules likely will first create a black market in legally registered SIM cards that can be used for spam, and then spur hackers to find ways to circumvent the registration requirement.

“Technology innovation will soon trump the government’s control,” he wrote.

Others were less concerned. A professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Zeng Jianqiu, said that real-name registration was essential if services now common in other nations, such as payment by cellphone, are to become established in China.

Privacy “is a problem that needs to be considered seriously,” he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “The regulators and mobile operators also need to find ways to protect personal information. But I think some, like China Mobile and Telecom, are already doing this.”

Under the new policy, convenience store and street vendors who have been selling anonymous SIM cards were to suspend sales on Wednesday until they are trained to register their customers. Foreigners will also be required to furnish a passport or other identification when establishing cellphone service.

Zhang Jing contributed research.

Google lets uneasy Germans opt out of ‘Street View’

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Alberto Varela

By Deborah Cole | AFP | August 10, 2010

BERLIN — Google said Tuesday it would allow Germans to opt out of its disputed Street View navigation service ahead of its launch in the country this year but privacy watchdogs were still not happy.

The move is part of an effort to placate German authorities, who have serious concerns about the service that allows users to view online panoramic still photos at street level taken using specially equipped vehicles.

“Google will roll out Street View for the 20 biggest German cities by the end of the year,” the company said in a statement, meaning Germany will join the list of 23 countries featured on Street View.

The service, launched in 2007, allows users to view street scenes on Google Maps and “walk” through cities such as New York, Paris or Hong Kong on their computers or smartphones.

But Street View has been dogged by legal problems. On Tuesday South Korean police searched Google offices on suspicion of breaching privacy laws while collecting information for the service.

The debate has been particularly heated in Germany, where authorities forced concessions from the Internet giant.

“Germany had very unique experiences with data protection during the two dictatorships,” under the Nazis and the East German communists, said Internet specialist Falk Lueke of the VBVZ consumers association.

Uniquely for Germany, Google will launch a campaign Wednesday informing citizens concerned about safety or privacy how they can have pictures of their homes or businesses pixelled out before they are published.

“Renters or owners can apply to have their building made unrecognisable before the pictures are published online” from next week, the company said.

Google already blocks out people’s faces and car number plates in the other countries featured on Street View and will also do so in Germany.

In April Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner and Google reached an agreement after a lengthy dispute under which the company would only provide Street View images from Germany after it had addressed privacy concerns.

Aigner, a fierce defender of privacy rights online, made headlines in June when said she would delete her Facebook profile over data protection issues.

She welcomed Google’s concessions as a victory for her hardline stance.

“My demands and the public debate about Google publishing information about homes and property on the Internet have borne fruit,” her ministry said in a statement.

Google’s announcement failed to silence the most vocal critics, who said the opt-out policy was far too complicated.

Johannes Caspar, the commissioner for data protection and freedom of information in Hamburg, where Google’s German unit is based, said he was “stunned” about the quick roll-out.

“My concerns about implementing these complex opt-out proceedings were unfortunately not respected,” said Caspar, who was involved in the initial negotiations with the company,

He noted that Google was launching the campaign when many Germans are still away on their summer holidays and was limiting it to four weeks, after which photographs can only be pulled from the Web post-publication.

Lueke said the launch would be an experiment for Google and Germany.

“Many problems will only be identifiable once the software is launched,” Lueke said. “For example, will faces be better pixelled out than in Britain, where you can still recognise them?”

The company noted, however, that Germans were already among its most avid users of Street View when making their travel plans abroad, with nearly one million clicks per day.

“That is the problem: no one wants to see his house on the Internet. But everybody wants to find photos of their vacation rental,” Lueke said.

RIM headache grows as govts seek BlackBerry access

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Honou

By Yara Bayoumy | Reuters | August 5, 2010

BEIRUT, Aug 5 (Reuters) – BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd (RIM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday faced more demands to open up its smartphones to government scrutiny as Lebanon joined India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in raising concerns over security.

RIM’s co-CEO Michael Lazaridis fought back in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, accusing foreign officials of picking on smartphones to score political points.

“This is about the Internet,” Lazaridis was quoted as saying in the Journal interview. “Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can’t deal with the Internet, they should shut it off.”

Shares of RIM fell nearly 2 percent in trading on the Nasdaq and Toronto stock exchange. The stock has lost about 8 percent of its value since the United Arab Emirates threatened over the weekend to ban BlackBerry email, messaging and Internet services after three years of negotiations with RIM over access to encrypted user data.

The BlackBerry also faces a potential ban in Saudi Arabia as early as Friday if RIM is unable to reach a compromise there. RIM and Saudi officials met on Thursday ahead of the pending ban.

Lebanon raised concerns over the smartphone on Thursday, saying it was studying security concerns related to the BlackBerry and would begin talks with RIM.

Media reports earlier had said that Indonesia was also pressing on RIM to allow monitoring of BlackBerry data, though the country’s communications minister said it was not banning the service.

India, worried that BlackBerry’s highly secure messaging services could be misused by militants, has demanded more access for its security agencies, and the country’s telecoms minister said it had not yet reached an agreement with the company.

The Indian government may block the BlackBerry messenger service but allow emails and voicemails if a solution is not reached, the Times of India said on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

A broadening stand-off with global governments could hurt sentiment on RIM on Wall Street, which had initially been reassured that a ban by the Gulf states would affect a tiny portion of the BlackBerry’s more than 41 million subscribers.

Lazaridis acknowledged the company was in discussions with various governments, and said the issue will likely get resolved.

RIM has said BlackBerry security is based on a system where customers create their own key and the company neither has a master key nor any “back door” to enable RIM or third parties to gain access to crucial corporate data.

The company said Wednesday it has never provided anything unique to the government of one country and cannot accommodate any request for a copy of a customer’s encryption key. (Additional reporting by Souhail Karam, Writing by Ritsuko Ando in New York, Editing by Tiffany Wu, Dave Zimmerman)

South Korea: Personal Information Requirement Halted For the Moment

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Sébastien Bertrand

By Lee Yoo Eun | Global Voices Online | August 3, 2010

In South Korea, a deal that could trigger mass personal information leakage was blocked at the last minute by public opposition. As one Korean portal giant’s attempt to gather private information was thwarted, a public notion has formed that we have let things go too far.

What is different between for instance Google and the Korean blogging and social networking web sites is that you need to fill in all the basic, crucial personal information when registering. In the case of Naver, Daum and numerous other major sites, it is mandatory to write down your real full name and your social security number as a first step. After you write down these two, the security software matches them and confirms your identification. Next, you need write down your information in several must-fill blanks which include your home address, home phone numbers, cell phone number and sometimes your occupation.

Nate.com, is a South Korean major web portal, developed by SK Telecom, and owner Cyworld, a Korean version of Facebook. Last week, it took one bold step further into collecting its members’ MAC addresses and computer names. This move faced a huge public backlash and within a day Nate backed off.

MAC number, or Mac address is a unique identifier assigned to network adapters or network interface cards (NICs) usually by the manufacturer. Unlike IP address that can sometimes be changed, with the MAC you can identify the computer’s information more accurately. For ordinary people, the once-given MAC address works as the PC’s social security number.

Nate explained its’ move to collect the information was purely for security purpose, as to wrote in the notice ‘to prevent inappropriate use of the web site by ill-intentioned members and to block unauthorized usage of the site‘. If the member disagrees with the new policy, the only option he can take is to delete his Nate account. When this emails were sent to members, internet users erupted with criticisms that it is a de facto leakage of private information, or at least it paves the way into the mass leakage. Many have even threatened the corporate that they will delete their Nate and Cyworld accounts.

A blogger Kotone commented this kind of move freaks people out and voiced out worries that the information might be used in government’s crackdown on its’ people. The blogger also pointed out a disastrous mistake done by another SK owned web-site in the first week of July. Egloos site accidentally opened the access to every blogs to everyone for 21 minutes, giving powers to anyone to write, edit and delete other’s blog contents without even logging into.

SK커뮤니케이션즈가 네이트의 개인정보취급방침을 변경하면서 MAC 주소와 컴퓨터 이름도 수집한다는군요. 어쩌면 정부를 …(비판하는) 베플을 올린 사람의 신원과 거주지를 특정할 수 있는 정보를 요구받을 때에 쓴다거나…참고로 같은 SK 소속의 이글루스는 최근에 이용자 권한을 30분간 무한개방(?)하는 사고를 낸 적도 있기 때문에 불안감이 급증하는군요. 후덜덜.

The SK communications announced that they will change the Nate’s privacy policy into collecting the MAC address and computer names. Perhaps this information on personal profiles and individual’s whereabouts can be used to track down the government’s vocal critics…FYI, the Egloos site which runs under the same SK Groups made a huge accident recently of giving the owner status to anyone for about 30 minutes. So this move makes me feel really uneasy and gives me chills.

There is a fine line between requesting more information for security and allowing less information for privacy. A blogger DLSH 1601 called this dilemma as a double-edged sword and listed the pros and cons of the move. Later the blogger mentioned that if Nate were doing this purely for prevention of crime, it is understandable, but it needs to be aware of the high risk it brings.

MAC 주소와 컴퓨터 이름을 갖고 있으면, 해당 PC 위치를 정확히 잡아낼 수 있다. 이는 양날의 칼이다. 좋게 보면, 이같은 정책은 사이버 범죄를 예방하고 사후 검거율도 높일 수 있다. 메신저 피싱 범죄를 모의하는 사람이 미리 겁먹고 사전 시도를 못하는 효과를 주게 된다. 은행이나 으슥한 골목에 CCTV를 달아두는 것과 비슷한 이치다.

With the MAC address and the computer name, you can track down the exact location of the PC. This information works like a double-edged sword. From optimistic perspective, it can help prevent the online crime and increase the successful arrest rate. And it may scare away the people who collude with other criminals to commit messenger phishing scam. It works very similar with installing the CCTVs in dark alleyways and in banks.

반대로, MAC 주소가 든 서버를 누군가 해킹할 경우 위험도 그만큼 커진다. MAC 주소를 알면 해당 PC 이용자 온라인 행적을 시간대별로 파악할 수 있기 때문이다. 이런 식으로 MAC 주소를 빼가는 프로그램이 인터넷으로 은밀히 떠도는 것도 공공연한 비밀이다. 실제로 2008년께 금융권이 MAC 주소를 수집한다는 사실이 알려지며 개인정보 유출 위험에 대한 논란이 벌어지기도 했다.

On the other hands, if one knew the MAC address to the PC, (depending on who that ‘one’ is) the risk can be magnified. With the MAC address, you can grasp the sequence of the PC user’s actions (for example) on an hourly basis. It is an open secret that the software that steals the MAC addresses is illicitly circulating online. In fact in 2008, when it was disclosed that some financial institutions collected the MAC address, a huge controversy on the risky situation under which private information is was erupted.

The blogger later went on commenting that this is not the issue only applies to one Korean company.

이번 논란으로 네이트온은 숙제를 떠안았다. 정보보호 강화와 이용자 사생활 침해 위협 사이에서 어떡하면 지혜로운 해법을 내놓을 수 있을까. 이는 비단 네이트온에 국한된 문제만은 아니다. 인스턴트 메신저를 제공하는 마이크로소프트, 야후 등도 현명한 줄다리기를 해야 할 시점이다. 해묵고도 어려운 문제지만, 한 가지는 확실하다. 칼은 결국 쓰는 자 의지에 따라 용도가 달라진다는.

By this case, the Nate On(Nate’s instant message software) was given an assignment of how it will balance and come up with wise strategies between the security and the threat to the privacy. It is not the question only Nate has to deal with. Microsoft and Yahoo who provide the instant message service have to perform a cleaver tug-of-war between two values. It is an old and complicated issue, but one thing stands firm; the sword can be used very differently according to its’ master’s intention.

A blogger Darkel commented that this single incident speaks to a broader tendency of the Korean companies who treat private information so lightly.

적잖은 커뮤니티들이 가입시 이름, 주민등록번호, 집 주소와 휴대폰 번호에 직업 등을 아무렇지도 않게 요구한다는 것을 생각하면 정말 그야 말로 넷상에서 가져갈 수 있는 모든 개인정보를 공짜로 아무렇지도 않게 쪽쪽 빨아드시겠다는 심보다…대체 인터넷으로 메일을 이용하고, 메신저를 이용하며, 카페-혹은 클럽-에 가입하는데 집주소와 직업이 필요한 이유는 무엇일까?…이전부터 자주 이야기했지만 최근 넷상에서는 개인정보를 너무도 아무렇지 않게 취급하는 경향이 높아지고 있다. ID와 비밀번호만이 지켜야 할 정보는 아니다… 사실 대부분의 사이트에서 개인정보를 수집하는 목적은 ‘본인확인’보다는 광고메일과 스팸문자를 보내기 위한 것일 가능성이 높다. 광고를 의뢰한 개인이나 단체에는 제공되지 않는다 하더라도 소위 말하는 ‘스팸’들은 이것 때문에 발생하는 경향이 높다. 모 사이트에 가입한 이후 스팸이 늘었어요. 라는 경험을 해본 사람이 많다.

Not a few (online) community site ask people’s name, social security number, home phone number, mobile number and occupation so carelessly. It is as if they can suck in every information available on the web without ever paying for it…Why anyone needs to know our home address and our jobs when we are just using the email, messenger service and register to a internet café or club? We have been voicing out worries on this issue so many times before that the tendency of loose handling of personal information gets so wide-spread. It is not only people’s IDs and the passwords that worth the protection…I believe one of main purposes of collecting personal information in most sites is to send spam while the identification verification is a minor reason. Even though the personal information may not be handed to other individuals and entities as the site’s privacy policies claim, we still get the spam via that route. There are lots of people experienced a sudden increase of spam after they registered to certain sites.

The blogger later added that the Korean society is becoming more like a Truman show’s reality with constant information leaks and the omnipresent CCTVs.

개인정보는 자의 반 타의반으로 공중에 떠돈다. 아동, 청소년 대상 성범죄자의 신상정보’ 사이트는 개장 하루만에 다운 됐다. 조금만 시간이 지나면 넷상에는 인증받지 않아도 볼 수 있도록 떠돌 것이다. 범죄자의 인권에 대해 논할 생각은 없지만 한번 오픈된 정보는 숨길 수 없다. 범죄의 증거로서 각광받고 있는 CCTV는 점차 설치 장소가 늘어나고 있다. 심지어 충북도는 도내 초,중고,특수학교 등 483곳 모든 학교에 CCTV 감시체제를 구축한 뒤 실시간 모니터링이 가능하도록 책임자를 지정,운영할 계획이다. 이미 우리가 하루에 만나는 CCTV는 트루먼 쇼를 연상시킬 만큼 많다.

Personal information is drifting in the air, half intended and half-unwillingly. A government site releasing the criminal’s profiles who especially assaulted heavy crimes on children went down due to heavy traffic as soon as it opened. I bet, after few days later the criminal’s profile will be circulating all over the internet so anyone can read it without authorization. I don’t want to talk further on the criminals’ human rights, but one thing to remember is that once the information is disclosed, there is no way of undisclosing it. People enthusiastically greeted CCTV as it can be used as evidence in crime cases and many CCTVs are installed in more places. Especially the Choonchung Province is planning to install CCTV every 483 elementary/junior high/high/special schools and place personnel on charge of real-time monitoring. There are so many CCTV in our lives, numerous enough to remind us of the Truman show.

Whether or not it is Truman reality, many Koreans are still wondering where all the spam they are getting everyday via email and cell phone are coming from. You can’t blame them for suspecting big corporate in leaking personal information.

Tibet Steps Up Web Controls

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | SFTHQ

By He Ping & Yang Jiadai | Radio Free Asia | August 2, 2010

HONG KONG—Chinese authorities in Tibet have ordered Internet cafes across the region to finish installing state-of-the-art surveillance systems by the end of the month, industry sources and local media said.

“All the Internet cafes must now install it,” said Chen Jianying, head of the customer service department of the industry group Internet Cafes Online.

“This is a nationwide policy which is part of the implementation of the real-name registration system,” Chen said.

According to a report carried on the official China Tibet News website last week titled “Long-range Surveillance of the Internet,” all computers installed in enterprises that offer services to the public must install the system.

The proprietor of an Internet cafe in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, which is still under tight security following widespread Tibetan unrest beginning in March 2008, confirmed the scheme is already in full swing.

He said he had already been to the police station for training in how to run the system.

“The system should be up and running now,” the business owner said. “I heard the technical people saying that the last time I attended a meeting.”

“It’s pretty convenient because they can configure it directly from higher up if the guidelines change.”

He said the new system will mean tighter online controls.

“If there is something that is being controlled, there’s no way anyone will get to see it. It’s definitely a tighter form of control,” he said.

The China Tibet News website also reported that the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government has already inaugurated its long-range surveillance system.

Calls to the cultural department of the TAR government went unanswered during office hours Friday.

Youth ‘guidance’

Local media also reported that the department has dispatched engineers throughout Tibet to install the new system in individual Internet cafes, and to train business owners and technical staff in its operation.

Funding is already in place for the project, and all Internet cafes in the region are now effectively implementing a real-name registration system.

Under the nationwide scheme, which took effect Aug. 1, second-generation identity cards belonging to the person using the Internet must be swiped to allow online access. Viewed content can then be traced back to that identity, using the the surveillance system.

One of the touted benefits of the scheme is that it aims to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate content online.

But Zhang Tianliang, an electronic engineer and professor at George Mason University, said he believes there is another motive behind the move.

“There has to be a question mark over why the government is installing such a surveillance system in Tibet right now,” Zhang said.

“The Chinese Communist Party has always used cleaning up pornography as an excuse.”

Retired Nanjing University professor and civil rights activist Sun Wenguang agreed.

“You can’t control young people on the Internet,” Sun said. “Of course their parents can exercise appropriate guidance.”

“The starting point of the whole real-name registration policy is that they are afraid that [viewers] will see content from outside China, content that they are trying to block,” he added.

“Real-name registration will limit the amount of external information that young people are able to see, and I think that is undesirable.”

Original reporting in Mandarin by He Ping and Yang Jiadai and in Cantonese by Hai Nan. Translated from the Chinese and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

China seeks to reduce Internet users’ anonymity

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Rob Pongsajapan

By Anita Chang | The Associated Press | July 13, 2010

BEIJING — A leading Chinese Internet regulator has vowed to reduce anonymity in China’s portion of cyberspace, calling for new rules to require people to use their real names when buying a mobile phone or going online, according to a human rights group.

In an address to the national legislature in April, Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, called for perfecting the extensive system of censorship the government uses to manage the fast-evolving Internet, according to a text of the speech obtained by New York-based Human Rights in China.

China’s regime has a complicated relationship with the freewheeling Internet, reflected in its recent standoff with Google over censorship of search results. China this week confirmed it had renewed Google’s license to operate, after it agreed to stop automatically rerouting users to its Hong Kong site, which is not subject to China’s online censorship.

The Internet is China’s most open and lively forum for discussion, despite already pervasive censorship, but stricter controls could constrain users. The country’s online population has surged past 400 million, making it the world’s largest.

Chen’s comments were reported only briefly when they were made in April. Human Rights in China said the government quickly removed a full transcript posted on the legislature’s website. But the group said it found an unexpurgated text and the discrepancies show that Beijing is wary that its push for tighter information control might prove unpopular.

Wang said holes that needed to be plugged included ways people could post comments or access information anonymously, according to the transcript published this week in the group’s magazine China Rights Forum.

“We will make the Internet real name system a reality as soon as possible, implement a nationwide cell phone real name system, and gradually apply the real name registration system to online interactive processes,” the journal quoted Wang as saying.

As part of that Internet “real name system,” forum moderators would have to use their real names as would users of online bulletin boards, and anonymous comments on news stories would be removed, Wang is quoted as saying.

The State Council Information Office did not immediately respond to a faxed request asking whether certain sections of Wang’s address to the legislature were altered in the official transcript.

Wang’s comments are in line with recent government statements that indicate a growing uneasiness toward the multitude of opinions found online. A Beijing-backed think tank this month accused the U.S. and other Western governments of using social-networking sites such as Facebook to spur political unrest and called for stepped-up scrutiny.

China has blocked sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, although technologically savvy users can easily jump the so-called “Great Firewall” with proxy servers or other alternatives. Websites about human rights and dissidents are also routinely banned.

Authorities step up Internet restrictions, harassment of online journalists

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Novocortex

Reporters Sans Frontieres | July 6, 2010

Reporters Without Borders is concerned about the constant harassment of online journalists and Internet users. In the latest case, Natalia Radzina, the editor of the Charter’97 opposition website (www.charter97.org), was interrogated in Minsk on 1 July about a comment posted on the site. It was the fourth time she has been interrogated since March.

“The authorities are stepping up the tension by increasing the frequency of interrogations, confiscation of material and legislative initiatives that limit online free expression,” Reporters Without Borders said. “They are trying to reinforce their control over the Internet as they already have for other media.”

The press freedom organisation added: “The intimidation attempts, which have been mounting in the run-up to a presidential election due to be held in the coming months, must be brought to an end to permit the criticism and pluralistic debate that are necessary for any free election.”

The comment that prompted Radzina’s latest interrogation voiced support for Soviet-Afghan war veterans who refused the jubilee medals issued by President Alexander Lukashenko. The computers and equipment that were seized from the Charter ’97 office in March in connection with an earlier case have never been returned (http://en.rsf.org/belarus-journalists-emails-probed-charter-29-04-2010,37233.html).

Decree No. 60 “On measures for improving use of the national Internet network,” issued last February, meanwhile took effect on 1 July. It establishes extensive control over Internet content and access, and requires Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to register with the communication ministry and provide technical details about online information resources, networks and systems.

The decree also requires ISPs to identify all the devices (including computers and mobile phones) that are being used to connect to the Internet. The aim of this provision is clearly to allow the government to control online access.

At the same time, anyone going online in an Internet café or using a shared connection (for example, in an apartment building) now has to identify themselves, while a record of all online connections will have to be kept for a year. All these measures will inevitably discourage people from visiting independent and opposition websites.

The decree also creates an “analytic centre” attached to the president’s office that will be tasked with monitoring content before it is put online – clearly establishing censorship at the highest level of government.

Every request by this centre for a website’s closure must now be carried out by the ISP concerned within 24 Hours.

Regulations currently being drafted by the government and expected to be enacted on 1 September envisage a filtering system for controlling access to websites that are considered dangerous, including “extremist” sites and sites linked to pornography, violence and trafficking in arms, drugs or human beings. If banned by the communication ministry, such sites will be rendered inaccessible from state agencies, state companies and Internet cafés. ISPs could also render them inaccessible for other Internet users (at their request).

Vilejka.org, a news website based in the town of Vileyka, has been blocked as a result of a police investigation into comments posted on the site. Police arrested one of the site’s users, Mikalay Susla, on 1 July on suspicion of posting one of the insulting comments about the principal of the town’s high school. Susla told Reporters Without Borders he thought the site had been blocked because of criticism of local and national policies, and that the crackdown was linked with the fact that Decree No. 60 had just come into effect.

Nine members of the National Bolshevik Party (Nazbol) meanwhile staged an unauthorised demonstration on Freedom Square in Minsk on 23 June, waving placards and wearing T-shirts with the words “Internet Freedom.” They were all arrested and convicted of violating procedures for holding demonstrations. Leader Yawhen Kontush was fined 875,000 roubles (236 euros). The others were fined 175,000 roubles (47 euros) each.

A Win for Yahoo! and for Privacy in Belgium

By Jen Swallow | Legal Director EMEA | Product Compliance

Flickr Creative Commons | Steakpinball

Yahoo! welcomes the decision last week by the Court of Appeal in Belgium, which highlights the importance of local law enforcement authorities following established international protocols when conducting their investigations.

In March 2009, a Belgian Criminal Court entered judgment in a criminal case against Yahoo! Inc. for the failure to disclose user data to Belgian law enforcement authorities. Yahoo! does not have a local subsidiary or a website in Belgium.  More importantly, the Belgian authorities did not follow the recognised legal process when it sought to obtain the user data from Yahoo! Inc., located in the U.S..  An official diplomatic channel exists between the U.S. and Belgium to facilitate appropriate information exchange (set up under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty), but this route was not taken by the Belgian authorities despite our encouragement to do so.

On 30 June 2010, the Belgian Court of Appeal overturned the March 2009 judgment. The Court of Appeal found there was insufficient jurisdiction to bring Yahoo! Inc.’s actions under Belgian telecommunications laws, and Yahoo! Inc. was acquitted of all charges and fines against it.

This judgment is a win for both the privacy of our users and also for common sense in international law enforcement:  the global nature of the internet does not subject companies offering services online – and their customers’ data – to the jurisdiction of every country globally.  We hope this judgment can send a signal to law enforcement authorities to use established legal process in their investigations; following such procedures is the best way to ensure that information gathering for law enforcement is conducted effectively and efficiently, whilst safeguarding data privacy and freedom of expression over the Internet.

By Jen Swallow | Legal Director, Product Compliance EMEA | Albert Yung | Legal Intern | Yahoo! UK

Reporters Without Borders unveils first-ever “Anti-Censorship Shelter”

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Mirry

Reporters Sans Frontieres | June 25, 2010

Reporters Without Borders today launched the world’s first “Anti-Censorship Shelter” in Paris for use by foreign journalists, bloggers and dissidents who are refugees or just passing through as a place where they can learn how to circumvent Internet censorship, protect their electronic communications and maintain their anonymity online.

“At a time when online filtering and surveillance is becoming more and more widespread, we are making an active commitment to an Internet that is unrestricted and accessible to all by providing the victims of censorship with the means of protecting their online information,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“Never before have there been so many netizens in prison in countries such as China, Vietnam and Iran for expressing their views freely online,” the press freedom organisation added. “Anonymity is becoming more and more important for those who handle sensitive data.”

Reporters Without Borders and the communications security firm XeroBank have formed a partnership in order to make high-speed anonymity services, including encrypted email and web access, available free of charge to those who user the Shelter.

By connecting to XeroBank through a Virtual Private Network (VPN), their traffic is routed across its gigabit backbone network and passes from country to country mixed with tens of thousands of other users, creating a virtually untraceable high-speed anonymity network.

This network will be available not only to users of the Shelter in Paris but also to their contacts anywhere in the world and to all those – above all journalists, bloggers and human rights activists – who have been identified by Reporters Without Borders. They will be able to connect with the XeroBank service by means of access codes and secured, ready-to-use USB flash drives that can be provided on request.

XeroBank is a communications security firm that has cornered the market on one of the rarest commodities in the world: online privacy. It specializes in communication solutions that protect its clients from all eavesdroppers.

The best-known free encryption and censorship circumvention software is also available to users of the Shelter, along with manuals and Wiki entries on these issues. A multimedia space is planned for journalists and Internet users who want to film and send videos.

The Shelter will eventually also have a dedicated website for hosting banned content. Egyptian blogger Tamer Mabrouk’s reports on the pollution of Egypt’s lakes, which are banned in his country, and articles that are banned in Italy by its new phone-tap law will all have a place in what is intended to be a refuge for those who still being censored.

The Shelter is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday. Anyone wanting to use it should make a reservation by sending an email to shelter@rsf.org.

The Shelter could not have been created without the support of the Paris city hall.

Reporters Without Borders points out that around 60 countries are currently subject to some form of online censorship and that Internet filtering is in effect in around 40 of them. About 120 netizens (bloggers, Internet users, and citizen journalists) are currently in prison worldwide.

Read the latest “Enemies of the Internet” report and its introduction “Web 2.0 v. Control 2.” – link

China Expands Internet Controls

By Tsering

Flickr Creative Commons | Simon Hua

Radio Free Asia | June 25, 2010

New controls on cybercafes reach Sichuan as Beijing publishes an Internet policy paper.

HONG KONG—Tough new regulations aimed at monitoring Internet usage are being rolled out across China, with Internet cafes in the southwestern province of Sichuan now requiring a swipe of smart ID cards before allowing people online.

“You have to have a second-generation ID card now,” an employee who answered the phone at one Internet cafe in the provincial capital, Chengdu, said. “And it has to belong to you.”

Local media reports said a new clampdown would get under way in Sichuan from June to September this year, following a similar police campaign in the central city of Wuhan, in which people using their relatives’ ID cards were taken into administrative detention.

Government regulations are calling for Internet cafes in the province to hook up their surveillance cameras to a central viewing channel monitored by the provincial government by the end of the year, with punishments and fines for businesses that do not comply.

Li Yonglong, an official of Internet management at the general office of the Sichuan provincial government, confirmed the crackdown is part of government policy.

“That’s correct,” he said, when asked to confirm news reports. However, he declined to give further details. “I can’t give interviews,” Li said. “There are rules here.”

Sichuan-based writer Ran Yunfei said that while the government claims that the new regulations are in place to protect underage netizens from inappropriate and pornographic content, they are also used by the ruling Communist Party to limit content that Chinese netizens can view online.

“This won’t affect me too much because I rarely use Internet cafes, but not everyone’s like me. Our rights should be protected,” Ran said.

He said that hidden behind the government’s management of Internet cafes is an attempt to limit the explosion of public opinion that has occurred on Chinese Web sites in recent years.

And Beijing-based author Yu Jie said the scheme infringes upon the rights of ordinary people to privacy.

The ‘safe flow of information’

The move to control and monitor access to the Internet through public cybercafes was initiated last year, as the government made it harder for Internet cafes to start up in business and announced a series of franchises for nationwide chains.

Last September, government-backed Internet Cafe Associations in 30 major Chinese cities and provinces issued a statement titled Self-regulating Declaration on Cleaning Up the Internet Cafe Industry, vowing to abide by China’s laws and regulations concerning the Internet.

In a policy paper on the Internet issued earlier this month, the Chinese government said it attaches “great importance” to the “safe” flow of information online, and seeks to “actively guide” people to manage Web sites “in a wholesome and correct way.”

It lists as forbidden any content that “endangers state security,” “divulges state secrets,” or “subverts state power”—all  charges that have been levied against prominent dissidents and human rights activists in recent years in Chinese courts, often resulting in lengthy prison sentences.

Any content that  jeopardizes “ethnic unity,” interferes with government religious policies, propagates “heretical or superstitious ideas,” or “disrupts social stability” is also banned, according to the regulations governing China’s Internet.

Such charges have been brought against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other ethnic minorities who voice open disagreement with or protest against Beijing’s policies in their homelands, or who call peacefully for independence or greater autonomy from Chinese rule.

According to Rebecca MacKinnon, visiting fellow at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, the White Paper shows that Beijing is consciously developing its control of the Internet as part of its authoritarian rule, and intends also to wield influence over how it develops internationally.

“The Chinese government is not running scared from the Internet,” MacKinnon wrote in a June 15 blog post titled China’s Internet White Paper: Networked Authoritarianism in Action.

“It is embracing the Internet head-on, intends to be a leader in its global evolution, and intends to assert its influence on how the global Internet is governed and regulated.”

Original reporting in Mandarin by Xin Yu. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated from the Chinese and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.