realtime VoIP censorship

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/world/asia/22china.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

China Tightens Censorship of Electronic Communications

By SHARON LaFRANIERE and DAVID BARBOZA

Published: March 21, 2011

BEIJING b If anyone wonders whether the Chinese government has tightened its
grip on electronic communications since protests began engulfing the Arab
world, Shakespeare may prove instructive.

A Beijing entrepreneur, discussing restaurant choices with his fiancC)e over
their cellphones last week, quoted Queen Gertrudebs response to Hamlet: bThe
lady doth protest too much, methinks.b The second time he said the word
bprotest,b her phone cut off.

He spoke English, but another caller, repeating the same phrase on Monday in
Chinese over a different phone, was also cut off in midsentence.

A host of evidence over the past several weeks shows that Chinese authorities
are more determined than ever to police cellphone calls, electronic messages,
e-mail and access to the Internet in order to smother any hint of
antigovernment sentiment. In the cat-and-mouse game that characterizes
electronic communications here, analysts suggest that the cat is getting
bigger, especially since revolts began to ricochet through the Middle East
and North Africa, and homegrown efforts to organize protests in China began
to circulate on the Internet about a month ago.

bThe hard-liners have won the field, and now we are seeing exactly how they
want to run the place,b said Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing analyst of
Chinabs leadership. bI think the gloves are coming off.b

On Sunday, Google accused the Chinese government of disrupting its Gmail
service in the country and making it appear as if technical problems at
Google b not government intervention b were to blame.

Several popular virtual private-network services, or V.P.N.bs, designed to
evade the governmentbs computerized censors, have been crippled. This has
prompted an outcry from users as young as ninth graders with school research
projects and sent them on a frustrating search for replacements that can
pierce the so-called Great Firewall, a menu of direct censorship and bopinion
guidanceb that restricts what Internet users can read or write online.
V.P.N.bs are popular with Chinabs huge expatriate community and Chinese
entrepreneurs, researchers and scholars who expect to use the Internet
freely.

In an apology to customers in China for interrupted service, WiTopia, a
V.P.N. provider, cited bincreased blocking attempts.b No perpetrator was
identified.

Beyond these problems, anecdotal evidence suggests that the governmentbs
computers, which intercept incoming data and compare it with an ever-changing
list of banned keywords or Web sites, are shutting out more information. The
motive is often obvious: For six months or more, the censors have prevented
Google searches of the English word bfreedom.b

But other terms or Web sites are suddenly or sporadically blocked for reasons
no ordinary user can fathom. One Beijing technology consultant, who asked not
to be identified for fear of retribution against his company, said that for
several days last week he could not visit the Web site for the Hong Kong
Stock Exchange without a proxy. LinkedIn, a networking platform, was blocked
for a day during the height of government concerns over Internet-based calls
for protests in Chinese cities a few weeks ago, he said.

Hu Yong, a media professor at Peking University, said government censors were
constantly spotting and reacting to new perceived threats. bThe technology is
improving and the range of sensitive terms is expanding because the depth and
breadth of things they must manage just keeps on growing,b Mr. Hu said.

Chinabs censorship machine has been operating ever more efficiently since
mid-2008, and restrictions once viewed as temporary b like bans on Facebook,
YouTube and Twitter b are now considered permanent. Government-friendly
alternatives have sprung and developed a following.

Few analysts believe that the government will loosen controls any time soon,
with events it considers politically sensitive swamping the calendar,
including a turnover in the Communist Partybs top leadership next year.

bIt has been double the guard, and double the guard, and you never hear
proclamations about things being relaxed,b said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA
China, an investment and strategy consultancy based in Beijing, and a 17-year
resident of China. bWe have never seen this level of control in the time I
have been here, and I have been here since the beginning of the Internet.b

How far China will clamp down on electronic communications is unclear.
bTherebs a lot more they can do, but theybve been holding back,b said Bill
Bishop, a Internet expert based in Beijing. Some analysts suggest that
officials are exploring just how much inconvenience the Chinese are willing
to tolerate. While sentiment is hard to gauge, a certain segment of society
rejects censorship.

For many users, an inoperable V.P.N. is an inconvenience, not a crisis. But
Internet consultants said interfering with an e-mail service on which people
depend every day is more serious. bHow people respond is going to be more
intense, more visceral,b one consultant said.

Google began receiving complaints from Gmail users and its own employees in
China about a month ago, around the time anonymous Internet posts urged
people unhappy with the government to gather every Sunday. Some Gmail users
found their service disconnected when they tried to send or save messages.

Engineers determined that there were no technical difficulties on Googlebs
end, Google said; rather, the hand of the Chinese government was at work.
Chinabs Foreign Ministry did not respond Monday to calls or faxed questions
about Googlebs statement.

Disrupting Web sites and Internet connections is a standard tactic in dealing
with companies that fall out of government favor. Mark Seiden, an Internet
consultant, said Chinese officials typically left the companies and users to
guess the reason.

In the Google case, an article on the Web site of Peoplebs Daily, the
Communist Partybs official publication, offered a strong hint. The March 4
article, attributed to a netizen, called Google a tool of the United States
government. Like Facebook and Twitter, the article said, Google has bplayed a
role in manufacturing social disorderb and sought to involve itself in other
nationsb politics.

China has treated Google as a threat for some time. Last year, Google closed
its search service and redirected Chinese users to Googlebs Hong Kong site
after the company said China was behind a cyberattack aimed partly at Gmail
accounts.

Mr. Moses, the Beijing analyst, said the latest moves further expand
government control of electronic communications. bThe model for this
government is that every day is a new challenge and a new opportunity to show
the strength of the state here,b he said. bThere is clear confidence in the
capability of the political authorities to maintain order.b

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting from Beijing, and Claire Cain Miller
from San Francisco. Jonathan Kaiman and Li Bibo contributed research from
Beijing.