Blogs » Politics » Cultural Revolution Murder Trial Captivates Netizens
Blogs » Politics » Cultural Revolution Murder Trial Captivates Netizens |
- Cultural Revolution Murder Trial Captivates Netizens
- Taiwan Politician Disappeared from Chinese Weibo in less than 24 Hours
- Photo: Harbin Ice Festival, by Sy Smith
- Debate Over Representation of Chinese Ethnic Minority in ADs
- How To Hack A Human Brain, From Experts of Hacking
- David Beckham to be China’s Super League Ambassador
- PROOF POSITIVE THE CASTING COUCH EXISTS?
- Grading Xi Jinping’s First 100 Days
- Hope on the Horizon for Gays in China
- Best Students in the World
- New Chinese Leader to Make Moscow His First Visit
- Bo Said to Be Uncooperative as Trial Delay Lengthens
- Citizen Mistrust Grows as China’s Real Estate Ownership Becomes More Opaque
- Government Imposes Carbon Tax to Curb Emissions
- Five Charged for China-U.S. Honey Smuggling
- ‘Normalizing’ same-sex marriage in the US and gay rights in Japan
- In Face of Mainland Censorship, Taiwanese Revisit Reunification Question
- Flames Of Protest: The History Of Self-Immolation
- China Not Blocking Hack Attack Discussion
| Cultural Revolution Murder Trial Captivates Netizens Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:10 PM PST A Chinese octogenarian is reportedly facing trial for a murder he committed during the Cultural Revolution, according to The Telegraph's Tom Phillips:
The story had already reached several large news sites and web portals by the time China News Service removed the story from its web site, according to the South China Morning Post. The Wall Street Journal reports that news of the trial has sent ripples through Chinese social media:
Did Kirsten Tatlow wrote in The New York Times on Thursday that "some are angry that a little guy is being punished, and not the masterminds of the violence:"
Read also about the memoirs of businesswoman Ping Fu, which contained personal accounts from the Cultural Revolution and caused controversy over its authenticity. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taiwan Politician Disappeared from Chinese Weibo in less than 24 Hours Posted: 21 Feb 2013 10:49 PM PST Frank Hsieh, former presidential nominee of Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), opened an account at Sina Weibo on 19 of February, 2013. However, the account has been deleted in less than 24 hours. More from China Beat. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Photo: Harbin Ice Festival, by Sy Smith Posted: 21 Feb 2013 09:55 PM PST  Harbin Ice Festival © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Debate Over Representation of Chinese Ethnic Minority in ADs Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:07 PM PST Mitch Blatt from China Hush enters into a debate over a set of swimsuit advertisement photos. While some commentators think that the photos has denigrate minority culture in China, the blogger argues that such comment stems from a desire the "whitewash the truth". Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How To Hack A Human Brain, From Experts of Hacking Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:42 PM PST Answer: With Knowledge, both Lies and Truths. Every lie has some element of truth. Every truth has some bias of lie. Great lies appear more true than obvious lies. Great truths appear more false than some lies. A computer hack is a lie to a computer, disguised as a truthful command. All lies, great or small, told to human beings, are designed to hack their brain in essence. By that logic, we are all hackers. We hack each other's brains, sometimes with lies that others spread to us, to influence each other, for power, for personal gains. Sometimes the truth hacks back. Thus, knowledge and information simultaneously enlighten us and threaten us. But in this philosophical turn of rhymes, it doesn't matter whether one is told a truth or a lie. One realizes that one is being hacked by information delivered by someone else. It's someone else's truth or lie, designed to influence us. If one allows the information to hack one's brain, then one becomes a victim, a slave to someone else's influence. One's ONLY defense is a security feature, a filter called Reason. With Reason, we filter, decrypt, digest, break down the information into OUR own truths or lies. Then, we have some control, we can choose to be UNSWAYED or UNINFLUENCED by the information bombarding us. The ONLY achievable means of our own security in our own reason, is to be stubbornly refused to be swayed or influenced. That is the ONLY true individuality. ***With that, I now apply my reasons on my latest refusal to be swayed or influenced. How Many Chinese Hackers Can Dance In A Cyber Espionage Report? Apparently, the answer is inevitably, a lot, because otherwise, who would bother to write a report about them? If that sounds familiar, it is because you can apply that to just about any answer that's begging for a pointless question. That is to say, if you believe that there is a massive number of angels capable of dancing on the head of a pin, you don't need any proofs. Every thing will confirm your beliefs. So, the same logic serves the report recently released by Mandiant. http://intelreport.mandiant.com/Mandiant_APT1_Report.pdf Which by the way, reads like rehashed media stories of equally questionable logic. But somehow, if a bunch of tabloid reports are compiled, it would be too many coincidences, as the logic goes. Granted, all governments are researching cyber warfare. And so are many private individuals. Some for noble causes, others for mercenary reasons. But by the same logic, one's reaction ONLY demonstrates one's own basic belief in human nature. Critics of the Mandiant Report argue similar general points. http://www.voanews.com/content/china-russia-israel-france-iran-cyber-threat/1608419.html I do not care to venture into what Mandiant's report writers believes, but let us talk about some of their basic errors in their conclusions: (And this may take a few days)
(1) The Fallacy of the 2 Cluster Trend.The general argumentative logic of the Mandiant report is based upon a rudimentary comparison of two cluster of information, 1 evidencing and characterizing a Chinese military Unit 61398 (herein "UNIT"), the other 1 evidencing and characterizing a group of hackers labeled as APT1, leading to a build up to a conclusion of a comparison chart on Pages 59-60, to draw an conclusion of correlation between the 2 entities. The basic flaw of this comparison, lies in the "2 cluster/point trend" fallacy, common in some modern media research analyses. That is, the author(s) of such analyses, points to ONLY 2 clusters of data/evidence surrounding 2 entities, and then draws a conclusion of a trend or a correlation, based ONLY on those 2 clusters of data/evidence, while ignore (without proper discounting) of any other data clusters that might suggest alternative trends or explanations. Jeffrey Carr, founder and CEO of Taia Group, a cybersecurity firm, have blogged his criticism of the Mandiant report as "full of holes." I would argue that this is an under-statement, and that the Mandiant Report is actually quite lacking in the fundamental background context of the issue of hacking. Such analysis may go into great details of specifics on the 2 clusters of data/evidence, but nevertheless confines the data set to ONLY the pre-defined 2 clusters, thus making the analysis appear that NO other possible explanations can be concluded. Usually, such analysis are PRE-DEFINED for the 2 clusters of data. But this is NOT scientific. The scientific methodology requires that a theory be repeated challenged and tested by all possible data sets. In the Mandiant Report, the 2 clusters were predefined, and no other clusters were discussed. Again, this is not scientific. Jumping to conclusions with merely 2 clusters of data is still Jumping to conclusions. By the way, drawing a conclusion from 2 clusters of data is not much better than from 2 points of data. (Whether this is INTENTIONAL or incompetence on the part of Mandiant Report's authors, I'll leave others to judge. But as we will see below, Mandiant Report unwittingly included some data points that actually contradicted its own conclusions). (2) Irrational Reliance on Geographical "Proximity" for some conclusions.The Mandiant Report quickly focused on the nature and geographical locations of the UNIT as being in Pudong New Area, in Shanghai China, and pinpoints by several reports and online sources that the UNIT has several buildings along a 1/2 mile stretch of a road in Pudong. (I cannot confirm such an assertion, but 1 obvious counter-evidence is that, apparently, the entire UNIT complex was built in the middle of shopping complexes, with restaurants and hotels. It seems a bit odd for a super secretive Chinese military unit to be located in such a public locale). The Mandiant Report then focused on the alleged locations of the APT1 hackers. This is where the evidence was hazy at best. The Report on Page 40 listed out net blocks of IP addresses that APT1 "used to access their hop points"(other computer servers outside of China), and points to 2 blocks as "registered" by China Unicom, with an address in Pudong. Here, the Mandiant Report draws a conclusion that the "registration information for these two net blocks suggests that they serve the Pudong New Area of Shanghai, where PLA UNIT 61398 is headquartered." On Page 58, "combined with their close proximity and association with UNIT 61398″. However, any one with basic IT knowledge would know that IP address registration address information usually indicates just 1 possible address of the Internet Service Provider's Office, usually as a contact address, NOT where the actual service area is. For example, my own IP address history would show up as indicating that I'm often in New York City, even though I am not. Thus, those listed IP addresses may not even be in Shanghai area. Even for the sake of argument that the IP addresses are for the Pudong Shanghai area. The Mandiant Report implies, with no basis that if the IP addresses of the APT1 hackers are in Pudong, that they are somehow near or even inside the UNIT. CONTEXT: Mandiant Report LACKS geographic proximity context. In 1 part, Mandiant Report makes a blatant error of fact on geography: On page 10, the Mandiant Report states, "Hebei is a borough in Shanghai". –(Borough meaning a district or a part of). CORRECTION: Hebei is actually another province in China, and about 600 miles (3 provinces) away from Shanghai. This error of geography of China continues with rather complete disregard for the context of geography, when discussing proximity, and in other sections. CONTEXT: The Pudong New Area has over 11,000 Square Miles and 5 million people. In particular, the Pudong New Area included, since 1993, the "Special Economic Zone", which includes NUMEROUS facilities for foreign high tech companies, such as NEC, Intel Corporation, located less than 8 miles from the alleged headquarter of the UNIT. All of these foreign high tech companies own office buildings or factories with advanced Computer networks, ALL served by Chinese ISP's in Pudong. Pudong also includes a Long Island American School, where many expat's children are enrolled and network accesses are provided by Chinese ISP's. The Mandiant Report further suggests that the NET blocks represent APT1 hackers' "home networks", with NO evidence whatsoever. If Mandiant Report can suggest that APT1 hackers were using US computers as "hop points", then Chinese computers can also be "hop points". Evidence to suggest the alternative is plentiful. For ONE, China is where MOST of the Proxy Servers are located in the World. "Proxy servers" are free or paid service computer servers that allow users to use them as "hop points". http://www.hidemyass.com/proxy-list/search-226590/ A rudimentary search on this website listing "free proxy servers" showed that a few of Mandiant Report's IP Net blocks overlaps with KNOWN free proxy servers. 58.246.0.0 – 58.247.255.255 China Unicom Shanghai Network.
Another: 114.80.0.0 – 114.95.255.255 China Telecom Shanghai Network
And another, 116.224.0.0 – 116.239.255.255 China Telecom Shanghai Network
These were just based on a rudimentary search of 1 public listing of free proxy servers. There are 1000′s of proxy servers in the World, and hackers are known to mask their IP trails by using them. Thus, these IP Net Blocks are neither owned by the UNIT, nor are they apparently that exclusive "home" to APT1 hackers (since they are LISTED as "free" to the public). The Mandiant Report, in a rather stretch of logic, attributes a correlation between 3 separate online personna to each other and to the UNIT, NOT by citing repeated use of single IP addresses, but rather NET blocks. Considering under the additional context of presence of so many proxy servers in China (even in Shanghai alone), it would be difficult to justify Mandiant Report's conclusion, under the "TOTALITY" of evidence as Mandiant Report itself suggested. (3) Irrational Cherry picking of Telephone Numbers and Registration Information for some conclusions.For the identities of 3 sampled APT1 hackers, UglyGorilla, d0ta, SuperHard, the Mandiant Report relied entirely far too much on cherry picking information from "registration information" from the hackers themselves, even though the Mandiant Report itself frequently referred to MOST of the "registration information" as "obviously false". If that's not picking data that suits the conclusion, I don't know what is. Particularly, Page 46 discusses the registration information from hacker UglyGorilla, the Mandiant Report discusses the registered Phone # "86.21000021″, which is obviously a fake number, but decides to focus on the first 4 numbers of the fake phone number "86.21″ as evidence that UglyGorilla must be from the Shanghai Area (which translates to implication that he's also in the Pudong area, and must also be close the UNIT buildings). Subsequently, the Mandiant Report supports this assertion by pointing, but not listing, that Shanghai was also listed in 22% of the domain registrations for APT1 hackers. On Page 47 however, the Mandiant Report shows another registration information from UglyGorilla that listed yet another fake phone # "86.8005439436″, but this time, focusing on ONLY the first 2 numbers "86″ as evidence that UglyGorilla is from China. CONTEXT: On the same page, Mandiant Report dismisses the registered US address "795 Livermore St. Yellow Spring, Ohio, United States 45387" as fake, because apparently, no one could possibly misspell their own city of "Yellow Springs Ohio" as "Yellow Spring" with a missing "s". (A supposition that's not well supported, GIVEN Mandiant Report's own rather liberal use of geographical information). CONTEXT: the town of Yellow Springs Ohio is named after the "Yellow Spring" (singular), discovered in the 1800, and is a major local attraction. A local would know that quite well. http://www.yellowspringsohio.org/visitors CONTEXT: except for the "s" missing in the town's name, the ADDRESS is actually REAL, with the correct Zip code, which is the correct address for Antioch College Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, https://www.applyweb.com/apply/antioch/finance.pdf Which is about just 10 miles away from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where the US military hosts an Air Force Cyber Unit, and a "Boot Camp for Cyber Warriors", described as US's "only cyber security program for ROTC cadets that combines cyber warfare education, hands-on training, and research internships with Air Force scientist and engineers, along with leadership development activities," http://www.wpafb.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123262849 Additionally, Wright State University, adjacent to the Air Force Base, is funded with an Advance Education Program for Cyber Security, which includes course for "Encryption" and "Ethical Hacking." http://www.wright.edu/cpe/Cyber_Security_Description.html Antioch College, being an ACTUAL registered address from the hackers, being only 10 miles from an Air Force Base within the US Cyber Command, and an university with an advanced program that teaches "hacking", would actually have better "proximity" correlation than the "Pudong" area proximity to the UNIT. (However, It's just another possible trend, and NOT the only other one). CONTEXT: In the Mandiant Report, the Ohio address appears to be the ONLY one showing an actual street address and zip code. While the Mandian Report cites that "Shanghai" showed up most among a dozen different registration cities, there was no specific street addresses when Shanghai was registered numerously. Yet, the Ohio address showed up as a correct street name and zip code. That would seem to suggest that the hackers did not know street names of Shanghai well enough to try to pass off even a fake address in Shanghai. That is most likely due to the fact that Chinese city addresses are difficult to cipher and organize. A typical Shanghai street address may contain Street number, alley number, building number, floor number, and/or unit number and room numbers. A fake Shanghai address could not be easily manufactured through online maps, and would be relatively easy to spot as fake. In contrast, the Ohio address in Mandiant Report appears to suggest that the hackers were somewhat familiar with the area of Yellow Springs, particularly Antioch College. AGAIN, the Mandiant Report discounted this ONLY detailed address registered as "fake", due to a spelling error on the city name, even though the street address itself and zip code are actually quite REAL, and at the same time, picking vague city registrations of Shanghai among a dozen cities, as the REAL one. (Stretchy jumpy logic, perhaps? But, I would personally say that NEITHER evidence are that convincing of the actual location of the hackers.) CONTEXT: Additional Geographical errors in Mandiant Report. Page 47 of the Mandiant Report further discusses another registration information, which was based on a real Chinese company. The Mandiant Report implies that UglyGorilla knows the information for the company, because it was "located in a part of Shanghai that is across the river from" the UNIT. That is perhaps a very large understatement to say "across the river from" the UNIT, because the company address "No. 1878 Zhongshan West Road" is actually located about 30 Kilometers away from the UNIT's supposed location. It would be more accurate to say that the company was actually clear "across town" from the UNIT. This is becoming a pattern in the Mandiant Report to make exaggerations on geographical descriptions, while completely disregarding the counter evidence in context. (4) LACKING of TIME line correlation3 sampled APT1 hackers, UglyGorilla, d0ta, SuperHard, the Mandiant Report generally concluded that they shared IP "home range", "close proximity", FQDNs, while ignoring some glaring differences. Foremost is, UglyGorilla appeared to have predated d0ta and SuperHard by about 6 years. The Mandiant Report does not bother to correlate the Activity times of the 3 hacker personna. The Mandiant Report characterized UglyGorilla's activities as started around 2004, and additional profiles of UglyGorilla suggests that his activities had largely waned by 2008. In comparison, d0ta's activities appear to start around 2009-2010, with registration profiles and email signup's. Mandiant's video of d0ta's hack (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/02/19/fascinating-video-tracks-a-real-chinese-hacker-in-action/) showed that the bulk of the email registrations occurred around 2011. The IP "net block" commonality is already shown above as rather flimsy, given so many proxy servers in Shanghai area. The Activity Time line thus further show a large obvious disconnect between UglyGorilla and d0ta. SuperHard appears to have some overlaps with UglyGorilla and d0ta, separately, but SuperHard is not an actual "hacker", in the sense that Mandiant Report described him as merely an author of malware. CONTEXT: While Mandiant report attributes SuperHard as part of the "research and development", SuperHard also did not appear to be always in Shanghai area. http://cyb3rsleuth.blogspot.com/search/label/Chinese%20Threats reported some of SuperHard's profile as indicating that he was in Henan province from 2005 to 2007. Also, it is unclear whether "SuperHard" and "SuperHard_M" are entirely the same personna online, noticing that there are separate profiles in some reports. CONTEXT: Personal connection and relationship that Mandiant Report sought to demonstrate is simply too difficult to demonstrate in any case. Given 3 separate individuals online, what do "net blocks" and a few comments and emails demonstrate? In 1 part of Mandiant's online video, d0ta personna used a hacked computer to access Gmail, wherein there was seen that he had sent an email to "Mei_Qiang_82″. However, the email appears to be an actual Spear Phishing email, with an identical subject line as another email sent to a known victim (email name blacked out in video). Mandiant's video quickly discounted it as a "test message". However, it is also very possible that Mei_Qiang_82 itself was an account that was hacked by d0ta. Another prominent absence of TIME line analysis is in Mandiant Report's attribution of the UNIT's capabilities (to imply correlation to the activities of the Hackers from 2006 to present). Here, we discuss some glaring oversights and errors in conclusion: Mandiant Report states on Page 11, that a Chinese construction company completed the UNIT's central building of 12 stories by early 2007. CONTEXT: Mandiant's linked document actually showed that the company merely completed the "FRAME" of the 12 story building in March 2007, which apparently did NOT include even the brick laying (listed as a different item in another line). Mandiant Report shows a memo from China Telecom discussing pricing for laying high speed optical cable for networks. CONTEXT: The Memo was discussing prices in March 2009, with no actual completion date. That means, that project itself may not have been completed until later. Mandiant Report does not bother to correlate the ACTIVITY times of the Hacks, the 3 hacker personna, with the implied capabilities and infrastructures of the UNIT from 2006 to present. However, from those 2 above facts about the build up of the UNIT central building, it is clearly evident that the UNIT's facility in Pudong was not near full operation from 2006 – 2009. The UNIT was in fact trying to build up the facilities during that time. At the same time (in the span of about 4 years), Mandiant Report alleges that the Hack attacks were already under way. And by the Phishing attack, apparently, most of the infiltrations and programs were done in the early part, leading to the hackers to spread out their attacks to other targets later on via "hops". Given also that Mandiant Report implied that the "net blocks" were remaining the same thus common to the APT1 group. (Mandiant even suggests that APT1 has been crafting back doors since 2004, when UglyGorilla appeared). Assuming the time line of the hack attacks is true, then the UNIT's facilities in those 4 years was hardly capable of conducting such operations, while its building was still merely FRAMES and the high speed network was not even installed. CONTEXT: Also even BEFORE 2006, (starting since 1993), Pudong area already had existing high speed networks in other facilities, such as those of the foreign high tech companies, like NEC and Intel Corporation, each employed about 2000 highly skilled workers, as well as a very huge Expat community from the West, capable of accessing available public high speed networks in hotels and long term residences in Pudong. Mandiant in its conclusion on Pages 59-60 states that the UNIT "has hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, as suggested by the size for their facilities and position within the PLA". CONTEXT: At least from Mandiant's own evidence, the UNIT's facilities was not available for "hack" operations until at earliest 2009. Thus, there is a large gap in correlation of Activity Time line and the UNIT's actual time line of capabilities and infrastructure. Thus, it would be far more likely that the hacks were conducted by individuals accessing existing networks around 2006 (for example, the large number of computer literate Expats in China at the time). (5) Other NON-Correlation, or Alternative Correlations.1 connection Mandiant showed boiled down to pseudo numerology: that a hard coded password for hacker d0ta "2j3c1k" represented the PLA sub-organization associated with the UNIT. CONTEXT: For one, the same exact type of designation of organization used in this case, is also used across the entire Chinese government hierarchy, and NOT exclusive to the Chinese military branches. 3 Hacker personna profiled by Mandiant in the report actually appear to have drastically different types of activities: UglyGorilla seems to be focused on sending initial infiltration attacks, registering domains, and hijacking domains, from which additional domains were hijacked. d0ta seemed to be focused on using existing domains and IP addresses to conduct additional phishing attacks, and social engineering attacks, and remotely collect data. SuperHard appears to be authoring malware only. CONTEXT: 1 interesting connection between MANY of the hackers is that they all registered with US-based Rootkit.com, a website set up by Michael Gregory "Greg" Hoglund, founder of Sacramento California based Cyber Security company HBGary. Greg Hoglund is actually published for his dissection of hacking techniques using Windows kernel. And Rootkit.com was set up as a website to discuss hacking techniques (allegedly for security purposes). NOT surprisingly, hackers flocked to Rootkit.com by the 1,000′s, among them UglyGorilla and SuperHard. But there were also users from Russia, France, UK, etc. https://dazzlepod.com/rootkit/?page=162 HBGary was hacked by US-based Anonymous hacker group, along with Rootkit.com in 2011. Anonymous released over 81,000 user names from Rootkit.com. That is 1 massive pool of potential hackers, all looking at or sharing techniques for online hacking. Mandiant mentioned that it had obtained information about SuperHard from the 2011 Anonymous leak of Rootkit.com information, and yet place no connection of any kind of association of SuperHard to potentially 81,000 other hackers from all over the world. Mandiant may be constrained by its geographic imagination. But reasonable people can hardly expect 81,000 obviously MOBILE online present potential hackers to be limited in their association to particular locations. They learn, share, and attack across borders and continents. That is the only TRUE reality and correlation of Cyber Espionage today. (6) State ACTOR LogicThe Mandiant Report states other hackers, like "Shady Rat", may be linked to APT1 and thus to the UNIT, self-implying that China is now conducting not merely political hacks but also economic hacks. If one recall, "Shady Rat" was attributed to a "state actor" (implying China), because at the time, "no money" was involved in its hacks. However, now it seems, that logic is reverse and turned full circle, that now China the "state actor" is expanding to hacking for "money" as well, completely opposite of what proved that it was the "state actor" in the 1st place. Frankly, the logic cannot cut both ways. One or BOTH are probably wrong. In extending the logic leap, Mandiant Report effective disproved the Shady Rat "State Actor" theory in the 1st place, and crumble its own case in the process. That is, if a "State Actor" is indeed out to hack for every known purpose, then there is NO specific indicator that any hacking is done by a government or by private individuals, since both are equally motivated. ************* Conclusions:We present additional context and alternative views in light of Mandiant and other reports. Mandiant Report's simple premise is to prove 1 point, that 3 hacker entities were a group, and linked to a branch of the Chinese government. However, we showed that Mandiant left out significant amount of context, and presented a rather illogical conclusion. Of course, China like most countries would have hackers, as in US, Russia, Israel, etc. But MOST governments spend most of their allotted Cyber security budgets on DEFENSE, rather than OFFENSE. This is for practical reasons. If a large nation has significant cyber infrastructures, its government must first try to defend its cyber assets. It would be foolish for China to spend large amount of energy and resources on hacking others, while its own cyber networks are full of holes. The return simply cannot justify the cost. On a related logic, most hackers thus tend to be private individuals, hacking for political or increasingly economic reasons, because the cyber infrastructure around the world has become such that sufficient weaknesses have given plenty opportunities for hackers to practice, VIRTUALLY EVERY DAY, from stealing ID, privacy invasion, check fraud, credit card fraud, IP piracy online, etc. All of those are "hacks" that are giving young hackers introduction and practice in increasingly bold cyber attacks. In sum, the NET is ripe for mercenary hackers. It doesn't need governments to sponsor any of them to make it worse. Indeed, governments tend to constrain hired hackers for their own political reasons, MOSTLY to avoid international incidents. China is no exception. Mandiant, unfortunately, is stuck in the mindset of the OLD internet, when it was still owned by governments, and when hackers could only train under the confines of government campuses. This kind of mentality is simply out of touch.
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| David Beckham to be China’s Super League Ambassador Posted: 21 Feb 2013 12:10 PM PST
It's being reported David Beckham could become an international ambassador for the Chinese Super League. The former England captain is reportedly in talks about promoting Chinese football to the global market. It is also being reported the 37-year old will be attending a series of promotional events here in China as well. Previous reports have had Beckham considering a move here to China. However, those rumors have since been dispelled following his signing with Paris St. Germain. Source: CRIenglish | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PROOF POSITIVE THE CASTING COUCH EXISTS? Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:48 AM PST A photo featuring a man with two nude women has been making the rounds on the Internet. Netizens believe the pics could be proof of the casting couch. The man with a broad smile in the middle of two curvy ladies who cover their boobs with their hands is said to be Wang Ziyu (王子玉), producer of the film A Kind of Love "flesh search" is likely to clear this up in the next days. The film's director Liu Xiaochun (刘小春) was furious, saying the pics had nothing to do with him or his film. He said if it was true, and the producer was taking advantage of the film's stars to have his wicked way with them, then he would not work with him again. The film's lead, Chen Tingjia (陈廷嘉), said she was not aware of a casting couch, known as "hidden rules" in Chinese, for the film. But she would say that, wouldn't she? Source: May Daily | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grading Xi Jinping’s First 100 Days Posted: 21 Feb 2013 07:56 PM PST With the first 100 days of the Xi Jinping regime in the books, Xinhua News took time on Thursday to reflect and look ahead:
Singapore's Straits Times also spoke to a number of China observers and put together a report card for Xi:
© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hope on the Horizon for Gays in China Posted: 21 Feb 2013 06:41 PM PST Chengdu Living looks into the mindset of young people who, surprisingly, demonstrated an open attitude on homosexuality against the Chinese cultural background. Written by Oiwan Lam · comments (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:22 AM PST ETS released a snapshot on GRE testing scores by country. The GRE test is required by US universities for application to doctoral programs in science and engineering, or roughly the STEM.
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| New Chinese Leader to Make Moscow His First Visit Posted: 21 Feb 2013 02:15 PM PST The New York Times reports on the upcoming visit to Moscow by incoming president Xi Jinping and its significance for U.S.-China relations:
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| Bo Said to Be Uncooperative as Trial Delay Lengthens Posted: 21 Feb 2013 01:08 PM PST With the former flood of news about fallen Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai slowing to a trickle, rumors have rushed in to fill the gap, even in China's own state media. According to some of the more recent mutterings, Bo's trial has been held back by his uncooperative behavior. Reuters reported on Thursday that anonymous sources have confirmed Bo's lack of cooperation, which has taken forms including two hunger strikes and the growth of a chest-length protest beard. Meanwhile, the delay is undermining official efforts to portray the case as a model of impartial and effective justice. From Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard:
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| Citizen Mistrust Grows as China’s Real Estate Ownership Becomes More Opaque Posted: 21 Feb 2013 12:41 PM PST  Potential buyers check out a new Chinese real estate development. (Drnantu/Flickr) Over the last few days, new regulations on China's real estate information system have provoked another wave of anti-corruption sentiment. According to the Southern Metropolis Daily (@南方都市报), the government of Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province instituted a regulation on February 16 restricting access to the government-maintained real estate information system. The regulation prohibits searches for information about real estate ownership, unless the search is requested by the property owners themselves or law-enforcement agencies. Furthermore, searching may only be done using real estate registration numbers or addresses. In short, it has become tremendously difficult to discover how many apartments a person owns by using the official system. A similar regulation was also instituted recently in Yancheng City in Jiangsu Province. Although the news instantly went viral in public Internet forums, follow-up reports from the Oriental Morning Post (@东方早报) show that in most cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it has long been impossible to conduct name searches in real estate information systems. The newly released regulations in these two cities only institutionalized a ban that was already an unwritten rule in some places. Nevertheless, despite its practical insignificance, the news is symbolically important, and has led to a heated debate. At its core, the debate was not about real estate alone, but the fight against corruption, one of the most complicated factors in China's state-society relationship. Divergent interpretations As suggested in the statement released by the Yancheng City government, the new regulation was meant to address citizens' desire to protect their privacy. The regulation is indeed in line with standard practices in Western countries, where individuals are barred from searching for information about others' assets through official systems. According to the government, the new measure is a legitimate way to enhance protection of personal privacy. In contrast, Web users saw the policy in a different light. They believed that instead of protecting ordinary citizens, the measure primarily benefited corrupt officials. @险峰飞渡, a user of Sina Weibo, China's Twitter, explained how this was the case: "Obviously, this ban has been proposed in the name of protecting citizens' privacy in order to buy more time for officials to conceal their illegitimate assets. You can tell they are really afraid. Also, the ban shows that bureaucrats have already formed a class of solidarity, taking advantage of a variety of policy tools to defend their collective interests. This is really serious. If all of your income is legal, why are you afraid of a search by name?" In an opinion poll conducted by Sina, 87.7% of participants opposed the ban. The sharp contrast between the government's justification of the ban and Web users' objection to it mirrored the public's long-standing mistrust of the state, but was also exacerbated by the circumstances under which the regulation was put forward. The issue of timing The last several months have seen many grassroots anti-corruption campaigns online. Officials and their relatives whose real estate assets apparently exceeded what their legal income could conceivably acquire were variously called "house uncle," "house sister," "house wife" and "house grandpa" by Web users as they were identified and condemned. In most cases, the government caved to public pressure and investigated these individuals. Multiple officials have been removed and legal processes against them have begun. In the absence of effective top-down supervision and limited opportunities for political participation, many regard online sleuthing as a last resort for citizens who want to oversee their civil servants. Even though it remains unclear how many of these cases began with use of the official information system, many Web users believe that the new prohibitions are intended to counter the burgeoning sleuthing movement. Netizens perceive policymakers' denial of this connection as nothing more than a lie. Online suspicion of the policy is rooted in recent developments. After the 18th National Party Congress last November, the new Party leaders took a firm stance against corruption on various occasions. Rumors later abounded that the real estate information system, currently run by local governments independently, would soon be integrated into a nationwide network, making officials subject to more centralized top-down scrutiny. As a result, fear rapidly spread among officials. As reported by Economic Observer (@经济观察报), bureaucrats in major cities have been furiously selling off luxurious real estate properties since last December. By January 19, when Economic Observer published the news, the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Committee of the CPC had talked to more than 120 officers, asking their relatives to stop selling real estate and closing certain relatives' banking accounts. Given this information, the public cannot but assume that officials devised the policy solely to secure their assets and careers, using the protection of personal privacy as an excuse. A dilemma without end In an editorial published on February 19, Global Times (@环球时报) argued that the ongoing debate reflects a contradiction between two incompatible goals. According to the editorial, because of their strong contempt for corruption, a great many people irrationally support fighting against corruption in whatever ways might work—even if it means sacrificing privacy, which is a basic human right. But Global Times seriously misinterpreted Web users' main argument. They are not prioritizing the cause of anti-corruption over the protection of privacy . Instead, they do not believe the ban is meant to protect personal privacy at all. For them, in an environment of selective law enforcement, administrators and law enforcement officers would only enforce rules and regulations that benefit themselves. Deeply mistrusting the government, Chinese citizens think that discourse on privacy protection only serves to mask bureaucrats' self-interest. The fact that Western Countries have a comprehensive information disclosure system for officials' assets and effective protection of citizens' personal privacy proves that fighting against corruption and privacy protection are in fact compatible. The two goals could be achieved at the same time, but only if the state were dedicated to both. The Beijing Youth Daily (@北京青年报) points out that the existence of an information disclosure system for officials' assets is a precondition for public support of privacy protection regulations. What annoys Web users is the very different level of dedication the state shows to the two causes. The government tends to ignore any voice demanding information about officials' assets, yet is quite devoted to the protection of privacy. As @ -李凤仪- wrote, "The government processes issues at two speeds. On things like disclosing officials' assets, they move like turtles, procrastinating as much as possible and pretending they are deaf. But on things like banning search by name and protecting corruption, they act as quickly as possible." The snafu over real-estate searches has exposed the continuing gap between Chinese society and the state. In some ways, China is falling into the "Tacitus Trap": when a government loses credibility, it will be perceived as dissimulating whether or not it is telling the truth. Nefarious motives will be read into its every move. These conditions in turn act as a deterrent for any progressive interaction between state and society, and create a dilemma that may cast a shadow over China's public sphere for some time to come.         | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government Imposes Carbon Tax to Curb Emissions Posted: 21 Feb 2013 12:45 PM PST China now burns almost as much coal as the rest of the world combined. As the world saw vividly this year, the effects are deadly. Many in the U.S. and elsewhere have long blamed China for not cooperating with global efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but a recent move by the Ministry of Finance to impose a carbon tax has changed the conversation. From Xinhua:
The Responding to Climate Change website looks at how this new effort will work with the current trial cap-and -trade program that China announced early this year:
At the Atlantic, James Fallows summarizes several of the main points worth considering when discussing the carbon tax:
In a blog post, Ella Chou raises several questions that come up with the announcement:
Chou also points out the proposed tax itself would be "puny" (10 yuan [US $1.5] per ton of carbon dioxide in 2012, with gradual increase to 50 yuan [$7.9] per ton by 2020). For Forbes, Tim Worstall writes that even though it is small, the tax could still be effective:
A post on the Washington Post blog points out that the economic impact of the tax will likely reach beyond's China's borders:
But, as the post also points out, China's proposal is larger than anything under consideration by the U.S. Congress. © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Five Charged for China-U.S. Honey Smuggling Posted: 21 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST Five people have been charged in the U.S. for smuggling honey from China to evade $180 million in anti-dumping duties. The investigation that snared them was part of a years-long campaign to protect both beekeepers and honey consumers in America. Phil Mattingly at Bloomberg News:
The Associated Press' Alexa Olesen examined the debate over anti-dumping tariffs and problems associated with honey smuggling in 2010 (via Tom Hancock):
In the more recent case, according to the AFP, ICE deputy director Daniel Ragsdale "was quick to insist there was 'no health and safety risk' despite some of the 4,900 barrels of seized honey being adulterated with antibiotics not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration." Besides the dangers of direct ingestion, agricultural antibiotic use can accelerate the development of drug-resistant bacteria: see recent posts at CDT and IHT Rendezvous. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‘Normalizing’ same-sex marriage in the US and gay rights in Japan Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:56 AM PST Pacific Prospective features the research of graduate students. Memo #203 By Michael Oeckel - oeckelmj [at] gmail.com At first glance, the 2012 Presidential election in the United States may seem to have nothing to do with gay rights in Japan. But President Obama's reelection may have a significant impact on the future of same-sex marriage in the States, which is likely to create ripple effects in Japan. Scholars who have researched gay men in Japan have often pointed to the lack of a political gay and lesbian identity there. Many people avoid labeling themselves 'gay' because this still evokes ideas of hentai (perversion); Japanese media make little distinction between cross-dressers, transvestites and homosexual men. 'Gays' are not only perceived as feminine, weak and womanly, but they also cannot get married or produce a family in the traditional sense. Many same-sex attracted men describe marriage as something 'ordinary' Japanese do—and some go as far as to get married to women out of duty. Gay rights in Japan will only progress further if gayness is normalized; that is, if a gay marriage can be seen as equal to a 'traditional' one. For this to happen, the vocabulary used for same-sex attraction must be delinked from words like hentai. As the first US President to publicly support same-sex marriage, Obama's reelection has increased the chances for federal recognition of such marriages in the United States. This will likely have spill-over effects: Japan has more cultural interaction with the States than with any other country that has already adopted same-sex marriage. Obama's stance has been cited as a cause of the recent decision by Tokyo Disney to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies on its grounds. Just as international trends towards gender equality led to the adoption of sekuharu or sexual harassment laws in Japan, a new global discussion of same-sex marriage brought on by normalization in the States increases the chance for action in Japan. A political victory in the United States may help same-sex attracted Japanese to take on gay-political identities that in turn pressure their government for change, as women's groups did in the past. Michael Oeckel received his BA in Asian Studies from Temple University, Japan Campus, and is currently a student in the Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Policy Studies program at UBC. If you enjoyed this memo, subscribe to our e-newsletter for free and receive new memos 2+ times per week via email.
 Lesbian marriage in Tokyo Disneyland
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| In Face of Mainland Censorship, Taiwanese Revisit Reunification Question Posted: 21 Feb 2013 07:18 AM PST  Frank Hsieh, pictured here during his failed bid for the Taiwanese presidency. (davidreid/Flickr) Within twenty-four hours of registration, Sina Weibo (China's equivalent of Twitter) deleted the microblog account of Frank Hsieh, former premier of Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Ironically, Hsieh's last tweet before he lost the power to post on Weibo was: "Whether or not there is freedom of speech does not depend on how freely you speak when you criticize high officials or people in power, but whether you lose your freedom after you speak." What followed was a wave of Chinese netizen attack: they criticized the Chinese government of for infringing on freedom of speech, expressing concerns that such display of intolerance would antagonize the fellow Taiwanese people and diminish prospects of cross-strait reunification. Some Taiwanese officials have uses this incident to highlight the incompatibility between Taiwan and the mainland, and to emphasise the need for Taiwanese independence. In a television interview broadcast by Taiwan's United Daily News Group, Su Tseng-chang, current chairman of the DPP who lost the 2012 DPP presidential nomination to Frank Hsieh, stated: "From this incident, you can see how precious and praiseworthy a free, democratic, and open Taiwan is, and what differences exist between Taiwan and China. Taiwanese people must treasure their own land and country. We must not have false hopes toward China." In the same interview, Hsieh stated that he created the Weibo account in an effort to better understand the Chinese public and to share his own thoughts and experiences with them. When asked why his account was deleted, he replied, "I don't know." He then added jokingly, "Maybe there were some 'hackers.'" Some Taiwanese netizens echoed Su's view, openly displaying their contempt for China. In response to a China Times article reporting on this topic, Web user @詹耀程 commented, "The two places' basic values have so many differences—how can we ever talk about reunification?" Another user @淡水渔夫 wrote, "If Taiwan falls into the hands of the Communist party, Taiwanese people will be like Li Houzhu [renounced poet and the final Southern Tang ruler]—we will wash our faces with tears every day, then drink ourselves to death." Yet others rebuked Frank Hsieh, accusing him of trying to curry favor with the Chinese people. In response to an article written by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA), Web user @為什麼北部叫天龍國 南部叫地蛆國 為什麼 commented, "The party that shouts 'Taiwan Independence' every day goes and sets up a Weibo account—gaining popularity by selling Taiwan and seeking shelter from the Mainland?" Another user called @hungyk5 wrote, "Hsieh tried so hard to gather 'fans' by washing his Weibo account with sensational comments, but he went too far…as a result his account got blocked. It serves him right!" A few Taiwanese traditionalists seized this opportunity to call for the unification of Mainland and Taiwan—under the Republic of China's rule. User @9527 commented on the same CNA article, "Fellow Mainland brothers—rise and revolt for your freedom of speech, throw yourself into to the arms of the legitimate, free, democratic Republic of China." In Taiwan, opinions toward the cross-strait relationship split not only between DDP and the pro-reunification Kuomintang (KMT), its competitor, but also within the DDP itself. Last October, when Frank Hsieh privately visited top government officials in Beijing, some DDP members praised Hsieh's efforts to improve the party's ties with Beijing, while others maintained that Hsieh's political views and actions do not necessarily represent those of the entire party. As DDP's chairman Su Tseng-chang acknowledged, "The DPP's position [on its China policy] remains unchanged despite there being different opinions in the party." The belligerent and divergent reactions toward the news of Hsieh's day-long Weibo career show that more than 60 years after the 1949 Civil War, the question of cross-strait relationship—and reunification—remain controversial as before.     | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Flames Of Protest: The History Of Self-Immolation Posted: 21 Feb 2013 12:24 AM PST In the week since news emerged of the 100th Tibetan self-immolation within China's borders since 2009, four more cases have been reported. Most recently, according to Dharamsala-based Phayul.com, a pair of teenaged former schoolmates died from their burns after a protest on Tuesday:
The 102nd self-immolation is said to have occurred on Sunday. From Phayul.com:
The 101st reportedly took place on the same symbolic date on which the hundredth was revealed after a 10-day delay. Another Tibetan also set fire to himself that day in Kathmandu, Nepal, and later died. From Phayul.com:
At least six other self-immolations have taken place beside these 104, including two in Nepal and four in India. Another two possible cases within China's borders are disputed on the grounds that they may have been accidental. Joshua Eaton has examined these and other reasons for discrepancies. On NPR's Talk of the Nation on Wednesday, Oxford University's Michael Biggs, Columbia University's Robert Barnett and the International Campaign for Tibet's Bhuchung Tsering discussed the protests with host Neal Conan. Their conversation covers the history and potency of self-immolation protests globally, and their causes and effects within Tibet. Asked whether suicide bombings might replace suicide protests, Biggs argued that these are fundamentally different phenomena rather than points on the same spectrum. Bhuchung Tsering, though, suggested that goading Tibetans into just such an escalation may be one of the Chinese authorities' aims, as it could be used to justify an even harsher crackdown. Perhaps the key question, however, is whether the protests might be having more of an effect than meets the eye.
At The Wall Street Journal, Brian Spegele and Deborah Kan also discussed the protests and the resulting crackdown: © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| China Not Blocking Hack Attack Discussion Posted: 21 Feb 2013 12:15 AM PST U.S. cyber security firm Mandiant has reported that the Chinese People's Liberation Army is behind many cyber attacks against American organizations, but the usually heavy-handed Chinese government is not blocking online discussion of the news, according to TeaLeafNation. Taiwan-based Next Media Animation has produced a cheeky animated explainer of the hacking revelations. Written by Abby · comments (0) |
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