As of August 1st, all mobile app developers in China will be compelled by law to conduct real-name registrations of their users and preserve records of their activity for at least two months. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) explained the new regulations are necessary because “Some apps have been used for spreading violence, terrorism, pornography and rumors, while some apps are violating users’ privacy and cheating money from them.”

Developers must verify the identities of their users by recording their phone numbers or other personal information. At the same time, developers must guarantee the security of their users’ personal information, and promise not to collect information on the location of their users.

Mobile app providers will be made responsible for their users, while developers must “improve censorship” by issuing warnings, suspensions and even bans to any users sharing “illicit information”.

The new regulations also make app stores responsible for ensuring all apps are authentic, while being on the look-out for piracy.

These new regulations follow this month’s announcement that all mobile app games distributed in China must be pre-approved by Chinese authorities, paying particular attention to video games with “political and military themes”.

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The pair met each other at the United States Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was broadcast via Facebook Live. The 19-minute video showed the duo discussing such issues as meditation, mental health and how to detoxify humanity.

According to the Apple Daily, websites in China have been ordered to stop uploading or distributing her songs. Meanwhile, government-run news outlets such as CCTV, the People’s Daily and the Global Times were ordered to criticize the meeting.

China has previously reacted harshly to international artists seen associating with the Dalai Lama.

Last July, Shanghai cancelled a Maroon 5 concert after it was revealed a band member had sent out a tweet regarding the Dalai Lama. Bon Jovi concerts scheduled for Shanghai and Beijing last September were also cancelled due to objections from the Ministry of Culture over Tibet imagery used as part of the band’s performance.

This past April, pop singer Selena Gomez cancelled upcoming concerts in Guangzhou and Shanghai over rumors she had circulated content on her Twitter account regarding the Dalai Lama.

The post Lady Gaga Meets Dalai Lama, Now Predictably Banned in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

The regulation stipulates that domain names with access to China should be provided by domestic registration services owned and operated by Chinese institutions. In other words, if you’re a foreign service provider, you can’t offer a domain name with access to China. Any person or business caught in violation of the regulation faces fines of up to RMB 30,000 (over $4,600).

The Ministry has since clarified that the proposed rules do not involve websites that are accessed overseas. “There is no fundamental conflict between the new draft and the global domain name regulation system,” said the Ministry.

Much of the controversy revolves around article 37 of the draft, which reads in part:

For domain names engaging in network access within the borders, but which are not managed by domestic domain name registration service bodies, Internet access service providers may not provide network access services.

According to the Ministry’s “clarification”, the new Chinese Internet law will be used to block non-complying foreign websites operating in China. Or, as Fang Binxing, an expert on network information security at the Chinese Academy of Engineering explained in a recent Global Times report: “what you use in China must be registered to Chinese institutions”.

Fang believes the regulation will enhance Internet management, as a website can be blocked “when one stops its name server from providing service for it”. As such, authorities advise foreign companies in China to transfer their website domain names to Chinese registers in order to comply with the new rule.

The People’s Daily Online reported the media fuss was much ado about nothing:  “The media, especially the foreign ones, interpreted this article as an effort to completely block foreign websites from China.”

One interpretation of the draft regulation is that China wants to fully control the domain name “.cn”, typically used for high-level official government websites. As Tech in Asia writes:

Even this slightly more optimistic take would wreak havoc on any .cn domain provider not based in the mainland. For example, the world’s biggest domain supplier, GoDaddy, sells .cn domains throughout Asia, especially in Hong Kong and Singapore, but does not actually operate in mainland China. This law could mean that those .cn domains would need to be switched over to domestic Chinese hosts – lest they be blocked by the Great Firewall, which could identify their foreign IP addresses.

The post China Denies New Internet Law Blocks Foreign Websites appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Washington Post reported the open letter was published early March 4 on a website called Wujie News (watching.cn), a media platform partially backed by government ties. After attracting online attention, the entire website was shut down. Upon resuming service, the offending article had disappeared from the website servers.

The scathing letter is an indictment of Xi Jinping’s failure to properly serve as China’s president. Written by “loyal Communist Party members”, the letter condemns Xi for “abandoning the principle of collective leadership” by having “consolidated all authority”.

The letter argues that Xi is to blame for a number of things that have brought “an unprecedented crisis” to China: layoffs due to overproduction, an escalation of conflict in the North Korea issue, the stock market crash, and real estate market turmoil, and more. The letter also criticizes Xi for creating a cult of personality by commissioning artists to write flattering songs praising him.

The letter also asks Xi to resign out of “safety for you and your family”, referring to a inner power struggle that threatens to spiral out of control.

Most ominously of all, the letter warns that another Cultural Revolution is imminent under Xi’s control, saying the people won’t be able “to endure another ten years of calamity!”

One person is suspected to have disappeared in connection with the letter. On March 15, columnist Jia Jia disappeared after boarding a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong, and has not been heard from since.

The letter first appeared on overseas website Mingjing, and not in mainland China. According to the Apple Daily, computer hackers are responsible for its appearance on watching.cn. Citing sources close to the incident, the hacking “had been planned in advance” since it took place at the exact same time that overseas websites published the letter.

Here’s the entire letter as originally seen on the Watcher:

Open Letter Requesting Xi Jinping to Resign from the Party and from His Position as Leader of the Country

Greetings, comrade Xi Jinping.

We are loyal members of the Communist Party. At the time the national “two sessions” convened, we have written this letter to you, asking for your resignation from the Party and from all posts held as leader of the country. These requests come out of consideration for the Party, the future of the country and its people, and, as well as for the safety for yourself and your family.

Comrade Xi Jinping, ever since you were selected to be the new secretary-general by the Central Committee at the eighteenth national general congress in 2012, you were resolved to improve a growing malaise by fighting against the tigers of corruption, as well as corruption within the Party. You have designated yourself as leader of the group for deepening comprehensive reforms for the Central government, as well as a number of other groups. You have perform a number of acts to develop the economy. You have the popular support of a portion of the people. These are all things that are apparent to us.

However, comrade Xi Jinping, there is something we can’t ignore. Due to your methods by which you have consolidated all authority into your hands, directly deciding things in all domains by yourself that include government, economy, and culture, you have created an unprecedented problem and crisis.

In terms of politics, you have abandoned the most upstanding traditions of the Party, of which the most egregious being that the expressed support of leaders at all levels of government are required (for your position). You have abandoned the principle of collective leaders of the Standing Committee, a core of the democratic collective system, and instead have excessively centralized authority. By consolidating the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the State Council and the Party all together, you have weakened their independence from one another. This compromises the authority of other comrades that includes State Council Premier Li Keqiang. Simultaneously, patrols dispatched by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to institutions and state enterprises have been a new bastion of authority, thereby obfuscating the jurisdiction of authority currently held at all levels of Party committees and government. Such a policy has sown disorder.

In terms of foreign affairs, you have abandoned comrade Deng Xiaoping’s consistent policy of maintaining a “low profile” for the country and instead blindly acted. Not only have you failed to foster a good environment for international relationship around the periphery (around China), but also have allowed North Korea to successfully carry out experiments on atomic bombs and guided missiles, thereby creating a huge threat to the safety of China. Additionally, you have allowed the USA to return to Asia and created a united front with South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and other South Asian countries in order to unite and constrain China. In regards to issues with Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, (you) have not complied with comrade Deng Xiaoping’s “one country, two systems” concept. In this hopeless situation (you have created), the Democratic Progressive Party has come to power in Taiwan, and the independence movement continues to rise in Hong Kong. In particular, the return of a Hong Kong bookseller is an abnormal practice that has directly harmed the “one country, two systems” concept.

In terms of economics, you have directly been involved in the creation of macro and micro-economic policies by way of the committee for Central finance and economy. This has led to the vast turmoil of China’s stock market and real estate market where the masses have lost hundreds of thousands of yuan in personal savings, filling the land with victims with no where to turn. Your policies on production capacity has led to massive layoffs of workers for state-run companies, while a growing trend has become for private companies to go bankrupt, sending swarms of workers into unemployment. The “one belt, one road” strategy has sent huge amounts of foreign-exchange reserves into disarray throughout the country and its regions, never to see any returns. As the foreign-exchange reserve has been excessively consumed, the Renminbi has entered a period of devaluation. This has caused a decline in confidence from everyone. The national economy is on the verge of a collapse, and the will of the people is changing.

In terms of ideology and culture, you have emphasized that “the media should take after the same name as the Party” (adopt the same principles), thereby ignoring the humanity of of the press, shocking the entire nation. You support untalented people like Zhou Xiaoping and Hua Qianfang become the preeminent representatives of Chinese art and literature, thereby bitterly disappointing scores of artists and writers around the country. You have cultural work units flatter you with songs that praise you. The sister of your wife Peng Liyuan was featured on the Spring Festival Gala as a producer, turning what was originally a warm spectacle of the Gala for families to watch into a tool for propagating your personal interests. By indulging in personal worship, not permitting discussion in the Central (government), and only permitting expression that is synonymous with the Party, all these things can’t help but make the rest of us who have experienced the Cultural Revolution very anxious — neither our Party, country, nor people can bear to endure another ten years of calamity!

Comrade Xi Jinping, you have carried out high-handed anti-corruption drives that have been effective in correcting the malaise of the Party. However, because no proper follow-up measures have been adopted that have objectively brought about a negligence throughout all levels of government at the present time. Along with officials afraid to do anything and open discontent from the masses, there has been an acute deterioration of the economy. It is also clear to us that the target of anti-corruption drives are the result of a inner power struggle. We are worried that this kind of intense inner Party power struggle may become a risk to the safety of you and your family.

Therefore, comrade Xi, we consider that you don’t have the ability to lead the Party and the country into the future, and are unfit to hold the position of general-secretary. For the prosperity of the Party, for the long-term peace and stability of the country, for the safety of yourself and your family, we request that you quit all positions in the Party and in the country. Allow the Party central committee and the people of the country to select a sage that will bring positive progression as we march into the future.

your sincere communist Party members,
March 2016

The post Open Letter Demanding Xi Jinping’s Resignation Gets Censored from Chinese Website appeared first on The Nanfang.

A number of Chinese VPN (virtual personal networks) users, particularly Astrill, have said they have been unable to circumvent Chinese internet protocols. On the other hand, users of other VPNs have reported no change to their service whatsoever.

VPN problems arose last month when Astrill, Golden Frog, and StrongVPN all said their Chinese services had been compromised in some way. Students and personal users seem to be most affected by the outages, while services to business appear to be unaffected.

As with previous service disruptions, Astrill had noted the service disruption was most severe for clients using iOS devices.

Meanwhile, the current VPN outages coincide with the annual twin sessions for the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Colloquially known as the “two sessions”, this important political event is where China’s lawmakers meet each year to propose new laws.

Like other high-profile events hosted in the capital including last fall’s WWII victory celebrations, the two sessions are accompanied by blue skies (after a smoggy start) and a clamping down of controls over China’s internet.

Popular with expats residing in China, Astrill had faced disruptions before. Severe outages struck Astrill users last fall and at the top of the year, again mostly affecting users with iOS devices.

Back in January, a former Google security engineer revealed that a number of VPN service providers may be putting their clients at risk for using outdated encryption technology, allowing Chinese authorities access to personal information.

VPNs are services that allow Internet users in China to bypass security protocols (colloquially known as the “Great Firewall of China”) and enable access to prohibited websites such as Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.

The post Good Luck Accessing Facebook: China Clamps Down on VPNs During “Two Sessions” appeared first on The Nanfang.

Former Google information security engineer, Marc Bevand, has raised doubts about the security provided by VPNs. During a recent trip to China, Bevand discovered that the VPN he was using, ExpressVPN, was only encrypted with a 1024-bit RSA key [see update below], considered weak enough to allow third-parties like the Chinese government to access user data. The report also noted that Astrill VPN uses a 1024-bit RSA encryption key.

Calling the decision to rely on outdated encryption technology “irresponsible”, Bevand offered a rather scary hypothesis to explain why ExpressVPN and Astrill haven’t been shut down by the Chinese government:

One possible explanation could be that the Chinese government did factor the ExpressVPN root CA key and does spy on the network traffic of their users, but they prefer to not interfere with ExpressVPN in order to give their users a false sense of privacy. If China blocked the service, users would migrate to other more secure VPN services, and China would lose a SIGINT [ie. intelligence information gathered from communications] ability.

In short, Bevand is suggesting that the Chinese government may not be blocking VPN use in China because it would rather listen in on your conversations. Now that’s scary.

UPDATED 12:35pm on February 18, 2016:

Express VPN has informed us that they have upgraded their OpenVPN CA certificate strength from 1024-bit to 4096-bit. David Lang, who is Express VPNs Communications Manager, had this to say about the upgrade:

As ExpressVPN is committed to maintaining the privacy and security of our users worldwide, I wanted to follow up on your post to make it clear we’ve taken this very seriously. This upgrade to 4096-bit makes ExpressVPN best in class for OpenVPN.

As we pointed out previously, this item was in our backlog to fix. We believe that no data was compromised, but we agree 100% that it needed to be addressed. To that effect, our team of engineers worked tirelessly to upgrade the CA key strength in record time.

I want to personally thank you for shedding light on this important issue, and for your commitment to safety, privacy, and security. These independent third-party checks and balances are essential for an open and free Internet. These are values we, too, share.

Best Regards,

David Lang

The post Chinese VPNs Using Outdated Encryption Technology appeared first on The Nanfang.

The mobile Facebook app allows users to access Tor, an online anonymity program that encrypts and scrambles Internet signals. Because Tor masks a user’s true location, a Facebook user in China may be able to elude censoring protocols that block Facebook.

In the app’s settings panel, users can access the mobile phone version of Tor, called Orbot. Once activated (shown above), Chinese Facebook users may be able to finally get around the Great Firewall of China. This workaround will only be available to Android users; iPhone users will just have to wait.

As we’ve seen in the past, however, the gatekeepers of the Internet in China have been quick to thwart attempts to vault over the Great Firewall. VPN users have seen the effectiveness of their services tested in China, especially iPhone users following a recent update to the GFW. As fleeting as it was, a glitch in the matrix that led to half an hour of free Google access in China was a cruel temptation once the gate was slammed shut.

That a technical solution was found to give Facebook access to Chinese Internet users is odd, considering the lengths Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has gone in order to pander to Chinese authorities. Zuckerberg studied Putonghua for years, and has given two speeches – spoken entirely in Chinese to an amazed audience – at Tsinghua University, where he has been accepted as a board member. Zuckerberg has also promoted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book to his staff, urging them to understand “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

Perhaps the greatest (lowest?) moment of pandering was when Zuckerberg gave the honor of naming his first son to President Xi during his state visit to the USA. Xi is said to have politely declined the offer.

It may be that Zuckerberg’s attempts to warm up to the Chinese government may be over, all with the flick of a switch.

Related:

• Facebook may find a way to enter China
• Trying to Access a Blocked Site in China? You Could End Up Looking at Porn
• China neuters the Net Nanny…. in Chongqing
• Spoofed Google Page Calls On Chinese People To Fight The GFW

The post Facebook’s New Android App Finds a Way Around China’s Firewall appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Ministry of Culture says all Chinese internet companies must start policing the music it offers online starting January 1. The plan calls for these companies to self-censor by hiring and training its own in-house staff to conduct detailed investigations of which songs are unacceptable to the ministry, which will then be added to a blacklist and removed from their servers.

The plan is similar to how internet companies in China are already forced to deal with other content offered online through the use of in-house censors.

The announcement comes at a time when music streaming apps and services are becoming popular with the public, with middle-class consumers paying for some of these services.

This past August, the Ministry of Culture put out a blacklist of 120 songs that are banned from all Chinese internet sites, the majority of them songs with “morally harmful” content from artists like MC Hotdog (pictured) that mostly featured sexist or immature content.

The post China is Tightening Censorship of Streaming Music appeared first on The Nanfang.

There’s also one more significant Chinese event this month, but it’s something that has fallen out of the public’s eye in China. Yesterday, September 9, marks the 39th anniversary of the death of Chairman Mao Zedong.

While the Little Red Books and Revolutionary zeal of Mao’s age have all but disappeared from Chinese society, Mao’s influence remains strong in China. During the military parade on September 3, soldiers and tanks filed through Tian’anmen Square under a watchful portrait of Mao hanging at the front of the Forbidden City. Just the same, yesterday’s Tibet celebrations featured Chinese Communist Party symbols that included Mao’s portrait.

Almost half a century after his death, Chinese still find it hard to criticize the controversial figure seen on all of their paper money. Arguments about the founding father of modern China may use the “ratio” argument in which any criticism against Mao is acceptable so long as he is given a favorable ratio that describes his fault, as in “70 percent right, 30 percent wrong”.

However, some Chinese netizens are marking the death of Mao 39 years later by describing it as the breath of fresh air China needed to get back on its feet. Law professor He Weifang made the following post on Weibo, attracting  7,700 likes and 3,400 forwards within just three hours:

39 years ago today, Mao Zedong passed away. The entire nation grieved and marched to a dirge as a funeral was held. The people were deeply worried for the future of China. 16 years old at the time, what I did not now then was that his death signified an important turning point in history. The Cultural Revolution had been put down, the brutal ‘class struggle’ was finally over, the gaokao examination was re-instituted (to allow people to attend university) as were contracts for land. At last, we could finally eat without want, China had been reformed! Who said that death is necessarily a bad thing?

In the wake of several parades and with nationalist sentiment riding high, this kind of opinion may be considered weird in China. For instance, commemorations of Mao’s death were greeted with numerous comments calling him “a great man” over on the China Daily Weibo account. However, with this post going viral, other netizens came out with their own frank opinions about Mao.

This Weibo user made this observation, rather cryptically:

Without the death of Mao on September 9, there wouldn’t be a Teacher’s Day (held on September 10).

Meanwhile, another netizen came out with a frank assessment of history:

The passing of Mao informed the world that the worship of a man is not only a tragedy for society, but for individuals as well.

And this netizen put all his cards on the table:

Today is the anniversary of old Mao’s death. Some of old Mao’s ideas have merit, but he was unable to realize them. He is a person I fundamentally disagree with. During Mao’s rule, an untold number of people were persecuted and killed. As well, the poisonous thinking caused by the Cultural Revolution continues to this day. Although we can’t say that he is completely to blame, he was the leader (of China at the time), and should take responsibility as such. To all those people who like and support Mao, go ahead, I’m not going to argue with you.

Comments on He Weifang’s post included the following:

梵籁n卡山：
You’ve said so much… let me simplify it for you — a good death!

南行北往：
The one good thing he did was (blank)

上头有人斯基：
All of a sudden, we’re allowed to make criticisms now?

魏臻二娃：
After news of Mao’s death spread, there were people who wanted to laugh, but didn’t dare. So they stifled their laughs and ran for many kilometers into the woods, and only upon reaching remote mountaintops would they finally let out the huge laugh that had been boiling inside them. This is a fact.

BOSS谭力挺阿根廷：
I support you!!!

竹垞山人：
Completely blaming Mao for the collapse of society is not being objective. This is not to say that Mao was all that great or noble. Just think about it: at that time, what did Chinese people really think of freedom, democracy, and civilization? Did the Chinese people have rational thinking? Had the experience of being a slave seeped into their bones? If the element that causes the collapse of culture isn’t eliminated, more tragedies may be awaiting China in the future.

Even though criticisms against Mao continue to be muted today, as seen by various posts getting quickly censored, it appears that the Chinese public aren’t afraid to voice their criticism.

The post Chinese Unleash Rare Criticism of Chairman Mao on 39th Anniversary of His Death appeared first on The Nanfang.

A Shanghai Daily pixellated cartoon shows a hand marked “Purge” cutting the tongue of a cell phone marked “Online Rumors”.

Nearly 200 people have been punished by law enforcement authorities in China for posting content online regarding the Tianjin explosions, the recent Chinese stock market crash, and the upcoming September 3rd military parade in Beijing, calling them malicious rumors.

In a statement released yesterday, the Ministry of Public Security said 165 accounts have been closed for violating current laws and 197 people arrested. The statement did not what punishments they face.

The ministry’s statement said these people were punished for publishing rumors like “man jumped to death in Beijing due to stock market slump,” “at least 1,300 people were killed in Tianjin blasts” and content regarding Thursday’s military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

This latest crackdown on Chinese internet users follows last week’s announcement that some 15,000 people had been been arrested for committing various cyber crimes in an attempt to “clean the internet”. Days before that, 50 websites were shut down for “spreading false rumors” pertaining to the Tianjin explosions.

For the past two years, China’s Public Security Ministry has undergone a continuous campaign to stop rumors from spreading online, claiming such behavior needs to be wiped out. This past March, new regulations for WeChat users strictly forbid a number of things including lying and the using the names of famous people.

China has been accused of censoring information regarding last week’s “Black Monday” stock market crash, while the BBC reports that netizen discussion in the wake of the Tianjin explosions have been muted by online censors.

The post China Punishes 197 for “Spreading Rumors” on the Internet appeared first on The Nanfang.