It Was a Bright, Cold Day in Beijing, and the Clocks Were Striking Thirteen…

John Paczkowski — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:26:33 +0000

Google co-founder Sergey Brin says China’s efforts to censor speech and suppress dissidents smack of the “totalitarianism” of his youth in the Soviet Union. Here’s a prime example: A Beijing directive describing how Google’s (GOOG) defiance of China’s censorship laws is to be portrayed in the country’s media. Thanks to the China Digital Times and Berkeley China Internet Project, which first obtained and translated it.

All chief editors and managers:

Google has officially announced its withdrawal from the China market. This is a high-impact incident. It has triggered netizens’ discussions which are not limited to a commercial level. Therefore please pay strict attention to the following content requirements during this period:

A. News section:

1. Only use Central Government main media (website) content; do not use content from other sources.
2. Reposting must not change title.
3. News recommendations should refer to Central government main media websites.
4. Do not produce relevant topic pages; do not set discussion sessions; do not conduct related investigative reporting.
5. Online programs with experts and scholars on this matter must apply for permission ahead of time. This type of self-initiated program production is strictly forbidden.
6. Carefully manage the commentary posts under news items.

B. Forums, blogs and other interactive media sections:

1. It is not permitted to hold discussions or investigations on the Google topic.
2. Interactive sections do not recommend this topic, do not place this topic and related comments at the top.
3. All websites please clean up text, images and sound and videos which attack the Party, State, government agencies, Internet policies with the excuse of this event.
4. All websites please clean up text, images and sound and videos which support Google, dedicate flowers to Google, ask Google to stay, cheer for Google and others have a different tune from government policy.
5. On topics related to Google, carefully manage the information in exchanges, comments and other interactive sessions.
6. Chief managers in different regions please assign specific manpower to monitor Google-related information; if there is information about mass incidents, please report it in a timely manner.
We ask the Monitoring and Control Group to immediately follow up monitoring and control actions along the above directions; once any problems are discovered, please communicate with respected sessions in a timely manner.

Additional guidelines:

– Do not participate in and report Google’s information/press releases.
– Do not report about Google exerting pressure on our country via people or events.
– Related reports need to put [our story/perspective/information] in the center, do not provide materials for Google to attack relevant policies of our country.
– Use talking points about Google withdrawing from China published by relevant departments.

[Image credit: Rich Anderson/Flickr]

Chinese Schools Tied to Attacks on Google? Where'd You Read That, Mad Magazine? [UPDATED]

John Paczkowski — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:56:41 +0000

UPDATE: The Financial Times reports that U.S. investigators believe an unnamed Chinese freelance security consultant is the author of at least a portion of code used in the alleged attacks on Google.

Claims that two schools in China were the source of cyberattacks against Google (GOOG) and other U.S. companies have become the butt of a state-run media joke in the country. First came vehement denials from Shanghai Jiaotong University and Lanxiang Vocational School, which dismissed the stories as unfounded. “We were shocked and indignant to hear these baseless allegations which may harm the university’s reputation,” an SJTU representative told Xinhua News, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China. He denied any ties between the school and China’s military, as did a rep for Lanxiang.

A relatively diplomatic condemnation of the claims at issue here, but it quickly devolved into outright disparagement and mockery. A subsequent news story, also published by Xinhua, bears the title “Chinese netizens make fun of Google hacking report.”

An excerpt:

A report claiming cyber attacks on Google and other firms originated from two Chinese educational institutions is being jeered at by Chinese netizens.

“The report is sheer nonsense. Is it April Fools’ Day?” netizen sdh13814021912 commented at the www.tianya.cn forum.

“The news is doomed to be a joke.” netizen Jinse Xueguang said.

“A vocational school being used as camouflage for military-sponsored hacker training camp. Am I reading a science fiction?” said another netizen azydn.

Is it April Fools’ Day? Am I reading a science fiction? Clearly Sino-American relations around this matter have sunk to a new low. Still, it’s no surprise that China’s digerati–or the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officials impersonating them for state-run media–have reacted this way.

Confirming the schools’ involvement in the attacks or their alleged links to the Chinese military is impossible without Beijing’s cooperation. And Beijing is clearly not going to cooperate. Why would it? It has already denied culpability. And ensuring that it remains blameless is as simple as refusing to disclose traffic data from the schools’ data networks.

PREVIOUSLY:

AllThingsD » netizen

It Was a Bright, Cold Day in Beijing, and the Clocks Were Striking Thirteen…

Chinese Schools Tied to Attacks on Google? Where'd You Read That, Mad Magazine? [UPDATED]