15 Mar 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Reporters Without Borders has named Burma, China, North Korea and Vietnam as among the worst violators of freedom of expression on the internet. The Enemies of the Internet 2010 report claimed that governments in these countries are either preventing citizens from accessing the web or developing increasingly sophisticated filtering techniques.
10 Mar 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The new Governor of Tibet has said that the Dalai Lama does not have a right to choose his successor and must instead must abide by the “requirements” of Tibetan Buddhist tradition, according to the Xinhua news agency. The government’s stance on the issue seems to be hardening after its ruling that the next Dalai Lama must be approved by the government. The Governor’s comments on Sunday made it even more likely that the current Dalai Lama will be succeeded by two new Dalai Lamas, one chosen by Tibetan religious leaders in exile and another by the Chinese government. “It is unreasonable to do whatever he wants,” Governor Padma Choling said of the Dalai Lama’s ideas. “There’s no way for him to do so.”
08 Mar 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Investigators looking into web attacks on Google and dozens of other American companies last year have traced the intrusions to computers at Jiaotong University as well as Lanxiang Vocational School in Shandong Province, an institution with ties to the Chinese military, according to a report in the New York Times. Beijing has subsequently denied these claims as “groundless“, fighting back against reports that investigators are drawing closer to hackers in China. China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Qin Gang, told reporters: “Reports that these attacks came from Chinese schools are totally groundless and the accusation of Chinese government involvement is also irresponsible and driven by ulterior motives.”
However, US analysts now believe they have identified the Chinese author of the critical programming code used in the alleged state-sponsored hacking attacks, making it far harder for the Chinese government to deny involvement. A freelance security consultant in his 30s wrote the part of the program that used an unknown security hole in the Internet Explorer web browser to break into computers and insert the spyware, a researcher working for the US government told the Financial Times.
25 Feb 10 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
China’s education ministry has ordered colleges to cut ties with Oxfam and prevent it from recruiting on campuses, accusing its Hong Kong branch of a hidden political agenda. A notice attributed to the education ministry said the Hong Kong branch of Oxfam, which oversees operations on the mainland, was a “non-governmental organisation seeking to infiltrate” the mainland. According to the South China Morning Post, the notice appeared on a website run by Minzu University in Beijing, it described the group as “ill-intentioned”. The notice, dated 4 February, also said: “All education departments and institutions of higher education must raise their guard and together recognise and take precautions against the unfriendly intentions of Oxfam Hong Kong’s recruitment of college volunteers.” The notice has since been removed.
