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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 01 Feb 2010
In a speech this month on "Internet freedom," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decried the cyberattacks that threaten U.S. economic and national security interests. "Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation," she warned, alluding to the China-Google kerfuffle. We should "create norms of behavior among states and encourage respect for the global networked commons."
Perhaps so. But the problem with Clinton's call for accountability and norms on the global network -- a call frequently heard in policy discussions about cybersecurity -- is the enormous array of cyberattacks originating from the United States. Until we acknowledge these attacks and signal how we might control them, we cannot make progress on preventing cyberattacks emanating from other countries.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 29 Jan 2010
A recently launched US State Department campaign aimed at supporting global internet freedom has provided a new framework for renewed discussions among analysts and commentators.
"Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation," said Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, according to the Wall Street Journal. Clinton went on to specifically name China, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Egypt as countries where "a new information curtain is descending."
Although the editorial in the Wall Street Journal goes on to express support for Secretary Clinton’s initiative, the article does not address the specifics of the plan. Marc Lynch, however, takes a more analytical approach to the anti-censorship strategy.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 29 Jan 2010
Despite claims by the Chinese authorities that restrictions on Internet services and communications are gradually being lifted in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, this is not the case. Official websites such as Xinhuanet.com and People.com.cn are again available but most of the Internet is still cut off seven months after the riots.
“We condemn the Chinese government’s propaganda, which is trying to give the impression that communications have been restored in Xinjiang,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Despite a few highly-publicised measures, the Internet in Xinjiang continues in practice to be cut off from the rest of the world.”
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Jan 2010
Toronto
The recent cyberespionage attacks on Google and that company’s subsequent announcement that it would reconsider its search engine services in China gripped the world’s focus and set off a debate about China’s aggressive cybersecurity strategy.
The apparent scope of the attacks – more than 30 companies affected, Gmail accounts compromised, human rights groups targeted – took many by surprise. Some observers believe the attacks were highly sophisticated in nature, employing never-before-seen techniques. Many reports concluded that the Chinese government undertook the attacks.
As principal investigators in the Information Warfare Monitor, a project formed in 2002 to investigate and analyze the exercise of power in cyberspace, we have seen many of these types of attacks first hand in our research, and have followed closely those examined by other researchers.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Jan 2010
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader accused the United States Tuesday of trying to use the Internet as a tool to confront the Islamic Republic, declaring that such a policy only showed Washington's frustration.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged Beijing and other governments to end Internet censorship, placing China in the company of Iran, Saudi Arabia and others as leading suppressors of on-line freedom.
The Internet has become a battleground during domestic turmoil in Iran after June's disputed election, with the authorities blocking access to some opposition websites and pro-reform Iranians using it to spread word of new protests.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Jan 2010
China and America's on-off dialogue on human rights faces postponement again amid discord between the two powers over internet censorship.
Talks were meant to take place last year, but a date was never set.
The two countries agreed in November, during Barack Obama's visit to China, that they would resume discussions by the end of February at the latest. This now looks unlikely and it is thought the US is suggesting dates in late March.
"We are still continuing to work with the Chinese to schedule," said a state department official. "Human rights dialogue is a priority for the US."
Although critics complain the dialogue has achieved little, advocates say it is an opportunity to raise important issues and individual cases of concern directly.
Some observers believe US officials could be tarrying, fearing that if they do not get a substantive agenda for the talks China could say it is engaging on human rights – but the US could get little in return.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Jan 2010
Despite its recent threats to shut down its China-based operations, Google may in fact keep some of its businesses open there. According to a Fox News report, the search giant is conducting "delicate" talks with the Chinese government. The two sides are discussing ways that Google can maintain its research center, an advertising sales team, and Google's new mobile phone business in China, the report states.
Don't Be Evil
Google created an international incident earlier this month when it announced plans to stop censoring search results in China. It also said it may exit the world's largest Internet market because of cyberattacks there that appear to target Chinese human-rights activists.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton entered the fray last week when she announced several Department of State initiatives to fight Internet censorship. These included plans to help dissidents in countries with repressive governments circumvent Internet-blocking technologies.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Jan 2010
Why the internet industry association stayed clear of online protest.
ISP iiNet has blacked out its website for 24 hours to protest the Government's filtering plans, a sole voice of protest from within the ISP community.
The Perth ISP switched off its participation in the internet blackout at midnight last night after going live at "close-of-business" Western Australian time on Monday.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Jan 2010
According to information compiled from Netcraft, Internet World Stats and Verisign, 2009 saw an amazing rise in the number of Web sites and Internet users. There were 247 million Web sites as of December, of which 47 million were created in 2009. During the year, 90 trillion emails were sent by 1.4 billion email users around the globe. In just 2009, 100 million new users were added. As of September, there were 1.73 billion Internet users. A total of 126 million blogs were created through the end of 2009 and 27.3 million tweets were sent per day. Facebook broke all kinds of records with 350 million users. Over one billion videos were streamed by YouTube servers per day. On Jan. 22, 2010, the first Tweet from space was sent by Thimoty J. Creamer from the International Space Station.
These numbers are immense when compared to any brick-and-mortar business. The online world has dominated the real world with high commerce volumes and the number of intellectual debating platforms. That’s why the governments are stepping in with heavy censorship measures. They are trying to control what they fear. The inability to understand what the Internet is makes governments frantic when it comes to regulations.
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By: Jillian C. York
Date: 28 Jan 2010
Twitter is developing technology aimed at preventing the governments of China and Iran from censoring Tweets, co-founder Evan Williams told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Financial Times is reporting.
Williams didn’t detail Twitter’s approach — in part to give no clues to the governments it hopes to confound — but described the work as “interesting hacks.”
