New Chinese Browser Offers a Glimpse Beyond the Great Firewall -- With Caveats (techcrunch.com) 23
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: China now has a tool that lets users access YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, and other internet services that have otherwise long been banned in the country. Called Tuber, the mobile browser recently debuted on China's third-party Android stores, with an iOS launch in the pipeline. The landing page of the app features a scrolling feed of YouTube videos, with tabs at the bottom that allow users to visit other mainstream Western internet services.
While some celebrate the app as an unprecedented "opening up" of the Chinese internet, others quickly noticed the browser comes with a veil of censorship. YouTube queries for politically sensitive keywords such as "Tiananmen" and "Xi Jinping" returned no results on the app, according to tests done by TechCrunch. Using the app also comes with liabilities. Registration requires a Chinese phone number, which is tied to a person's real identity. The platform could suspend users' accounts and share their data "with the relevant authorities" if they "actively watch or share" content that breaches the constitution, endangers national security and sovereignty, spreads rumors, disrupts social orders, or violates other local laws, according to the app's terms of service.
While some celebrate the app as an unprecedented "opening up" of the Chinese internet, others quickly noticed the browser comes with a veil of censorship. YouTube queries for politically sensitive keywords such as "Tiananmen" and "Xi Jinping" returned no results on the app, according to tests done by TechCrunch. Using the app also comes with liabilities. Registration requires a Chinese phone number, which is tied to a person's real identity. The platform could suspend users' accounts and share their data "with the relevant authorities" if they "actively watch or share" content that breaches the constitution, endangers national security and sovereignty, spreads rumors, disrupts social orders, or violates other local laws, according to the app's terms of service.
Well (Score:4, Informative)
At least they openly monitor their population.
Other countries do it covertly.
Re: (Score:2)
Often not as covertly as they think ;DDD. They really do get low grade people in the three letter agencies, the tech corporations suck up the best, but not the big arsehole tech corporations, they now also lose the best to smaller companies, I mean how could good people work for the likes of M$ and Google and Facebook, ewww.
Perhaps now the government of China will open up in the other direction, and add English to Baidu et al services to make them more accessible, email and maps. Especially if they want a b
Re: Well (Score:2)
Wrong. "Open" would mean the policy is publicized and people are made aware of the rules. Censorship in China isn't like that at all. The government tells people it's to protect kids from porn and society from destabilizing lies -- you may have heard of these excuses. No one is told what the rules are so people self-censor to keep on the safe side, and a constant cat and mouse game of circumventing through euphemisms derived from euphemisms derived from euphemisms and on and on. It's everything that America
The West openly censors too, and (Score:2)
Blocks are claimed to be for the benefit of preventing the distribution of illegal content such as
Re: The West openly censors too, and (Score:2)
Not even close to the level in China.
Who cares? (Score:2)
Cause it may be... (Score:2)
...coming soon to the sheering station near you?
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would anyone care how china grooms its sheep.
Because China is 20% of humanity and offers a model for the world's future that is very different from the Western ideal.
Europe is fragmented and many countries in Central and Eastern Europe are flirting with the Chinese model of authoritarianism.
America has abandoned its leadership role, built walls, and alienated allies.
You should care about humanity's future because you will be part of it.
Does it really matter as much when.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Get your own houses in order. We're not the free world police.
Because it is already here in the USA (Score:1)
Social platforms have a consistent track record of banning, blocking, or shadow-banning political opinions it doesn't agree with. Then the people who posted this will be doxed, hunted down, and killed. The FBI democrat enforcement division will then prosecute and jail the people related to the deceased person for hate crimes. This is freedom of speech in the USA.
Re: Who cares? (Score:2)
Because "anyone" includes Chinese people.
Well, perhaps if you cannot... (Score:3)
bring yourself to have concerns for your fellow human beings, in this case the average Chinese citizen who has had no choice in the leadership of his country, then perhaps you should consider that this could eventually be your fate as well.
Consider:
All the planet's biggest, richest, and most-powerful tech firms clearly value Chinese money more than anything else, and they have each demonstrated a willingness to go along with every evil thing that government does. Having become used to facilitating the evils
Vpn (Score:2)
Sure. No Xinji Pingi. (Score:2)
But what about the great Winnie-the-Pooh?
Digital dragnet (Score:3)
YouTube queries for politically sensitive keywords such as "Tiananmen" and "Xi Jinping" returned no results on the app
But you can bet that such queries are being recorded, either to be acted upon immediately or to be saved for future use by the regime.
It's also the perfect way to nip potentially-subversive attitudes in the bud. Knowing that their searches are being monitored will train the people to censor and control themselves, and remove a lot of the government's enforcement burden. Give the population something that looks like freedom, but teach them with a heavy hand what happens when they 'abuse' that 'freedom'. The strongest chains are the ones that people forge in their own minds.
It also sounds like a good way to simply gather information on what the people's interests are, to get advance notice of any subversive trends that need to be quashed. Not to mention collecting data which can be used at a later date to demonstrate a history of wrongthink.
The Chinese people need to be very careful now that they've gotten what I'm sure many of them have wished for.
Re: (Score:2)
It's the same shit all dictators pull. Put an unattended sandwich near a starving man and beat the shit out of him if he eats it.
Fuck china, death to Xi, Tiananmen happened, Taiwan and Hong Kong are free nations, the plague king is scared of Winnie the Pooh.
Chinese honeypot (Score:2)
This should be considered a honeypot, not to catch hackers but political undesirables. As with security honeypots, it will only catch those sufficiently naive and inexperienced to be tantalized by the mirage of reaching beyond the firewall.
Authorities are catching up (Score:2)
The app isn't endorsed by the authorities, and had been a little secret for its users (you actually CAN access a lot of disallowed content if you avoid the straightforward keywords and search using euphemisms instead). It went viral in the last few days and today's rumor is that mentions of the app are being censored on Weibo and other news and social media sites. Old users are desperately trying to keep the hype down and dissuade new users by giving or changing their reviews to 1 star and leaving comments
Update: Removed from all app stores (Score:2)
That was quick. App no longer shows up in any Chinese app stores.
same as everywhere then (Score:1)
It's not like America, Australian, European etc ISP's don't also log what you do. And have legislation in place for them to keep those records to give to the government upon request. Google etc don't keep track of your searches.
Just visiting the US the government expects your social media details for a quick check. Actually now it's changed to a requirement for just the application to visit.
China is at least honest about its draconian censorship and tracing everything you do.
Taken down within hours (Score:2)
Taken down within hours
New Chinese Browser (Score:1)