the Net Tightens in Greater China

[Woz]

Two articles today about cracking cybercrine in Hong Kong and China.

First, as reported in the Register [theregister.co.uk], Hong Kong ISPs are none too pleased with what seems to be a follow-on the Mainland crackdown on internet users (see thread here [webmasterworld.com]) whereby they will be required to keep sensitive information about users and their surfing habits for six months, and give encryption key access to law enforcers.

<quote>
"This will seriously damage the reputation of a democracy government, which Hong Kong is trying hard to achieve."
</quote>

On the other hand, Hong Kong iMail reports here [hk-imail.singtao.com] about plans on the mainland for "black box" type devices to record information for use in combatting online crime. The claim is that these boxes will capture information that can be all to easily erased before prosecution.

What with these measures and similar legal measures taken in other countries, it seems everyone wants to control the internet, which is, by its very nature, uncontrollable.

Hmmm,

Onya
Woz

Edited by: Woz

[Brett_Tabke]

I think it is all smoke and mirrors. Those that control the routers control everything. In China, that would be the govt. Giving access to encryption keys is dicey, since the US govt has already claimed they can crack 128 bit encryption - I'd assume the other world powers can do the same.