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Jan , 2014 (Wednesday)Vol;01, Issue: 13

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Jan , 2014 (Wednesday)Vol;01, Issue: 13

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English section !

People Around the World Are Voluntarily Submitting to Chinas Great Firewall. Why? By Nathan Freitas

This essay originally appeared in Internet Monitor 2014: Reflections on the Digital World, published by the Internet Monitor project at Harvards Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Nathan Freitas leads the Guardian Project, an open-source mobile security software project, and directs technology strategy and training at the Tibet Action Institute. He is a fellow at the

Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

In the last few years, usage of the mobile messaging app WeChat (Weixin), developed by Chinese

corporation Tencent, has skyrocketed not only inside China but also around the world. For 500 million

mobile users in mainland China, WeChat is one of the only options for mobile messaging available,

due to frequent or permanent blockage of apps like WhatsApp, Viber, Line, Twitter, and Facebook.

For more than 100 million mobile users in the rest of the world, a highly polished user experience,

celebrity marketing, and the promise of free calls and texts has proven to be nearly irresistible for

far-flung members of the Chinese diaspora. This global user base also includes the Tibetan exile

diaspora, who through WeChat have become connected on both sides of the Himalayas in near real

time like never before.

Instead of Chinese users scaling the wall to get out, people around the world are walking up to

the front gate, knocking on the door, and asking to be let in. Just as you might expect with a

service like WhatsApp or Twitter, every time you send a message on WeChat it is routed through

centralized servers, managed by Tencent. In most cases, these servers are located inside China, often

in Shanghai-based data centers, though in some countries, local servers are being set up. These

servers, though, are still within reach of Chinese law, regulations, and influence, and all data passing

through them is vulnerable to surveillance and censorship.

The first concern is that Chinas demand for censorship of particular topics and keywords will begin

to extend beyond its borders. As detailed analysis from the Citizen Labs Asia Chats study has shown,

censorship keyword lists can vary by geography. If you mention Occupy Central in a message sent

from WeChat in Beijing to someone in Chengdu, it will likely be blocked and your profile flagged.

If you send the same message using WeChat in Toronto to someone in New York, the message will

likely go through, though your profile will most likely still be flagged.

The second concern is that communications by users outside China, be they Chinese citizens or not,

can be surveilled, logged, and used against them in the future. If you are in San Francisco, and you

join a WeChat group chat that is sympathetic to Tibetan self-immolations or the Uighur community,

and some members of that group are located in Tibet, Xinjang, and China, then all of your messages

and the fact that you are participating in that group chat are communicated to servers managed by

Tencent, licensed under the authority of the Chinese government. Since your WeChat account is tied

to your real phone number and SIM card, and your full address book is accessible by the app, then

your real name and entire community are now flagged as being sympathetic to groups that China

considers as harmful as the Islamic State or al-Qaida. Good luck getting a visa!

The third concern is that this type of service can be used for wholesale extraction of data and

insertion of malware into targeted devices. Like most social media apps, the WeChat app on iPhone

and Android has full permission to activate microphones and cameras, track your location, access

your address book and photos, and copy all of this data at any time to their servers. These types of

capabilities are a godsend to attacks known as a RAT (Remote Access Trojan), and usually have to

be snuck onto a laptop through infected PDF files. In the case of WeChat, the user is opting in to

these capabilities, entrusting what may be a well-meaning social messaging service with god mode

while unknowingly providing an easy backdoor on their phone for adversaries higher up the Chinese

cyberwar food chain.

Combined with the rise of attractive, low-cost mobile handsets from Huawei and Xiaomi that include

China-based cloud services, which are being sold in India and elsewhere, the world is witnessing a

massive expansion of Chinese telecommunications reach and influence, powered entirely by users

choosing to participate in it. The fundamental question is: Do the Chinese companies behind these

services have any market incentive or legal obligation to protect the privacy of their non-Chinese

global user base? Do they willingly or automatically turn over all data to the Ministry of Public

Security or State Internet Information Office? Will we soon see foreign users targeted or prosecuted

due to private data shared on WeChat? Finally, from the Glass Houses Department, is there any

fundamental difference in the impact on privacy freedom for an American citizen using WeChat

versus a Chinese citizen using WhatsApp or Google?

For those of us in the global community who care both about ensuring that all humans can be more

interconnected and provided free, unlimited access to knowledge, while also ensuring their privacy

and dignity is protected, these are primary issues we must study, understand, and take action on.

The next 5 billion people on Earth tend to live in more repressive places than free ones, and we must

ensure that their desire to be connected in a free and unlimited way does not leave them in a virtual

panopticon. Perpared by TseChu Dolma from Columbia University

Dechen was born and

raised in Jawalakhel

Tibetan Refugee Camp.

In high school, she co-

founded Lhakar NY chapter

with her friends and

community members. She

also interned with award-

winning organizations like

Sadie Nash Young Women

Leadership Project and

Breakthrough Collaborative, NY. Dechen is

currently studying Biology at Cornell University.

In her free time, Dechen leads Tibet Initiative

at Cornell and Partners in Health Engage. She

enjoys practicing Tibetan calligraphy. She is

also an active member of ACHA Himalayan

Sisterhood in New York, which works towards

anti-violence and economic empowerment of

Himalayan women and girls.

------------Tell us about yourself: ------------

I was born and raised in Jawalakhel Tibetan

Refugee Camp, and now live in New York. I

am very lucky to have met good mentors, who

have supported me in pursuing my education. I

believe in taking full advantage of the privileges

we have access to in the US.

Your educational background:

I came to the US when I was 6 years old, barely

able to speak English. I went to Renaissance

Charter School in Jackson Heights, from

elementary to high school. Currently, I am a first-

year Bachelor of Science candidate studying the

intersection of Biology and Sociology at Cornell

University. Being a first-generation immigrant

and college student, I believe we, Tibetans, have

to work twice as hard as our classmates to set

new standards for our community.

Your motivation for pursuing your field of

interest:

My interest in the field of medicine was inspired

by the work of Dr. Paul Farmer, a humanitarian

and a doctor. Dr. Farmer provides first-world

healthcare to developing nations. Similarly, I

aim to become a doctor, and work on healing

infectious diseases and health epidemics in the

poorest communities. I am haunted by the many

stories of maternal and neonatal mortality within

my own family. This is still an unspeakably sad

reality in Tibet. I aspire to focus on womens

health and issues.

How you view yourself and your work in

connection to Tibetan people and the future of

Tibet:

Tibetan Americans have not achieved the same

level of success compared our Asian American

counterparts; majority of us are struggling

to live barely above the poverty line. I see my

generation and myself as agents for change. I

intend to carry forward my Tibetan American

heritage. I will contribute to the growing network

of Tibetan professionals and mentor the ones

who come after us.

Advice to readers:

We, Tibetans, have been politically marginalized

for decades. We have had to sweat blood and

tears to come this far. Nothing has been handed

to us; we have had to fight for everything. So,

please do not lose sight of HH Dalai Lamas vision

for an empowered and talented community. To

achieve this (I assert again), we have to work

twice as hard as anyone else. Interviewed by Tsechu Dolma, Columbia University

Tenzin Dechen is an 18-year old Gates Millennium Scholar, a prestigious academic scholarship granted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jan , 2014 (Wednesday)Vol;01, Issue: 13

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