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China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

mashable.com

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Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#51

Post by buttcake »

libeclipse wrote: post #12
buttcake wrote: post #10

Wow, those chinese surely are totalitarian in the way they approach surveillance technology aren't they ? Good thing we have nothing like that. Only just closed hardware with closed or with some parts open complicated software mostly made by a few corporations which tend to and have in fact in past coopoerated with governments without even thinking about their customers.

Comparing potential backdoors in proprietary systems with forced installation of spyware on endpoint devices? I don't think they're the same.

Just different means to the same end which depend on the laws governing a country.

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#52

Post by verelo »

fiblye wrote: post #14
libeclipse wrote: post #8

I can think of so many countermeasures. - Append a null byte to the end of your files, giving them a unique hash value. - Disallow internet access to the application. - Spoof the server using DNS tricks and control what is sent and received. - Reverse engineer the application to make it look as if it's working while it actually isn't. - Sandbox the application. - Use an alternative phone for all of your "sensitive" a…

How easy do you imagine not only finding information on how to follow through all of these steps, but actually acquire the needed materials (burners) within the strictly controlled PRC is?

If the app is available for Android, pretty easy...just decompile and get hunting around for a few hours. You're almost certain to find something.

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#53

Post by nunobrito »

CrazyHumanist wrote: post #17
nunobrito wrote: post #11

Its their country and their laws, trying to solve the problem of Islamic extremism on their own. In western countries, you get detained for years in Guantanamo under torture without knowing for sure why you got arrested. Young girls get married as early as 12 to creepy old dudes and there is no need to ask for installing spyware because the phones and communications are already tapped by default. Anyone criticizing C…

This kind of appeasement, the idea of minding only the business of your own country, seems a bit indefensible to me. And you cannot determine if one is a hypocrite just from a fact, there's no outrage, or can you? Many solves this problem their way, pointing out, talking about it, criticizing it and so forth.

When aptly criticizing another government as authoritarian and harassing a minority, while having their own government doing worse to the said minority, this can be seen by others as: a) exceptionalism (double standards) b) cognitive dissonance c) hypocrisy

There is no higher moral ground on this situation so option c) would be suited. It is great when we strive to get better human rights for everyone, and yet the human rights for the citizens of another country are being threatened by religious extremists.

How the government of this other country replies is really their own business whether we like it or not. Is it a mass violation of human rights? Perhaps. What made them reach such decision? We don't know either. Are we in the west doing any better? No. China is not bombing Syria nor toppling moderate Islamic governments in North Africa.

This bad situation won't charge in our own turf while the majority of netizens think that this only happens in other turfs.

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#54

Post by xyzxyz998 »

Quoting a jewish friend from Europe:

Muslims are the nicest quietest people when they're alone.

Muslims are the vilest people when they're with their group.

I don't like China but Muslims have only plundered and wanted a separate place for them wherever they go.

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#55

Post by eivarv »

jack9 wrote: post #35
eivarv wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but a hypocrite can still be right.

If you think there's a right and wrong, a hypocrite is usually right in either deed or stated intent...

I didn't mean "right" in a moral sense, or even correct.

Being a hypocrite is irrelevant with regard to what the hypocrite is saying.

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#56

Post by buttcake »

Kenji wrote: post #16
buttcake wrote: post #10

Wow, those chinese surely are totalitarian in the way they approach surveillance technology aren't they ? Good thing we have nothing like that. Only just closed hardware with closed or with some parts open complicated software mostly made by a few corporations which tend to and have in fact in past coopoerated with governments without even thinking about their customers.

You're doing liberty and democracy a disservice with your whataboutism. It's one thing to suspect your government of sneakily compromising hardware, another to receive official letters to install a surveillance app or be detained. Of course both are despicable, but they are not in the same league. EDIT: I'm surprised about how many people jump to the defense of the Chinese government here on HN. Seems in stark contra…

I argue that you're doing them a disservice by not aknowledging them as the same thing and pointing fingers.

Probably not all people from that area have the gps on non-stop with facebook and google accounts signed in non-stop to receive those goody notifications.

What do you do in that case if you're the government ?

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#57

Post by josmar »

sa-mao wrote: post #22
mrkrabo wrote: post #6

This is interesting. It goes to show how an autoritarian government can fix some problems in a more effective way. You can remove terrorist propaganda from YouTube, but how do you stop the spread of those videos in private platforms or messaging applications? And even if the first version of this spying app only checks for md5 sums, which is arguably useless, I'm sure they're working on something more effective.

You know how to fix the problem more effectively? try to find the root cause and fix it. It's simple and it works.

What is the simple way for the Chinese government to find the root cause of muslim terrorism and fix it? The only simple fix (as in simple vs easy) would be genocide or giving them their own independent state. The first option is horrible, and the second is not in the interest of the Chinese gov.

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#59

Post by cronjobma »

Unfortunately, this isn't any different from what a variety of countries have been doing to muslims for the last 200 years. If your source of information is mainly the Media, I suggest you spend an afternoon browsing through Wikipedia and compare the numbers. The amount of terrorist attacks by 'so called muslims' (let's just say they are muslim for a moment) is minuscule by the amount of muslims killed by the west. Every single life matters, so let's put things in perspective. The west has occupied and terrorised muslim nations for 2 centuries, but since they control the media, they keep them in the category of 'bad guys'. This surveillance is disgusting. It's how muslims have been occupied and oppressed for 200 years. Those who oppose freedom should downvote this.

Re: China forces one of its Muslim minorities to install spyware on their phones

#60

Post by cronjobma »

virtuabhi wrote: post #58

The most weird news I have heard from Xinjiang is when Chinese authorities forced Muslims to dance on streets - https://tribune.com.pk/story/871879/suppressing-religious-fr...

this is absolutely sick. Why has this never reached the mainstream news?
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