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Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

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Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#21

Post by markdown »

supernova87a wrote: post #13
larakerns wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some articles (not in english) https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%B8%AF%E8%AD%A6%E6%94%BB%E4%B8%... https://www.epochtimes.jp/p/2019/11/48996.html

My god, what are we spreading here? This is pure conspiracy theory through "news" sources that have highly dubious credentials. HN shouldn't be fueling this kind of unsubstantiated speculation.

> My god, what are we spreading here?

Putting aside whether or not the claims are true, why are you reacting as if this is particularly damaging or shocking? It's factual that Beijing does seek to censor and control information everywhere in China, and it's factual that they're currently attacking CUHK.

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#22

Post by godot »

larakerns wrote: post #2

Most US outlets are not reporting on this part of the story of the siege of CUHK university. If the police seize control of the university, they can monitor / filter all traffic. The whole city can go dark.

The posting of this link with this title does not seem to adhere to HN guidelines, even though I see your intentions. I think it will soon be removed/moderated, but meanwhile, I did want to pose a technical question.

I feel that the monitoring of traffic is unlikely. To clarify, this is not about taking a pro-China side, but more on technical aspect. Most modern web traffic happens in some form of encryption (most commonly https/ssl) and some are end-to-end encrypted (various messenger apps). Filtering is certainly possible/likely (just like the great firewall), but monitoring seems difficult (in the case of https traffic) or impossible (in the case of end-to-end encryption... hopefully impossible at least?). There'd have to be hardware-level/low-level trojans planted in individual devices to make that possible. Which isn't to say it's unlikely (from what we've heard in the past few years), but only that it's unlikely to happen with just a hostage of HKIX.

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#23

Post by sdinsn »

larakerns wrote: post #10
theseadroid wrote: post #7

The linked wiki page has nothing to do with the title.

Some articles (not in english) https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%B8%AF%E8%AD%A6%E6%94%BB%E4%B8%... https://www.epochtimes.jp/p/2019/11/48996.html

Epoch times is a newspaper created by the Falun Gong cult FYI.

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#24

Post by supernova87a »

markdown wrote: post #21
supernova87a wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My god, what are we spreading here? This is pure conspiracy theory through "news" sources that have highly dubious credentials. HN shouldn't be fueling this kind of unsubstantiated speculation.

> My god, what are we spreading here? Putting aside whether or not the claims are true, why are you reacting as if this is particularly damaging or shocking? It's factual that Beijing does seek to censor and control information everywhere in China, and it's factual that they're currently attacking CUHK.

The only purpose of this "story" is just like the goals of Russian-fueled (or whoever) fake planted news -- to confuse and prevent people from having a clear understanding of what's going on.

You advocate for allowing unsubstantiated news to be spread just because it fits into your view of what China admittedly has done in the past?

Couldn't this story have been spread by the protestors to get people on their side with fake motivations?

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#25

Post by yorwba »

sdinsn wrote: post #23
larakerns wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some articles (not in english) https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%B8%AF%E8%AD%A6%E6%94%BB%E4%B8%... https://www.epochtimes.jp/p/2019/11/48996.html

Epoch times is a newspaper created by the Falun Gong cult FYI.

They're still okay for anything not related to Falun Gong, I think.

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#26

Post by vorpalhex »

godot wrote: post #22
larakerns wrote: post #2

Most US outlets are not reporting on this part of the story of the siege of CUHK university. If the police seize control of the university, they can monitor / filter all traffic. The whole city can go dark.

The posting of this link with this title does not seem to adhere to HN guidelines, even though I see your intentions. I think it will soon be removed/moderated, but meanwhile, I did want to pose a technical question. I feel that the monitoring of traffic is unlikely. To clarify, this is not about taking a pro-China side, but more on technical aspect. Most modern web traffic happens in some form of encryption (most co…

China almost certainly has the ability to perform aggressive SSL interception given their investment in the great firewall. Almost all apps will either fall victim to it, or if they correctly use pinning, simply not load (and cause their users to swap to other apps).

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#27

Post by markdown »

supernova87a wrote: post #24
markdown wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My god, what are we spreading here? Putting aside whether or not the claims are true, why are you reacting as if this is particularly damaging or shocking? It's factual that Beijing does seek to censor and control information everywhere in China, and it's factual that they're currently attacking CUHK.

The only purpose of this "story" is just like the goals of Russian-fueled (or whoever) fake planted news -- to confuse and prevent people from having a clear understanding of what's going on. You advocate for allowing unsubstantiated news to be spread just because it fits into your view of what China admittedly has done in the past? Couldn't this story have been spread by the protestors to get people on their side wi…

> You advocate for allowing unsubstantiated news to be spread just because it fits into your view of what China admittedly has done in the past?

I didn't say that. My comment was about your reaction.

> your view of what China admittedly has done in the past?

My view? The past?

> Couldn't this story have been spread by the protestors to get people on their side with fake motivations?

That very well could be. And if so they should keep that up. A Beijing supporter being upset about fake news and propaganda is giving me the giggles.

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#28

Post by supernova87a »

markdown wrote: post #27
supernova87a wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only purpose of this "story" is just like the goals of Russian-fueled (or whoever) fake planted news -- to confuse and prevent people from having a clear understanding of what's going on. You advocate for allowing unsubstantiated news to be spread just because it fits into your view of what China admittedly has done in the past? Couldn't this story have been spread by the protestors to get people on their side wi…

> You advocate for allowing unsubstantiated news to be spread just because it fits into your view of what China admittedly has done in the past? I didn't say that. My comment was about your reaction. > your view of what China admittedly has done in the past? My view? The past? > Couldn't this story have been spread by the protestors to get people on their side with fake motivations? That very well could be. And if so…

I'm no Beijing supporter. I would hope that anyone, regardless of what they think about any country or place, respects that news should contain the truth and not open themselves up to manipulation regardless of which side it favors.

Re: Police target CUHK university as it holds HKIX which routes 99% of net traffic

#29

Post by yorwba »

supernova87a wrote: post #28
markdown wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You advocate for allowing unsubstantiated news to be spread just because it fits into your view of what China admittedly has done in the past? I didn't say that. My comment was about your reaction. > your view of what China admittedly has done in the past? My view? The past? > Couldn't this story have been spread by the protestors to get people on their side with fake motivations? That very well could be. And if so…

I'm no Beijing supporter. I would hope that anyone, regardless of what they think about any country or place, respects that news should contain the truth and not open themselves up to manipulation regardless of which side it favors.

In that case you could have left out the "My god, what are we spreading here?" which seems overly dramatic to me.

You could also have substantiated "This is pure conspiracy theory through "news" sources that have highly dubious credentials." by expanding on what makes those news sources so dubious they deserve scare quotes, since not everyone will be familiar with them.

Attributing the actions of one user to the whole community as in "HN shouldn't be fueling this kind of unsubstantiated speculation." isn't great either.

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