4 Oct 2016 | Asia and Pacific, Awards, China, Fellowship, Fellowship 2016, mobile, News and features
In April 2016 the US government called China’s Great Firewall a barrier to trade. This came just months after the US criticised China for cyber spying on American companies, or what the Justice Department called the “great brain robbery”.
“Obama keeps saying that if China continues employing its hacking units to attack US companies, America will tear down the Great Firewall,” Charlie Smith, co-founder of GreatFire, the anonymous group of individuals who work towards circumventing China’s Great Firewall and winners of the 2016 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for digital activism, told Index. “Great – so tear it down, let’s go.”
But it’s not happening, Smith added.
Over on the other side of America’s political spectrum, US senator Ted Cruz has been busy over the last month trying to get the US Congress to act to “prevent the Obama administration from giving the internet” to China. Cruz failed in his mission, as on 1 October the US gave up its remaining control over the internet, with the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) no longer under the direction of the Department of Commerce.
There are now fears that the change will open the door for authoritarian governments, including China’s, to get control of the network of networks, leading to greater censorship.
In Cruz’s first letter to ICANN, kicking off his attempt to stop the move, the former presidential hopeful quoted GreatFire’s research into internet censorship in China.
“I then reached out to them and said: ‘Hey, we’re GreatFire, what more do you want to know?’” Smith said. “ICANN has a representative in Beijing and that representative sits in the Cyberspace Administration office, which is censorship central, so Cruz’s campaign was very interested in that.”
Although GreatFire would not align themselves with a political party, Smith added that if Cruz really believes what he is saying and GreatFire can help, the organisation will support him on this issue.
GreatFire’s own efforts to put a hole in China’s firewall took a new turn in July 2016 with the launch of its groundbreaking new site to test virtual private networks within the country, Circumvention Central. “Stable circumvention is a difficult thing to find in China so this new site a way for people to see what’s working and what’s not working,” Smith told Index at the time.
Speaking three months on, Smith told us that although the site works and customers are overwhelmingly pleased with the service, it isn’t making as many sales as he’d hoped it would. In August the platform sold a few dozen subscriptions but Smith was really hoping to see numbers in the hundreds by this stage.
“Maybe we’re not getting enough people to the site,” Smith said. “I guess it’s timing too; people have other subscriptions that haven’t yet expired, so they’re not ready.”
“What we have done, however, is engaged with some VPN firms like a paid consultancy service and helped them improve what they are doing,” Smith added. “It’s actually been quite revealing because we can see the volatility in the market and how one service may work really well this month and next month it will basically be useless.”
GreatFire is working closely with VPN services Hide My Ass and AnchorFree, both of whom have been introductions from Index on Censorship.
The Chinese government has taken notice of Circumvention Central, sending an email to all VPN providers listed on the site asking them not to stop operating in China but to cease working with GreatFire specifically.
One reads: “Please immediately stop working with GreatFire.org. GreatFire.org is an anti-China website as declared by the Cyberspace Administration of China. We hereby express our strong concern and request you stop working with GreatFire at the earliest time possible.”
“So there’s no real serious threat from the government there,” Smith said, adding that although Chinese authorities are constantly trying to take down or attack the site, they have been wholly unsuccessful.
GreatFire is also working on its free internet browser that allows users to access content that’s behind China’s firewall. The browser is currently available in English and Chinese, but will soon be available in traditional Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Croatian and Persian.
“We’re currently looking for publications in those languages that are blocked so we can help provide access,” said Smith.
The main focus for the future, however, is the VPN service. “We believe we have the best circumvention tool on the market and we want to show people how it works and drive adoption.”
Also read:
Smockey: “We would like to trust the justice of our country”
Zaina Erhaim: Balancing work and family in times of war
Artist Murad Subay worries about the future for Yemen’s children
Nominations are now open for 2017 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards. You can make yours here.
3 Oct 2016 | Bahrain, Events, mobile, United Kingdom
Nabeel Rajab during a protest in London in September 2014 (Photo: Milana Knezevic)
Join Index on Censorship, English Pen and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy for a vigil outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at 12 pm on Thursday 6 October to mark the trial of Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
The Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award-winning Rajab has been subjected to ongoing judicial harassment by Bahrain’s government.
Your support will show the UK government that it must do more to pressure its ally Bahrain to respect freedom of expression and release Rajab unconditionally.
When: Thursday 6 October at 12pm
Where: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, Whitehall, London SW1A 2AH (Map)
More information about Nabeel Rajab:
Bahrain: Nabeel Rajab put in isolation ahead of 6 October trial
Prince Charles to visit Bahrain: Here are some things he should consider
Who is Nabeel Rajab?
Background
Nabeel Rajab was arrested on 13 June and prosecuted on charges of spreading “false or malicious news, statements, or rumours” during wartime, “offending a foreign country” and “offending a public institution” under articles 133, 215 and 216 of the Penal Code and faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment. His sentencing is due on 6 October 2016. Nabeel has also been banned from travel ban since November 2014.
This is in connection to comments made on Twitter in 2015 documenting allegations of torture at the Central Jau Prison and criticizing the Saudi coalition war in Yemen.
Following the publication a letter by
Nabeel to the New York Times, the Public Prosecution Office
charged him with “intentionally broadcasting false news and malicious rumours abroad impairing the prestige of the state”. The charge could lead to an additional one-year prison sentence.
FCO Policy on Nabeel and Bahrain
The FCO has
expressed “concern” over the re-arrest of
Nabeel but has not called for his release.
The UK’s statements do not reflect the facts on the ground: Bahrain’s human rights situation is worsening. Nabeel‘s charges, all related to his free expression and carrying lengthy prison terms, are a reflection of Bahrain’s failure to reform.
3 Oct 2016 | Events
As part of Nafasi Week UK, In Place Of War is showcasing some of the world’s most groundbreaking artists, activists and creative entrepreneurs from areas of conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian disaster.
IPOW has invited a group of international cultural producers from Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Brazil, India and more to London to speak at Richmix alongside some of the UK’s most prolific artists and social commentators.
Each speaker will deliver a talk on creative activism, cultural production, cultural spaces and digital.
Speakers include:
Karina Goulordova, Creative Space, Lebanon
Mc Benny Acholi Muding, Northern Uganda HipHop Culture-NUHC, Uganda
Robert Mũnũku, Mau Mau Collective, Kenya
Fabio Pedroza, Moreis Convida, Brazil
Dan Glass, The Glass Is Half Full, UK
Lorraine Charlotte Bgoya, Magamba Network, Zimbabwe
Miqueas Figueroa, Tiuna El Fuerte, Venezuela
Laurent Kasindi, Search for Common Ground, DR Congo
Fenella Dawnay & Kirstin Shirling, Good Chance Theatre, UK
Felipe Altenfelder, Fora Do Exio, Brazil
David Heinemann, Index on Censorship, UK
Harnaman Singh Mehta, India
Jonny Hesketh, The Yellow House, UK
When: 18 October, 12-6pm
Where: Richmix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA Date
Entry: Free. Email [email protected] to register.
3 Oct 2016 | Events
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Autumn 2016 magazine cover
Join Index on Censorship to celebrate the launch of our latest magazine exploring anonymity through a range of in-depth features, interviews and illustrations from around the world. The special report looks at the pros and cons of masking identities from the perspective of a variety of players, from online trolls to intelligence agencies, whistleblowers, activists, artists, journalists, bloggers and fixers.
We’ll hear from writer, blogger and activist Cory Doctorow on the importance of defending anonymity and take an interactive phone-hacking journey into The Secret Life of Your Mobile Phone with tech journalist Geoff White. The launch will be held at the home of the suitably secretive VPN providers Hide My Ass!
There will be also complimentary drinks.
When: Tuesday 25 October 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Where: Hide My Ass!, AVG Technologies UK, 110 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6JS (map)
Tickets: This event is fully booked.
Order your high-quality print copy of our anonymity special here, or take out a digital subscription from anywhere in the world via Exact Editions (just £18* for the year). Each magazine sale helps Index on Censorship fight for free expression worldwide.
*Will be charged at local exchange rate outside the UK.
Copies are also available at the BFI, the Serpentine Gallery, MagCulture, (London), News from Nowhere (Liverpool), Home (Manchester), Carlton Books (Glasgow) and on Amazon. Each magazine sale helps Index on Censorship continue its fight for free expression worldwide.
Read more about this issue of the magazine here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”1″ element_width=”12″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1478627753205-821a5180-df34-10″ taxonomies=”7112, 662″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
