Comments on: What if… http://www.chinaoutsider.com/2010/02/11/what-if/ Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:26:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Anonymous http://www.chinaoutsider.com/2010/02/11/what-if/comment-page-1/#comment-561 Anonymous Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:26:42 +0000 http://www.chinaoutsider.com/?p=73#comment-561 Or more likely, VPN publicized, VPN downloaded, VPN downloaded by censors, reverse-engineered and blocked in a very short time period (a day would be likely). If the censors know about it, they can engineer against it (most VPNs for example, have specific addresses that they dial into to establish the connection - those can blocked easily). A game-changing software program *might* be possible, but it might look more like a P2P network than a VPN (P2P networks often try to obfuscate their connections so their users are harder to track). However, the Chinese keepers of the firewall are talented, and my guess is that most software wouldn't last long if it got too much publicity. And what about Internet access? My experience in China is limited but at least in Beijing you needed an identity card to use an Internet cafe...not exactly conducive to anonymity... A much bigger issue than technology is the human element: convincing Chinese internet users that 1.) what they are accessing is far more valuable than the domestic version and 2.) they won't be caught. Most young people know that there alternatives available (and ones that I have used myself in China), but feel that what they gain isn't worth the risk. They're not willing to potentially jeopardize their future for a few foreign sites... All this said, however, the only permanent way to end the cat-and-mouse game is to have China drop censorship policies. Otherwise, it will always be an arms race... Or more likely, VPN publicized, VPN downloaded, VPN downloaded by censors, reverse-engineered and blocked in a very short time period (a day would be likely). If the censors know about it, they can engineer against it (most VPNs for example, have specific addresses that they dial into to establish the connection – those can blocked easily). A game-changing software program *might* be possible, but it might look more like a P2P network than a VPN (P2P networks often try to obfuscate their connections so their users are harder to track). However, the Chinese keepers of the firewall are talented, and my guess is that most software wouldn’t last long if it got too much publicity. And what about Internet access? My experience in China is limited but at least in Beijing you needed an identity card to use an Internet cafe…not exactly conducive to anonymity…

A much bigger issue than technology is the human element: convincing Chinese internet users that 1.) what they are accessing is far more valuable than the domestic version and 2.) they won’t be caught. Most young people know that there alternatives available (and ones that I have used myself in China), but feel that what they gain isn’t worth the risk. They’re not willing to potentially jeopardize their future for a few foreign sites…

All this said, however, the only permanent way to end the cat-and-mouse game is to have China drop censorship policies. Otherwise, it will always be an arms race…

]]> By: Hans Rippel http://www.chinaoutsider.com/2010/02/11/what-if/comment-page-1/#comment-557 Hans Rippel Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:32:33 +0000 http://www.chinaoutsider.com/?p=73#comment-557 It would be interesting to see what both sides in a powerplay like that would come up with. Bandwidth doesn't cost Google much and they could even get ad revenue and actually make profit with their free VPN. But I don't see them being this hostile anytime soon, especially as long as they still think they can make some business in China. It would be interesting to see what both sides in a powerplay like that would come up with. Bandwidth doesn’t cost Google much and they could even get ad revenue and actually make profit with their free VPN. But I don’t see them being this hostile anytime soon, especially as long as they still think they can make some business in China.

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