Chinese Wi-Fi monitoring requirement goes into effect at Internet cafes, etc. | Hacker News Reader

Chinese Wi-Fi monitoring requirement goes into effect at Internet cafes, etc.

nytimes.com

30 pointsdctoedt15 comments

Do you remember the flopped 'Green Dam' software[1] that was to be mandatory pre-installed on every PC sold in China? They're trying it again with this monitoring software.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Dam_Youth_Escort

The 'Propaganda Department'? At least they are honest about their aims, I suppose.

Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China is indeed the correct term in English for the 中国共产党中央委员会宣传部

http://baike.baidu.com/view/1229325.htm

which is the party organization that regulates all mass media in China, with "prior restraint" of print publications such as daily newspapers.

I remember reading a forum post (maybe on HN), where someone from China made the comment that in the US the propaganda is so much more subtle than it is in China.

Not really subtle, just in the US they are called lobbyists.

tom-a-hto - to-mah-to

IIRC, the person was referring to the media, not to Capital Hill.

Oh because lobbyists have NOTHING to do with the media... sheesh, how could I think such a thing.

I stand corrected.

Travelling through a lot of airports in China I often see the "free wifi" stickers inviting you to connect. Upon connecting to the wifi, a gateway page asks you to go the customer service counter where they take a copy of your passport before issuing you a user/pass for internet access. All I want to do is browse HN or blogs to pass the time but knowing they have tied my browsing to my passport makes me feel incredibly paranoid about it. If i go to the wrong blog, will they stop me at immigration on my next trip?

Last Saturday I spent hours online from Shenzhen airport, there's no such requirement there. But of course some articles mentioned in HN are inaccessible since they're hosted on G+ :(

Welcome to China+ ! In Japan they're also debating mandatory ID for Internet cafes. They have soft guidelines that no one follows because it's bad for business. Cafes here don't let you just plugin like in Europe. Also comes with tons of manga and passes to online games and seedy paid sites.

The rationale is that IDing prevents crime. However, it's also how a controversial coast guard video was leaked when government was being incompetent as usual.

Whenever I've gone to a net cafe in Japan, I've always been asked for id.

Japan doesn't even have mandatory ID. What are people going to give them?

Somehow I missed China in the title and was reading the article, believing for a minute it was very plausible this was happening in the USA from "homeland security".

I've been to China many times, and I've never seen a Mexican restaurant there.

Shanghai has everything

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