By law, Chinese citizens must install the gov't spyware – ''anti-fraud'' app | Hacker News Reader

By law, Chinese citizens must install the gov't spyware – ''anti-fraud'' app

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43 pointsgreatgib19 comments

Reminds me if Apple’s Safari “Fraudulent Websites Warning” which sends your IP along with “information calculated about the websites you visit” to Google. If you’re in HK or Mainland China, it goes to Tencent[0]. I’m sure Google only uses it for ad purposes

[0]https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/safari/

Isn’t that mixed in with a bunch of random data / websites or is it only Firefox that does that?

Apple says "The actual website address is never shared with the safe browsing provider" but this feels a little like Meta saying "we never sell your private information." Technically true, but in a way that usefully redirects attention away from other behavior that an otherwise discerning user would not prefer.

Last time I looked at it you're only sending a hash prefix of the website address. You get back a list of sites matching that hash prefix. Works basically the same as the "Have I been pwned" API.

The Chinese could learn a lot from our government in the UK: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/why-taking-government-court-mass-...

No app is needed. Spying by default.

It's not "enforced by law", but recommended.

This post reads as anti-China propaganda in tone. I found this less breathless account of it: https://web.archive.org/web/20240326212544/https://www.rfa.o...

> By law, Chinese citizens must install the gov't spyware - ''anti-fraud'' app.

> If it detects you trying to install apps gov't disapproved such as Twitter or cryptocurrency, immediately an alarm sends to police.

How is this breathlessly anti-China?

Isn’t this almost literally the same that the (much longer) article you link to says?

The only real difference seems to be that this has been the case for some time but only recently have the police been pushing it?

(Or, is there some hidden thread only people with Twitter accounts can see linked to this this tweet?)

The story has more details and sets the context that makes it obvious that it’s not more nefarious than the existing firewall policy. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be criticised or anything.

Before labeling it as anti-China, maybe do a bit more research on the topic first.

Anyone who's paying attention to China's surveillance programs knows this project has been running for years, and its impact is greater than what this post describes. It really is a police state. Maybe it is beyond your imagination so you can't comprehend how this is possible, but that's the reality.

It’s ok, I can imagine it.

I just think the extra context the article provides is more measured and less emotive, so you can read the situation better. I’m in favour of criticising everything, including China.

Given the emotional way Chinese news articles are written with a heavy sense of righteous conclusion, I’ve always wondered if western news organizations would be considered even more anti-Chinese if they just passed through Chinese article with only translation, or even passed through English articles written by Chinese news organizations.

Also, I’m pretty sure this law existed before when I lived in China (I remember hearing about it) but it hasn’t ever been implemented outside of Xinjiang (and even then they just target non-Hui minorities). China isn’t a rule of law country, and a lot of written laws are just aspirational or for posturing. I’m actually really skeptical of this Twitter post because such mass action in a city like Guangzhou would be a crazy hard logistic problem. Maybe one PSB office was doing it for one day for their district, but I doubt they targeted more than a few buildings? Another reason why western news organizations can’t really report on China very well, they see the word “law” and think it has the same weight as it does in rule of law countries. Freedom of speech and press is also guaranteed by the Chinese constitution, for example, but it isn’t very meaningful.

Radio Free Asia is literally an American propaganda outlet.[0]

[0]”Radio Free Asia (RFA) is an American government-funded non-profit corporation operating a news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Asia

China-the-people or China-the-state?

Anyone who can verify this claim?

From what I heard it's pretty close. You don't HAVE to install it but they really push you to do it. And once it is installed it monitors everything. Its original utility is fraud and porn detection, but IMO it has developed into a mass surveillance tool.

Some people bring 2+ phones to shield themselves from this app. The police is just shooting for some KPIs so they don't really care as long as the app gets installed somehow. But maybe in the future all phones will have it pre-installed.

it's just not true, its straight up fake news

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Anti-Fraud_Center

APK - https://apkpure.com/cn/guo-jia-fan-zha-zhong-xin/com.hicoren...

Completely fake news by the haters towards China. It’s simply an app that blocks scam calls and text, in fact, you don’t need to install it if you don’t like. Also on the app stores, there are plenty alternatives to choose from.

The real gov spyware is this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM

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