Chinese Kindles hop firewall to freedom Kindle users in China are able to surf the internet unimpeded by the Great Firewall, as the authorities have yet to recognise the threat the e-book reader represents. The Kindle isn't officially available in China yet, though grey imports are bought and sold on local auction sites. Once activated, it has emerged, the Kindle's …
Press reports from Tora Bora told of Osama and the Taliban having their cell phone conversations monitored. Soon after they stopped using them and we lost a crap load of intel. That and the pundits are now endlessly complaining we cannot catch the weasel.
Now, they advertise weaknesses in the Chinese firewall and I wonder how many minutes longer that loophole will remain open.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for free speech, but do details like this need to be advertised to the globe? Freedom = Responsibility and the press today seems to have degenerated into sensationalism, endless polls and approval ratings.
China is a dictatorship and removing ways of common people accessing uncensored information will only keep that government in power longer.
"Security" is used too often to cover up bad decisions, politicians embarrassments like the recent Turkish video brouhaha.
The Kindle allows this simply because it's using roaming 3G/GPRS mobile data.
It connects back to the original US APN where AT&T is still providing the Internet connectivity.
Censoring the data connection between the Kindle and AT&T is something very different from the traditional Great Internet Firewall of China and a great deal more challenging (ie they can't just block the IP addresses like they do now)
I guess the author hasn't been around in China too much.
Ask any teenager how to get Facebook (officially blocked in CN) and you will shown how. So much for 'sanitised.' Any URL can be reached.
As for satellite dishes your contributor us really showing his lack of knowledge. All satellite dishes require permits issued by the Internal Security Police, which are required to be displayed alongside the antenna. Another permit is required for the receiver, again displayed alongside.
The police, of any shade, can enter the premises to inspect the equipment and permit. They have their own technicians and often they check the antenna alignment to ensure the authorised signals can be received.
I smuggled a collapsible antenna in - but I am a 'Lo Fun' so it is possible for me to get a permit - but didn't look like an antenna when collapsed. It is used for HongKong based satellite InterNet.
" ... which optimise the sites being viewed - there's no point in downloading colour pictures or JavaScript code to an e-book reader ..."
Incorrect. When in 3G mode, the Kindle connects via a stock-standard proxy (fints-g7g.amazon.com, so that Amazon can authenticate devices using Whispernet). Absolutely no server-side optimization is preformed - Javascript works fine in the browser and full color images are transmitted (if not displayed). Furthermore, the Kindle completely bypasses the Amazon proxy and connects directly when in WiFi mode.
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