Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace (34 page)

3
The Chinese version of Skype:
The TOM-Skype investigation is documented in Nart Villeneuve, “Breaching Trust: An Analysis of
Surveillance and Security Practices on China’s TOM-Skype Platform,” Information Warfare Monitor, September 2009,
http://www.infowar-monitor.net/2009/09/breaching-trust-an-analysis-of-surveillance-and-security-practices-on-china’s-tom-skype-platform/
. See also John Markoff, “Surveillance of Skype Messages Found in China,”
New York Times
, October 1, 2008,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/technology/internet/02skype.html?pagewanted=all
.

4
Researchers at Cambridge University, for instance, once demonstrated:
See Richard Clayton, Steven J. Murdoch, Robert N.M. Watson, “Ignoring the Great Firewall of China,”
Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society
3, no. 2 (2007). Psiphon was invented in the Citizen Lab, and released in December 2006 at an event called Protect the Net. The project was funded by the Open Society Institute as part of the Citizen Lab’s CiviSec Project. Psiphon was spun out of the University of Toronto as an independent Canadian company. Read more about Psiphon at
http://psiphon.ca
. Karl Kathuria, in
Casting a Wider Net
(a study undertaken in 2011 while a Citizen Lab/Canada Centre visiting fellow), combined ONI, Psiphon, and BBC media data to develop policies for global broadcasters whose content is filtered in censored jurisdictions:
http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/downloads/casting.pdf
.

5
Code words, metaphors, neologisms:
Xiao Qiang, editor of the
China Digital Times
, has been compiling a glossary of terms used by creative Chinese netizens to bypass China’s online censors in “Grass-Mud Horse Lexicon,”
China Digital Times
,
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/space/Introduction_to_the_Grass-Mud_Horse_Lexicon
.

6
Often ignored is the connection between China’s domestic controls and the international dimensions of its cyberspace strategy:
Masashi Crete-Nishihata and I examine the international and global mechanisms that facilitate the growth and spread of cyberspace controls in “Global Governance and the Spread of Cyberspace Controls,”
Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations
18, no. 3 (2012): 339–361.

7
Evidence of GhostNet-like compromises now surface almost weekly:
Jameson Berkow reported on the Nortel breach in “Nortel Hacked to Pieces,”
Financial Post
, February 25, 2012,
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/02/25/nortel-hacked-to-pieces
.

8
It’s unlikely that China would benefit in an armed conflict:
On China’s military strategy, see Timothy L. Thomas,
Dragon Bytes: Chinese Information-War Theory and Practice
(Fort Leavenworth: Foreign Military Studies Office, 2004). See also U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2012 Report to Congress, 147–169; and Desmond Ball, “China’s Cyber Warfare Capabilities,”
Security Challenges
7, iss. 2 (2011): 83–103.

9
Part of China’s international strategy revolves around setting:
On China’s technology industry development, see David Chen, Stephen Schlaikjer, and Micah Springut, “China’s Program for Science and Technology Modernization: Implications for American Competitiveness,” January 2011,
http://www.uscc.gov/researchpapers/2011/USCC_REPORT_China’s_Program_forScience_and_Technology_Modernization.pdf
; and Steven P. Bucci and Derek Scissors, “China Cyber Threat: Huawei and American Policy Toward Chinese Companies,”
Heritage
, October 23, 2012,
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/10/china-cyber-threat-huawei-and-american-policy-toward-chinese-companies
. By the end of 2012, a fifth of all computers in the world will be manufactured in Chengdu. See Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, “Hi-tech Expansion Drives China’s Second Boom in the Hinterland,”
Telegraph
, November 25, 2012,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/9701910/Hi-tech-expansion-drives-Chinas-second-boom-in-the-hinterland.html
.

10
a regional … security alliance called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization:
An overview of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization can be found in Andrew Scheineson, “The Shanghai Cooperation
Organization,”
Council on Foreign Relations
, March 24, 2009,
http://www.cfr.org/publication/10883/shanghai_cooperation_organization.html
; Thomas Ambrosio, “Catching the ‘Shanghai Spirit’: How the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Promotes Authoritarian Norms in Central Asia,”
Europe-Asia Studies
60, no.8 (2008): 1321–1344; and
Human Rights in China, Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights: The Impact of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(New York: Human Rights in China, 2011),
http://www.hrichina.org/research-and-publications/reports/sco
.

1
Somalia has not had a properly functioning government since 1991:
An extensive look at Somalia’s thriving telecommunications sector is available in Bob Feldman, “Somalia: Amidst the Rubble, a Vibrant Telecommunications Infrastructure,”
Review of African Political Economy
34, no. 113 (2007): 565–572; Sarah Childress and Abdinasir Mohamed, “Telecom Firms Thrive in Somalia Despite War, Shattered Economy,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 11, 2010,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220570113266984.html
; Joseph Winter, “Telecoms Thriving in Lawless Somalia,” BBC, November 19, 2004,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4020259.stm
; and Abdinasir Mohamed and Sarah Childress, “Telecom Firms Thrive in Somalia Despite War, Shattered Economy,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 11, 2010,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220570113266984.html
.

2
Somali cab drivers, nurses, teachers, engineers:
Somalia is the fourth most remittance-dependent country in the world. See Mohamed Aden Hassan and Caitlin Chalmers, “UK Somali Remittances Survey,” Department for International Development, May 2008,
http://www.diaspora-centre.org/DOCS/UK_Somali_Remittan.pdf
.

3
According to the
Arab Social Media Report
series:
This series can be found at Dubai School of Government, “Social Media in the Arab World: Influencing Societal and Cultural Change?,”
Arab Social Media Report
2, no.1 (2012),
http://www.arabsocialmediareport.com/UserManagement/PDF/ASMR%204%20updated%2029%2008%2012.pdf
.

4
The combination of youth, unemployment, and radicalism:
On youth unemployment in the Arab Spring, see Gwyn Morgan, “Youth
Unemployment the Kindling that Fuels Unrest,”
Globe and Mail
, September 10, 2012,
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/youth-unemployment-the-kindling-that-fuels-unrest/article4199652/?service=mobile
.

5
The fastest growth rates are occurring among the world’s failed and most fragile states:
In the ITU’s 2009 Information Society Statistical Profiles, the ten countries that saw the fastest Internet user growth rates (calculated in terms of compounded annual growth rates) over five years were Afghanistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Albania, Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, Sudan, Morocco, and D.R. Congo. Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, and D.R. Congo were ranked as having low human development on the UN’S 2008 Human Development Index, with no available data for Afghanistan, which at the time was ranked seventh on the Fund for Peace’s Failed States Index. The growth rates for Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Vietnam were derived from 2002 to 2007 ITU figures, while 2003 to 2008 figures were used for the rest. The International Telecommunications Union’s Information Society Statistical Profiles are available at: “Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Africa,” 2010,
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/material/ISSP09-AFR_final-en.pdf
; “Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Europe v.1.01,” 2010,
http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-RPM.EUR-2009-R1-PDF-E.pdf
“Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Europe,” 2010,
http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-RPM.EUR-2009-R1-PDF-E.pdf
; “Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Americas,” 2010,
http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-RPM.AM-2009-E09-PDF-E.pdf
; and “Information Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Asia and the Pacific,” 2010,
http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-RPM.AP-2009-R1-PDF-E.pdf
. See also “Failed States Index 2008,” Fund for Peace,
http://www.fundforpeace.org/global/?q=fsi-grid2008
.

6
Whereas in other parts of the world cyberspace controls:
Rafal Rohozinski and I discuss cyberspace controls in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States in “Control and Subversion in Russian Cyberspace,” in
Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace
, eds. Ronald Deibert, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, and Jonathan Zittrain (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010): 15–34.

7
Each country in the global South and East:
India’s “Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules of 2011,” available at
http://www.mit.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/GSR314E_10511%281%29.pdf
, place extraordinary policing responsibilities on ISPs and other services that operate in cyberspace. India’s 2008 Information Technology Act, available at:
http://www.mit.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/downloads/itact2000/it_amendment_act2008.pdf
, gives the government the power to block, intercept, monitor, or decrypt any information in the interest of sovereignty, integrity, defence, or security of India. See Amol Sharma, “India Court Adjourns Google-Facebook Case Until August,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 3, 2012,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304746604577381791461076660.html
; and Jonah Force Hill, “India: The New Front Line in the Global Struggle for Internet Freedom,”
The Atlantic
, June 7, 2012,
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/india-the-new-front-line-in-the-global-struggle-for-internet-freedom/258237
.

8
India has also waged a persistent campaign:
In October 2011, it was reported that RIM had set up a facility in Mumbai to help the Indian government carry out lawful surveillance. See “RIM Sets Up Facility to Help Indian Government with Lawful Surveillance,”
Toronto Star
, October 28, 2011,
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1077575-rim-sets-up-facility-to-help-indian-government-with-lawful-surveillance?bn=1
. I wrote about the travails of RIM in “Cyberspace Confidential,”
Globe and Mail
, August 6, 2010,
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/cyberspace-confidential/article1241035/?page=all
.

9
Meanwhile, the Indian government banned all mass text messaging
Regarding the Indian government’s banning mass texting for two weeks, see Dean Nelson, “India Bans Mass Text Messages to Stem Panic Among Minorities,”
Telegraph
, August 17, 2012,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/9482890/India-bans-mass-text-messages-to-stem-panic-among-minorities.html
.

10
in an attempt to prevent the sale and distribution of cloned and pirated mobile phones:
On the Communications Commission of Kenya cutting off 1.89 million mobile phones, see Winfred Kagwe, “Kenya: 1.9 Million ‘Fake’ Phones Shut,”
All Africa
, October 2, 2012,
http://allafrica.com/stories/201210020512.html
.

11
In 2010, Turkey ordered ISPs to block access to YouTube:
YouTube was banned by a 2007 court decision after videos accusing Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the first president of Turkey, of being
homosexual. In an attempt to enforce this ban, Turkey also blocked more than thirty Google services. See Justin Vela, “Turkey Blocks Google Sites – Accidentally?” AOL
News
, June 9, 2010,
http://www.aolnews.com/2010/06/09/turkey-blocks-google-sites-accidently/
.

12
South Korea put in place regulations to block several dozen North Korean websites:
The OpenNet Initiative reported on South Korean collateral filtering in “Collateral Blocking: Filtering by South Korean Government of Pro-North Korean Websites,” January 31, 2005,
http://opennet.net/bulletins/009/
.

13
In his 2010 report:
Helmi Noman discusses faith-based Internet censorship in majority Muslim countries in “In the Name of God: Faith-based Internet Censorship in Majority Muslim Countries,” OpenNet Initiative, August 1, 2011,
http://opennet.net/sites/opennet.net/files/ONI_NameofGod_1_08_2011.pdf
.

14
In the Far East, the same pattern is emerging:
The OpenNet Initiative has documented Thailand’s cyberspace controls in “Thailand,” in
Access Contested
, eds. Ronald Deibert et al., 271–298. The case of Chiranuch Premchaiporn is detailed in James Hookway, “Conviction in Thailand Worries Web Users,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 30, 2012,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303674004577435373324265632.html
.