Now, however, Google has cancelled that feature. From the Wall Street Journal blog:

A Google spokesman confirmed that the company has removed the warning function, but declined to comment on why it decided to do so. The U.S. company has faced a series of challenges in China since 2010, when it stopped adhering to China’s requirement that it self-censor search results. In November, Google’s Web services in China experienced brief but widespread interruptions.

When Google last year started tipping off users about risky search keywords, the move was viewed by some analysts as a potential challenge to Beijing’s efforts to police the Internet. When a user typed a word containing a potentially problematic Chinese character, a drop-down message would appear, saying that searching with that character “may temporarily break your connection to Google,” an interruption “outside Google’s control.” Google’s May 31 official blog post said: “We’ve had a lot of feedback that Google Search from mainland China can be inconsistent and unreliable…we’ve noticed that these interruptions are closely correlated with searches for a particular subset of queries.”

While Google has not officially explained the reason for the change, some technologists believe the company has given up the fight against Chinese government censorship. The Telegraph’s tech blogger Mic Wright writes:

From the moment Google introduced the feature, the Chinese internet censors fought back. But the ingenuity of Google’s engineers got round each block until they finally embedded the entire function in HTML on Google’s start page. That meant to block the notifications, China would have to block Google altogether. Inevitably, the search engine did end up blocked in its entirety more than once before the feature been activated. Gmail was also subject to blocks and a noticeable slowdown in performance. In the stand-off, Google blinked first. At a time when the Chinese government is strengthening its internet censorship measures, the firm has effectively admitted it just can’t beat them and is no longer willing to try.

Meanwhile, Yahoo, which has taken fire from free speech activists for its role in providing information to the Chinese government which helped convict activist Shi Tao in 2005, now offers a secure connection for its email users. From CSO:

Yahoo Web mail users can activate SSL in only a couple of clicks. Within the service, they only need to go to options and select “Make your Yahoo Mail more secure with SSL.”

Google rolled out SSL for Gmail in 2010, after it accused China-based hackers of launching highly sophisticated attacks to eavesdrop on human rights activists.

Indeed, in its letter to Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, the EFF said HTTPS communications was needed to protect dissidents. “As individuals who engage with at-risk communities targeted for surveillance and censorship, we see on a daily basis how this negligence (not providing secure connections) endangers human rights activists who fight in some of the most repressive environments to protect the basic freedoms that we take for granted,” the letter said.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Google, Internet censorship, keyword filtering, search engines, Shi Tao, Yahoo
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The translations are by Rogier Creemers of China Copyright and Media.

21 August 2006, 16:30, Huang Jing

Recently, it has been discovered that the text “Monks Collectively Visit Prostitutes – The Background of the ‘Three Old Convent Scandal’ in Guangdong,” published by foreign websites, has been posted some domestic forums and blogs, etc., and attacks our religious policies. All websites are requested to strengthen management and earnestly inspect this, this text may not be reprinted or posted, where it has been posted, it must be speedily deleted.

21 August 2006, 21:30, Network Management Office

Content concerning the case of Gao Yingying, is no longer to be put on the main page of websites and the main page of news and forums. Stop renewing news trackers and forum trackers.

22 August 2006, 8:45, Network Management Office

All websites: the Youth World Cup has finished, please delete the special subject on the “Athletic Federation Youth World Cup;” the special subject of commemorating the Long March will no longer have “One Primary School Pupil’s Long March Website” as special subject entry, please restore the title of “Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Long March” as entry; the special subject of running the web in a civilized manner will no longer have “Prevent Online Wrongdoing” as entry point, please restore the title of “Running the Web in a Civilized Manner” as title. In the near future, if there is no new notification, please only maintain these two entry points for special subjects in the important news section of the main page of news centers: commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, and running the web in a civilized manner.

22 August 2006, 9:15, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

Sina, Sohu, NetEase, China, TOM, Xici Hutong, Western Land Forum, Mop Forum, DoNews, Blog Net, Baidu, China Search, Search Dog, Aiwen, Yahoo China, Qihoo, and Great Flag: the State Council Information Office Second Phase Internet News Training Class registration time is the afternoon of 25 August; the place of registry is the Yuanshan Grand Hotel (Xicheng District, Yumin Road, No. 2, between Anhua Bridge and the Panda Roundabout on the Axis Road, 50 metres to the west of the traffic lights, the hotel telephone number is 62010033).

24 August 2006, 9:47, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

All websites: Please put the matter of water pollution occurring recently in the Songhua River in the middle part of the important news section, do not put it in a header position.

24 August 2005, 16:56, Huang Jing

All websites, please make “Lin Biao’s diaries” into a keyword, delete all search results in search engines (including snapshots).

24 August 2006, 17:16, Huang Jing

All websites, on reports concerning the matter of workers gathering on the roof of a building to protest against late salary payments causing traffic disruption (images), all websites are requested to immediately remove it from information on their sites!

24 August 2006, 17:56, Huang Jing

Recently, a water pollution accident happened in the domestic tributary of the Songhua River, the Niu River, in Jilin City, Jilin Province, Xinhua has already issued news copy. For online reports of this matter, all websites are only to reprint Xinhua copy, do not reprint articles from other sources, do not set up news trackers, do not link it up with the Songhua River pollution incident. Management over forums, blogs and other interactive columns must be strengthened, harmful information that is inconsistent with official reports or uses the opportunity to attack the Party and State structure, etc., must be timely deleted.

27 August 2006, 0:56, Chen Hua

Search for and delete the article “Second Artillery Construction Sites Spread into Xinjiang, Tibet and Other Localities, Workload Quadruples,” search engines are to screen this article.

28 August 2006, 8:35, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

All websites, please immediately delete the recent online text concerning “Why Take the Knife of Cui Yingjie to Kill Chengguan.”

28 August 2006, 10:35, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

Propaganda instructions concerning Beijing recruiting volunteers for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics:

(1) All sorts of information must be published according to the uniform formulation of the Beijing Olympic Volunteer Work Coordination Group. Information from other sources or non-standard formulations may not be reprinted;

(2) The wording “global recruitment” may not be adopted in news titles and reports on recruitment work;

(3) Information on negative trends occurring in recruitment work may not be reprinted.

30 August 2006, 12:12, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

Concerning the case of social security funds being diverted in Shanghai City, only transmit People’s Daily and Xinhua Net copy, do not make it into a special subject, do not open trackers, do not conduct surveys, do not debate it. All websites are requested to immediately deal with situations that do not conform to the above requirements. Forums, blogs and other interactive segments are not to discuss this.

31 August 2006, 9:00, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

All websites: please move the article “Dashan Village Committee in Panyu, Guangzhou, Forces Detention of 200 People concerning Temporary Residence Permits” to the domestic section.

31 August 2006, 9:53, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

All websites, please put the article “Beijing Network Media Deliberate the Long March Spirit in Zunyi, Chinese Long March Net Opened” in the middle or upper part of the important news section of the news center, and the title on the main page of websites.

31 August 2006, 9:53, Network Management Office, Huang Jing

Please immediately delete the article “Taiwanese Diaoyu Island Protectors in Fishing Boats Locked in Stalemate with Japanese Naval Ships, Use Drinks Bottles to Fight Back.”

2006年8月北京网管办发出的禁令（三）

2006年8月21日16时30分 黄婧

近期发现，有国内论坛、博客等贴发了境外网站刊登的”和尚集体嫖妓——广东省’三大古寺丑闻’的背后”一文，对我宗教政策进行攻击。请各网站加强管理，认真检查，不得转载、贴发此文，已贴发的要迅速删除
2006年8月21日21时30分 网管办

关于高莺莺一案的内容，不再放网站首页和新闻、论坛首页。停止更新新闻跟帖，论坛跟帖
2006年8月22日08时45分 网管办

各网：世青赛已经结束，请删除“田联世青赛”的专题；纪念长征专题不再以“一个小学生的长征网站”为专题入口，请恢复以“纪念长征胜利70周年”的 标题为入口；文明办网专题不再以“防网上恶搞”为专题入口，请恢复以“文明办网”的标题为入口。近期，如无新的通知，请在新闻中心首页要闻区只保留两个专 题入口：纪念长征胜利70周年、文明办网。
2006年8月22日09时15分 网管办黄婧

新浪、搜狐、网易、中华、TOM、西祠胡同、西陆论坛、猫朴论坛、DONEWS、博客网、百度、中搜、搜狗、爱问、雅虎中国、奇虎、大旗：国新办第 二期互联网新闻培训班报到时间为8月25日下午；报到地点为圆山大酒店（西城区裕民路2号，中轴路安华桥与熊猫环岛之间红绿灯西行50米即到，酒店电话 62010033）
2006年8月24日09时47分 网管办黄婧

各网:近期松花江支流发生水体污染一事请放在要闻区中部,不要放在头条位置.
2006年8月24日16时56分黄婧

各网:请以”林彪日记”为关键词,将搜索引擎中所有搜索结果清除(包括快照).
2006年8月24日17时16分黄婧

各网:关于工人聚集楼顶抗议欠薪致交通中断(组图) 一事的相关报道,请各网站立即从本网站的信息中删除!
2006年8月24日17时56分 黄婧

近日，吉林省吉林市境内松花江支流?牛河发生水体污染事故，新华社已发新闻通稿。有关此事的网上报道，各网站只转载新华社稿件，不转载其他来源的文 章，不开设新闻跟贴，不与松花江污染事件挂钩。要加强对论坛、博客等互动栏目的管理，对与正式报道不一致以及借机攻击党和国家制度等有害信息，要及时删 除。
2006年8月27日0时56分 陈华

清查删除千龙“二跑工地遍步新疆西藏等地，任务翻两番”一稿，搜索引擎屏蔽此稿。
2006年8月28日08时35分 网管办黄婧

各网站:近期网上关于“为何接过崔英杰的刀杀城管”一文请立即删除。
2006年8月28日10时35分 网管办黄婧

关于北京招募奥运会、残奥会志愿者的宣传提示：

1、各种消息要按北京奥运会志愿者工作协调小组的统一口径对外发布。其他消息来源、非正规口径不要转载；

2、在招募工作新闻的标题、报道中不得采用“全球招募”的提法；

3、对招募过程中出现的负面动态消息，不要转载。
2006年8月30日12时13分 网管办黄婧

关于上海市社保基金被挪用一案，只转载人民、新华网的稿件，不设专题。在转载时，不开跟帖，不搞调查，不搞辩论。请各网马上处理与上述要求不符的情况。论坛、博客等互动环节，不讨论。
2006年8月31日9时00分 网管办黄婧

各网:请将《广州番禺大山村委会强行关押200人办暂住证》一稿,移到国内.
2006年8月31日9时53分 网管办黄婧

各网：请将《北京网络媒体遵义研讨长征精神 中国长征网开通》一稿，放至新闻中心要闻区中上部，并在网站首页出标题。
2006年8月31日9时53分 网管办黄婧

请各网马上删除《台湾保钓人士渔船与日本军舰相持 用饮料瓶还击》一稿。

These translated directives were first posted by Rogier Creemers on China Copyright and Media on December 4, 2012 (here).

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baidu, Beijing, Beijing Internet Instructions, Beijing Olympics, censorship, Censorship Vault, Chen Hua, chengguan, Cui Yingjie, diaoyu islands, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Gao Yingying, Guangzhou, Internet censorship, Japan, jilin, Lin Biao, long march, Ministry of Truth, mop, netease, Panyu, people's daily, Qihoo, Shanghai, sina, sohu, Songhua River, State Council Information Office, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinhua, Xinjiang, Yahoo
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Wang Xiaoning’s wife Yu Ling said in a phone interview that the Beijing No. 2 Prison told her of his release Friday morning and that she should meet him at the prison gate.

[…] Rights groups said that passages from writings cited at his trial in 2003 included: “Without a multiparty system, free elections and separation of powers, any political reform is fraudulent.” Others called China an “authoritarian dictatorship,” and complained of continuing widespread corruption, poverty and workers exploitation.

A lawsuit Wang and others filed in the United States showed that Yahoo’s wholly owned subsidiary based in Hong Kong gave police information linking Wang to his anonymous e-mails and other political writings he posted online.

Yahoo could not immediately be reached for comment.

Yu told AFP that Wang’s political rights will be suspended for another two years, and that he has been mistreated in prison but remains in reasonable health.

Yahoo was also involved in the prosecution of journalist Shi Tao, who is still serving a ten-year sentence passed in 2005 for leaking state secrets. Wang and others later sued the US company, which settled in 2007 for an undisclosed amount. Yahoo founder and then-CEO Jerry Yang later urged the Bush administration to demand Wang and Shi’s release.

These cases illustrate the legal entanglements that come with a physical business presence in China. Google avoided storing sensitive user information on Chinese servers in order to avoid any similar predicament, but was still forced to filter search results and eventually left the Chinese mainland. Twitter alarmed users in January with an announcement that the service would selectively block posts in accordance with local laws, a move widely suspected of being a concession to allow entry to the Chinese market. CEO Dick Costolo quickly clarified, however, that “I don’t think the current environment in China is one in which we can operate“.

See also a 2007 Wired article on Wang’s case (via Isolda Morillo), and more on Wang and Yahoo via CDT.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: freedom of expression, Google, Internet companies, Jerry Yang, Shi Tao, Twitter, Wang Xiaoning, Yahoo
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The China Daily reported that the two sides reached 67 agreements during the course of the summit, which was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo. Premier Wen Jiabao claimed that the talks yielded “some important breakthroughs,” including indications by China that it was willing to take steps to level the competitive environment surrounding its state-owned enterprises and signs that the United States would help China in its efforts to position the renminbi as an international reserve currency, according to The New York Times:

China agreed to remove what United States officials said were unfair subsidies and favorable regulations affecting state-owned corporations and to allow foreigners to take bigger stakes in Chinese securities firms, according to a senior official of the United States delegation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

…

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, meeting Friday with Li Keqiang, a Chinese vice premier, said the economic talks had achieved “very good progress.”

Later, in prepared remarks for the meeting’s closing ceremony, Mr. Geithner praised the Chinese for moving toward a more flexible exchange rate system and loosening controls on moving capital in and out of the country.

“These steps are significant and promising, and, we believe, will lead to further appreciation in the exchange rate over time against the dollar and other major currencies,” he said.

One senior US administration official told The Financial Times that while the topic of financial sector opening has resided at the center of bilateral discussions for some time, the meetings demonstrated increased momentum for such reforms. The Chinese press spent most of the week emphasizing mutual trust, respect and cooperation, and a Sunday People’s Daily editorial stuck to the same script:

The development of China-U.S. relations is a process of building up mutual trust and solving problems. It has been recognized in both countries that cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation can only hurt. However, interference by outdated rules and clashes of interests have brought many challenges for the countries in terms of enhancing strategic mutual trust.

In order to implement the consensus reached by the heads of state to establish a partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, the two countries should take long-term interests into consideration, put aside differences, and increase consensus, which requires wisdom, rationality, and courage. Pragmatic dialogue is undoubtedly a constructive and effective way to remove strategic misunderstanding and resolve disputes and friction.

Disputes and friction are a natural part of China-U.S. relations as they are in different development levels and have different growth models. Trade friction between the two countries has increased along with their rapid progress in carrying out substantial cooperation in a wide range of areas. Pragmatic dialogue can not only help resolve problems and disputes properly, but also provide strong practical support for the development of China-U.S. relations.

Most eyes remained fixed on the SED this week, a short work week in China due to the May 1 holiday. The week’s lone significant data release, the official Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), rose 0.2 percentage points to 53.3 in April as the index saw its fifth straight monthly increase (anything above 50 indicates an expansion). The HSBC flash PMI, which was published a week earlier and focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises versus the SOE-centric official number, indicated a contractionary environment at 49.1 but still posted its best reading so far this year.

Foreign Firms Still Look To China

Despite lingering global fears of a sputtering Chinese economy, The China Daily reports that foreign firms remain bullish about China and see opportunities to maintain or increase their presence there:

For the first time China has become German companies’ top foreign investment destination, totaling $1.36 billion by the end of last year, according to a survey by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce. The amount was more than the combined German investment in France, Spain and Italy.

…

According to Sarah Butler, managing director of consultancy Booz & Company’s China division, for foreign firms, investing in China is no longer an option but a necessity.

“This reality is driven partly by the natural and inevitable saturation of their home markets as the Western economies mature and companies are driven by the need to continuously seek growth opportunities internationally.”

Despite forecasts that China’s economy will slow – which was verified by the latest year-on-year GDP growth of 8.1 percent in the first quarter – General Motors China is planning to double its sales volume to 5 million units over the next five years, said president and managing director Kevin Wale.

How To Spot A Fraud

CNN catches up with Carson Block, whose short-selling Muddy Waters Research has made a name for itself by identifying potential fraudulent accounting practices at Chinese companies over the past two years:

Some clear warning signs Block watches for?

“Too many mergers and acquisitions at one company are definitely a red flag,” said Block. “Companies trying to raise cash when they appear to have a lot on their balance sheet is also an issue.”

Block has also found it useful to scrutinize members who sit on the board of directors at Chinese companies, as well as those who are major investors — a tactic Block used to formulate his short position on Focus Media.

Finally, Block says he also watches to see how companies respond to criticism — whether it be accusations of fraud or otherwise.

“If a company responds to a short seller’s claims by brushing them off and saying that it will continue to run its business and in turn, void any investor concerns, it generally turns out that the short seller is wrong,” said Block. “But when a company starts buying back shares, that’s not necessarily a positive.”

Fears Of Spying Hinder China Mobile’s U.S. Push

U.S. national security officials may refuse to allow Chinese telecom giant China Mobile to build facilities on American soil and offer international service to American customers, according to The Los Angeles Times:

Officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department’s national security division are concerned that the move would give the company access to physical infrastructure and Internet traffic that might allow China to spy more easily on the U.S. government and steal intellectual property from American companies, according to people familiar with the process who declined to be identified because the deliberations are secret.

Those officials, known collectively as “Team Telecom,” review FCC applications by foreign-owned companies. They could advise the FCC not to issue the license, but may instead demand a signed agreement designed to satisfy security concerns, the people said.

The review is being led by the Justice Department, which declined to comment, as did the FBI and DHS.

A move to block the license could provoke a lawsuit by China Mobile, officials said. But lately, the U.S. government’s focus on cyber espionage has sharpened considerably.

Other News:

• Shares in fragrance and tobacco producer Huabao International, listed in Hong Kong, plunged 7% on Friday despite a rebuttal after a short seller reportedly suggested irregularities in the company’s financial statements.
• Yahoo!’s reported agreement to sell part of its Alibaba stake back to the Chinese company is not a must for Yahoo! shareholders and shouldn’t be rushed, writes Forbes contributor Eric Jackson.
• Toyota’s April China sales are up 14.3 percent over the same period last year, and up 68 percent since last April.
• The Wall Street Journal reports that roadblocks in Aluminum Corp of China’s (Chalco) agreement to acquire a stake in coal miner SouthGobi indicates an increased wariness in Mongolia over Chinese investment.
• The China Money Podcast speaks to BlackRock’s Ewen Cameron Watt, who sounds off about China’s property sector and what key China data indicator global investors should keep their eye on as they assess their positions.

© CDT Money for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alibaba, Chen Guangcheng, China Mobile, cyberespionage, Dai Bingguo, foreign investment, fraud, Germany, Hillary Clinton, Huabao International, Li Keqiang, mongolia, Muddy Waters, PMI, state-owned enterprises, strategic economic dialogue, Timothy Geithner, Toyota, U.S. relations, Wang Qishan, Wen Jiabao, Yahoo, yuan appreciation
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Asked whether Alibaba might like to pick up the ailing U.S. Internet company, Ma told an audience at Stanford University that he would be “very interested in Yahoo.”

The former English schoolteacher later added that, were he to have his way, he would be eager to acquire all of Yahoo, not just the stake it owns in Alibaba.

“The whole piece of Yahoo,” Ma said in answer to a question from the audience about what part of Yahoo he was interested in. “China is already ours, right? It’s already in my pocket.”

Yahoo shares leaped 5 percent to $13.80 in after-hours trading.

Cnet looks at Yahoo’s history with China to ask what impact such a takeover might have:

Alibaba’s interest is an intriguing turn of events. Yahoo acquired a 40 percent stake in Alibaba several years ago, and that investment may now be worth up to a third of Yahoo’s total value. Ma has repeatedly pressured Yahoo’s board to sell that stake back to him but has so far been rebuffed. But Yahoo’s board, while searching for a replacement for recently fired Chief Executive Carol Bartz and looking at the proverbial “strategic alternatives,” may be more agreeable to a range of options right now.

Yahoo’s problems in China are well documented. Four years ago, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang was roundly criticized in congressional hearings for the role his company played in the jailing of a Chinese human rights activist.

“Look into your own soul, and see the damage you have done to an innocent human being and his family,” Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) said at the hearing. “It will make no difference to the committee what you do, but it will make you better human beings, if you recognize your own responsibility for the enormous damage your policies have created.”

That Yahoo could end up being acquired by a Chinese company could ring alarm bells with human rights advocates and even lawmakers with long memories.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alibaba, Yahoo
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The interview was titled “How foreign companies can succeed in China”, a rather amusing title considering that no foreign Internet company has ever achieved a dominant position in the People’s Republic. Cynics in the audience joked that after Google’s famous partial withdrawal from China, John Liu’s presentation should perhaps been called “How foreign companies can fail in China” and name checked eBay, Yahoo and MSN as foreign companies whose performance in this market can best be described as mediocre.

Liu’s interview and most of the panel discussion was all vanilla until Groupon was mentioned ….

The only nice thing anyone had to say about Groupon was that they have just succeeded in purchasing the domain name Groupon.cn from one of the thousand-plus Groupon clones that are already operating in China.

Kuo crisply summed up the prevailing sentiment: “Groupon is getting it in the ass”.

See also: CDT’s coverage of the Groupon Superbowl ad which heralded the company’s move into China, miraculously uniting patriotic Chinese and Free Tibetans in outrage.

Update: Kuo says he was misheard: “The quote wasn’t quite right. Bad acoustics or something. Said they were getting it ass-backward in China.”

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Baidu, Ebay, Google, groupon, Yahoo
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George Soros has become one of Alibaba.com’s largest shareholders after buying into the company late last year, according to the Chinese e-commerce provider.

The involvement of the US billionaire investor was revealed on Friday by David Wei, chief executive of Alibaba.com.

It came as Alibaba Group, the website’s parent, said it was ready to buy out Yahoo, which holds a 39 per cent stake in the parent.

Alibaba.com’s shares rose 5 per cent to close at HK$15.82 in Hong Kong after rallying 11 per cent at one point. The shares have lagged other Hong Kong-listed stocks with a 13 per cent slide this year .

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alibaba, George Soros, Yahoo
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I’d been hacked.

That phrase has been popping up a lot lately on Web chats and at dinner parties in China, where scores of foreign reporters have discovered intrusions into their e-mail accounts.

But unlike malware that trawls for bank account passwords or phishing gambits that peddle lonely and sexually adventurous Russian women, these cyberattacks appear inspired by good old-fashioned espionage.

…The monitoring and manipulation of foreign reporters — the ability to keep them and their sources on edge — would have come a long way since the days when thick-set men in ill-fitting blazers would trail correspondents to interviews, and when unmistakable clicking noises during phone calls gave new meaning to the expression “party line.”

Perhaps most disturbing would be the anonymity of the attacks — the prospect that we and our sources will never know just what we are facing or whom to blame.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: foreign correspondents, hackers, Yahoo
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The lack of information from the company has been “incredibly frustrating,” she said. It’s still unclear how the accounts were disabled, and no one has asked the Chinese government about the incidents, McLaughlin said. The government hasn’t commented either.

“You asked about response from the Chinese government, but what we really need is a response from Yahoo,” McLaughlin wrote in an e-mail exchange late Wednesday.

When asked about the episode, a spokesperson for Yahoo declined to confirm the attacks. The Silicon Valley giant said in a statement:

“Yahoo does not generally disclose information around reported breaches, but we take security very seriously and we take appropriate action in the event of any kind of breach.”

The Foreign Correspondents Club said that of the 11 confirmed cases of blocked Yahoo e-mail accounts, eight involved Beijing-based reporters and three involved journalists based in Taiwan.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: foreign correspondents, hacking, Yahoo
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Users based on the Chinese mainland could still access all Google sites and enter some search words on Tuesday, but from early evening any search in Chinese for words as harmless as ‘dog’ or ‘home’ turned up a browser error.

…However, a statement from Google on Tuesday night said a technical change on its part was to blame for the surge in searches being blocked, not increased Chinese censorship of its site.

Google said a string of characters the US company had introduced to all its search queries globally to improve results included the letters rfa, which also happen to stand for Radio Free Asia.

“Because this parameter contained the letters rfa the great firewall was associating these searches with Radio Free Asia, a service that has been inaccessible in China for a long time – hence the blockage,” Google said, adding that “we are currently looking at how to resolve this issue.”

Update: Later, Google changed the explanation of the search outage. From the LA Times blog:

But, after an investigation, Google on Tuesday blamed the outage on China’s Internet filtering system.

“It’s clear we actually added this parameter a week ago. So whatever happened today to block Google.com.hk must have been as a result of a change in the Great Firewall,” a Google spokesman said. “Our search traffic in China is now back to normal even though we have not made any changes at our end. We will continue to monitor what is going on, but for the time being this issue seems to be resolved.”

Also, several Yahoo! accounts of foreigners in China have been hacked, AP reports:

The Yahoo Inc. accounts of at least three journalists and an analyst became inaccessible over the last few weeks. They were greeted with messages saying, “We’ve detected an issue with your account” and were told to contact Yahoo, they said Tuesday. Yahoo technicians told one of the four that his account had been hacked and restored his access, but it was not clear if the other instances were related.

…It was not clear where problems with the Yahoo e-mail accounts originated. All four people affected are professionally focused on China and related issues. They said they had heard of other colleagues having similar problems, including one journalist who lost his Yahoo account entirely in January.

Clifford Coonan, China correspondent for The Independent and the Irish Times newspapers, said he received the “issue with your account” notice when he logged in Tuesday. Another reporter said she received repeated error messages from Yahoo last month.

The Western analyst said he was locked out of his account for four or five days, until he spoke with a Yahoo representative Monday who went through the security questions and restarted it.

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Post tags: Googlecn, hacking, Yahoo
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“We condemn any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user information,” a Yahoo representative said in an e-mail statement. “We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as Internet pioneers must all oppose.”

Google said late Tuesday that the attack’s primary goal was to access Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The company said that the incident, as well as Chinese censorship rules, could force it to shut down its operations in China, which includes Google.cn.

The search giant’s ongoing investigation suggests the attack targeted at least twenty other large companies from a variety of industries. Neither Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) nor Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) revealed whether Yahoo was among the victims.

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Post tags: cyberattacks, foreign IT companies, Google, hacking, Yahoo
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The list referred to user-generated content on a section of Yahoo China’s Web site called “Yahoo Space,” which is not currently in operation. But a subsequent notice released today by the center said remnants of the “vulgar” content from Yahoo Space could still be found in other parts of Yahoo’s portal.

The Web sites “didn’t continue to follow the government’s call to effectively crack down on vulgar content and information on the Internet, and relaxed supervision of their Web sites, which ultimately led to the appearance of a lot of vulgar content, which is against social morals and does harm to the physical and mental health of the youth,” the center said in a notice. “Such behavior…has led to the anger of our public and should be strongly condemned.”

The public condemning of these sites follows a similar notice earlier this year that implicated Google for allowing pornographic content, which is illegal in China, to show up in its search results. The company was ordered to temporarily disable some of its services as a result.

An Alibaba spokesman said the company operates according to the laws and regulations of each country it operates in.

Read more about “anti-vulgarity campaign” via CDT.

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Post tags: anti-vulgarity campaign, Internet censorship, Yahoo
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Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., in negotiations with other Internet companies and human-rights groups, reached an agreement on a voluntary code of conduct for activities in China and other restrictive countries.

In separate letters sent to Sens. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), and Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), the companies said the code’s details are being worked out.

Sens. Durbin and Coburn had asked for an update out of concern that without such a code, Internet companies could be pressured by China’s government to provide information about Internet users who are in China for the Olympics.

Read also Major U.S. Internet companies agree on a code of conduct for operating in repressive countries by Jim Puzzanghera.

© Liu Yong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: foreign IT companies, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo
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Alibaba.com Corp., the closely held Chinese Internet company whose biggest shareholder is Yahoo! Inc., is ready for a possible purchase of the U.S. company’s stake in it if the shares are offered.

“We are very well prepared,” Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma said today at a briefing in Hangzhou, east China, where the company is based. Alibaba Chief Financial Officer Joseph Tsai is spending most of his time evaluating the situation, Ma said, without saying if the company would buy Yahoo’s stake or giving details.

Yahoo said last month it may sell its Asian assets to boost investor value after signing an agreement that ended billionaire Carl Icahn’s bid to oust the company’s board and restart talks for Microsoft Corp. to buy the Sunnyvale, California-based Web portal. Those Asian assets include a 39 percent stake in Alibaba.

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Post tags: alibaba, it companies, Yahoo
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In November 2007, Yahoo! Inc. did what it could have done two years ago when it became known that the company had aided the 2005 conviction of Chinese journalist Shi Tao, now serving 10 years in prison for “revealing state secrets.” In a legal settlement, Yahoo pledged to provide an undisclosed amount of “financial, humanitarian and legal support” to the families of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning, another dissident jailed in 2003 for 10 years with the help of email data supplied by Yahoo. This came immediately after Yahoo cofounder and chief executive officer, Jerry Yang, made a dramatic public apology to Shi Tao’s mother, Gao Qinsheng, at a United States Congressional hearing. He bowed solemnly to her three times as tears rolled down her cheeks.

This January, the company went even further, setting up a “Yahoo! Human Rights Fund” to be administered by human-rights activist Harry Wu to “provide humanitarian and legal assistance to persons in the People’s Republic of China who have been imprisoned or persecuted for expressing their views using the Internet.” Mr. Yang convinced Condoleeza Rice to raise the cases of Messrs. Wang and Shi with Chinese leaders on a trip to Beijing in February. Meanwhile, according to Yahoo executives, human-rights assessments are now conducted before entering sensitive markets or launching new products in those markets. The company is also an active participant in a “multistakeholder process” to establish a global code of conduct on free expression and privacy for Internet and telecommunications companies.

Read also Shi Tao, Yahoo!, and the lessons for corporate social responsibility by Rebecca MacKinnon.

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Post tags: corporate responsibility, foreign IT companies, Yahoo
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