Susan Friesen

UNST 230A
February 15, 2017
Research Assignment Part I

There is a wide range of different uses and capabilities for internet use and phone record

surveillance in this day and age, ranging from the broader and more all-encompassing usage by

private companies like search engines and phone companies, to the more direct and fine-tuned

usage by government intelligence agencies. The capabilities of these technologies vary to align

with the purposes of the collection of user information, ranging from ad personalization to

spying and international intelligence. As technology advances and becomes accessible to more

and more people, there becomes this widening gap between the wonders of the technology the

good it can do and the looming sinister power that lies at our fingertips.

Right now, one of the most common and internet monitoring technologies lies in the

average persons hands every single day. Internet search engines like Google and Yahoo! collect

information about users every single time they search anything. Every time someone speaks to

Google using Google Voice or Google Now, the program saves and stores the voice recording.

Every time someone searches anything in the search engine, the searches are saved and used to

personalize ads. Google tracks users locations, recognizing frequently visited locations and

differentiating between new locations. Google knows where users live, work, and play. It knows

the routes they take, the people you talk to the most, and what you look like. Google knows

where users like to shop and what they like to buy. It knows users interests and hobbies and

travel plans. While storing and analyzing all of this information to create a personalized ad

experience and aid in making consumerism even more efficient which is sort of terrifying in its

own right - can seem rather innocent, it becomes even more terrifying when one really thinks

about how much it knows about each person, whether you put that information in voluntarily or

not.
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Another common industry that collects and stores information about its users are phone

companies. In the past few years, phone record storage and access has been breaking through the

news outlets more and more. Phone call and text message records can be used to track location of

users, see who they are communicating with, and even to see what specifically they were talking

about. Again, while a phone company might not be able to do anything substantial with this

information, others can gain access to this information and use it however they deem fit, whether

that be a government agency or a third party.

On a slightly less common, yet equally intimate level, there are plenty of other types of

internet monitoring and surveillance technologies, more often used by government agencies.

These can be huge risks for journalists, bloggers, and human rights defenders, especially in

certain countries such as Syria, China, North Korea, and other countries with fewer personal

freedoms and freedom of speech. The reach and capabilities of these invasive spywares and

programs is really incredible, but equally concerning. They can spy on the "content of computer

hard disks, recover passwords, access instant messaging content and monitor VoIP

conversations" ("Era..."). They can be directly installed onto computers, or even installed

remotely via the Internet, through false updates or email attachments, without the user even

noticing. From there, the users information is fed directly to the third party. This can be anything

from all activities being monitored on a single persons computer, to a filter over thousands or

even millions of peoples computers searching for keywords and pulling and storing the data and

the users personal information.

It's hard to imagine what the future capabilities of this sort of technology could be, when

it already seems so comprehensive, and when the technology seems to be making huge leaps and

bounds in terms of development and abilities as time goes on that are hard to comprehend, let
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alone predict. In the past, trying to find information, hacking, spying, and data collection, could

be a whole complicated ordeal fit for a James Bond movie. Today, though, it can be done from an

office desk, or even done without a human at all, and it can reach millions of people at a time,

storing and saving millions of pieces of data in a matter of seconds.

As we move into the future, though, I believe that it is possible that we could see some

sort of worldwide database, since today most information is received from private or third-party

collectors, such as telecom providers or search engines. Maybe one day we'll see something more

comprehensive, however scary that may seem. Also, more fine tuning on filtering information, as

right now, a lot of the filtering is looking for keywords, which can easily miss any related

information that just isn't included in the keyword list. I don't doubt that these kinds of

developments aren't already in the making, or even already out there that we just don't know

about.

In the end, it is easy to see that there is an expansive reach in terms of internet and

telecom surveillance and monitoring, with a wide range of capabilities, uses, and parties doing

the actual collecting. Most people are aware that technologies that they use every single day such

as search engines, smart phones, and laptops are collecting their personal information, but it may

be more difficult to comprehend the extensive reach of the collection and just how much the

internet knows about you. In many countries, this information and its users are protected in

some way, but unfortunately, in some countries it is not, and is even more accessible to be used

for less than friendly purposes.

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China is an authoritarian state that has been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, or the

CCP, that was founded 95 years ago, and has been in power in China for more than 60 years. The

governments policies on human rights and freedoms are starkly different from Western values,

and lack what most Westerners would classify as basic human rights. Internet surveillance and

censorship falls under some of these violations of freedoms and rights. Most censorship and

surveillance is political and meant to maintain morale, however that means that people have less

of a voice in the cyber world than they should.

In many cases, the Chinese government rejects Western values. While it is not wrong to

appreciate and celebrate their own culture, it doesnt mean there cant be any overlap between

values. Senior leaders in China vehemently deject the "universality of human rights as 'foreign

infiltration'" ("China"). Their policies are therefore lacking in many of what many of us are so

familiar with as fundamental human rights, such as freedom of expression, freedom of

association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. While the administration in 2015

made a little progress by reducing the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty by 9,

and gave students with disabilities "reasonable accommodation" in university entrance exams,

the regime is largely still very lacking in basic human rights and freedoms.

In 2015, there were a number of laws proposed and passed directly related to internet

security and censorship. Although, these laws did not give users more freedom and safety, but

called for a heavier and more expansive police presence and role in approving and monitoring

work in "state security, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and the management of foreign

nongovernmental organizations" ("China"). The State Internet Information Office monitors and

controls usernames, avatars, and requires the registration of real names on some websites. The

government also either shut down or restricted access to VPNs, which for many, was the only
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way for people to get around the country's heavy restrictions and censorship of the internet and

to view any kinds of blocked content. The government also drafted a cyber security law requiring

domestic and foreign Internet companies to follow the country's guidelines for censorship and to

ultimately aid in the government's surveillance. There was outrage across the world as

international internet providers such as Google and Yahoo agreed to these policies, however

recently, Google pulled out and refused to censor their service.

There is proliferate internet monitoring, surveillance, censorship, and data collection in

China. The government "monitors and archives certain Internet text conversations that include

politically charged words" (Markoff). Researchers in China have also estimated that there is a

presence of over 30,000 Internet police and volunteer citizens monitor online traffic, web sites,

and blogs for any sort of content that would be considered politically or culturally offensive. This

is called the Golden Shield Project or the Great Firewall of China. Some of the keywords that are

blacklisted have to do with religious groups, the independence of Taiwan, the CCP, democracy,

or even words related to specific current events that the government may be under criticism for.

Some servers, once they come across a message with a keyword in it, "blocks the transmission of

those words and a copy of the message is sent to a server", where they also store the user's

personal information (Markoff). The country also censors news and media, stating that news

"should be 'healthy' and 'in the public interest'. Audio or video content must not damage 'China's

culture or traditions'. And nothing must challenge the Communist party" (Randy). The Golden

Shield Project uses four main methods to filter and surveil internet traffic, including IP Blocking,

DNS Filtering and Redirection, URL and Packet Filtering, and VPN/SSH Traffic Recognition

(VyprVPN).
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There are several laws that have to do with cyber security, and there is definitely an

attitude in the administration that favors the censorship of internet activity in an effort to promote

cultural morale, no matter how oppressive it is. China, though, "has not enacted a single piece of

legislation that specifically addresses the collection, storage, transmission and operation of

personal information" ("Data..."). So the data collection is technically not violating any Chinese

laws, even if it seems morally wrong to Western values. In fact, "personal information can be

processed by public security and/or procurational authorities and without consent in accordance

with procedures prescribed by the law" in two situations, one of which being "for satisfying the

needs of national security" which is how the country is defending its collection of data ("Data...")

Therefore, it is very legal in the eyes of the Chinese government.

I don't think that there is going to be much change in regards to human rights, personal

cyber security, or internet privacy any time soon. Although there are people in China who are

rebelling and voicing their concerns, and on one occasion that did, in fact, make a difference,

calling for the abolition of one law that resulted in the incarceration of a particular journalist.

However, the majority of the Chinese people (as reported) believe that there should be some sort

of internet monitoring system, and that it should be managed by the government. So, until the

government changes its values, and the people follow suit, I don't think there will be much

change in the future. If anything, maybe just becoming even more controlled.
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Works Cited:

Caddy, Becca. "Google tracks everything you do: here's how to delete it." WIRED technology,

20 Jan. 2017.

"China." Human Rights Watch, 2015.

"Data Protection in China: Overview." Practical Law: A Thomson Reuters Legal Solution, 1 Oct.

2016.

"Era of the Digital Mercenaries." The Enemies of the Internet, Reporters Without Borders, 2013.

James, Randy. "A Brief History of: Chinese Internet Censorship." TIME, 18 Mar. 2009.

Markoff, John. "Surveillance of Skype Messages Found in China." The New York Times, 1 Oct.

2008.

VyprVPB. "Here;s Exactly How the Chinese Government Censors the Internet." The Nan Fang,

12 May 2016.