Chinese hackers sentenced to death
news.com
Chinese hackers sentenced to death
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
December 28, 1998, 3:45 p.m. PT
SHANGHAI--Two hackers who broke into a bank computer network and stole 260,000 yuan ($31,400) have been sentenced to death by a court in eastern China, the official Wenhui Daily said today.
The Yangzhou Intermediate Court in Jiangsu province also confiscated 40,000 yuan ($4,830) from Hao Jinglong, formerly an accountant at the Zhenjiang branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and his brother Hao Jingwen, the newspaper said.
The two opened 16 accounts under various names in a branch of the bank in September and later broke into the branch to install a controlling device in a bank computer terminal, the newspaper said. They used the device to electronically wire 720,000 yuan ($86,975) in non-existent deposits into the bank accounts. Afterward, they successfully withdrew 260,000 yuan from eight different branches of the bank, the newspaper said.
All the money since has been recovered, the newspaper said without giving further details.
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news.com
Net a focus in human rights struggle
By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 10, 1998, 11:45 a.m. PT
The world observes Human Rights Day and the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights today with a special emphasis on the Internet.
Events held everywhere from the United Nations to San Francisco's Multimedia Gulch to the Net itself demonstrate that the Internet has transformed the landscape for human rights activists and the governments they challenge.
The U.N.'s 1948 declaration is the focus of much of the day's observations. The world body is hosting a series of commemorative events, some of which are being Webcast beginning at noon, PT. The events include addresses by U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan and French president Jacques Chirac, as well as the presentation of human rights awards.
In San Francisco, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is sponsoring an event entitled "Cyber Rights = Human Rights: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is Not a Local Ordinance in Cyberspace." The event will feature guests including EDVenture chair and high-tech pundit Esther Dyson and congressional representative Zoe Lofgren (D-California).
Online, several human rights crusades launched today. One is an email campaign to Chinese officials to protest the arrest and trial of Shanghai dissident and software engineer Lin Hai. Chinese officials ordered the arrest of Lin in March after he sent 30,000 Chinese email addresses to a U.S.-based pro-democracy newsletter known as "VIP Reference." Another Chinese dissident, physicist Wang Youcai, also has been detained on charges related to an email protest. He will face trial December 17.
"The Internet is becoming an increasingly important tool for human rights activists, and the events in China over the last few weeks make that plain," said EFF president Barry Steinhardt. "It's important that human rights principles be applied to communications on the Internet, particularly the principles of free expression, which are spelled out in article 19 of the declaration, as well as the rights of privacy and freedom of association. Since the Internet is an inherently global medium, it's essential that international human rights principles govern and limit what governments can do to limit speech or supress privacy."...........
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news.com
China human rights site hacked
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
October 28, 1998, 10:55 a.m. PT
Shortly after it was unveiled, a new official Chinese Web site dedicated to promoting Beijing's view of human rights has been defaced by computer hackers.
Launched by the Chinese Society for Human Rights, the site was replaced late Monday by a hacked version that included links to China critics such as Amnesty International.
"Boycott China," the altered site read, followed by a political broadside from a hacker identified as "Bronc Buster."
"I simply cannot believe the total bullshit propaganda on this Web site," the hacker wrote. "China's people have no rights at all, never mind human rights. I really can't believe our government deals with them. They censor, murder, torture, maim, and do everything we [thought] left the earth with the middle ages."
The original site, launched by a government-controlled organization that represents China in its rights dialogue with other countries, featured government documents in Chinese and English, articles from the state-run media, legislation, and lectures from a recent symposium on human rights in Beijing.
The Web site, announced by the China Daily Monday, marked one of Beijing's first forays into the world of cyberpolitics, usually seen as a threat to the country's Communist leadership.
Chinese authorities routinely block access to the sites of scores of foreign and Hong Kong-based human rights groups, as well as those advocating Tibetan autonomy, Taiwan independence, or representing political dissidents.
China's cybercops use a firewall to filter out sites that criticize Chinese policies or that document human rights abuses by the Communist government.
China faces criticism from mainly Western nations for its intolerance of political dissent. Beijing counters that feeding its more than 1 billion people should take priority over political freedom.
From the bully pulpit of China's own Web site, however, the hacker "Bronc Buster" hit out at Beijing's leaders.
"The Chinese Communist government is made out of a gang of 100-plus year-old thugs and bullies who hide in seclusion," the hacker wrote. "This pitiful effort to try to change the hearts and minds of the world is a joke."
AntiOnline, a site that monitors the activities of hackers, said Bronc Buster was a member of a hack group known as "Legions of the Underground" (LoU), which has been responsible for several other high-profile hack attacks, including one of Time Warner's cable system.
In a final swipe, Bronc Buster wrote that it took less than two minutes to access and alter the Chinese site.
"Your security is a total joke," the hacker wrote. "Don't play with fire when you know you are going to get burned."
A spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco had no immediate comment on the hack attack today, saying any official reaction would have to come from Beijing.
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China's Net regulations begin
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
December 30, 1997, 7:25 a.m. PT
BEIJING--China clamped sweeping new controls on the Internet today, warning that the network was being used to leak state secrets and to spread "harmful information."
Regulations unveiled by Zhu Entao, assistant minister for public security, cover a wide range of crimes, including leaking state secrets, political subversion, and spreading pornography and violence.
The rules are also designed to protect against computer hacking, viruses, and other computer-related crime.
They call for unspecified "criminal punishments" and fines of up to $1,800 for Internet providers and users who violate the rules--both individuals and business organizations.
One article says the Internet must not be used to "split the country," a clear reference to separatist movements in Tibet and the Muslim region of Xinjiang.
Another on "defaming government agencies" appears designed to combat use of the Internet by dissidents. A number of Chinese political exiles have home pages that they use to attack the Beijing government.
The regulations explicitly cover information circulating from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule this year and Portuguese-run Macau will be handed back in 1999. China regards Nationalist-ruled Taiwan as a rebel province.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted Zhu as telling a news conference yesterday that Internet links since 1994 had boosted China's cultural and scientific exchanges with the world.
"But the connection has also brought about some security problems, including manufacturing and publicizing harmful information, as well as leaking state secrets through the Internet," it said.
The regulations, contained in 25 articles, were approved by the State Council, or cabinet, on December 11 and took effect today.
They go beyond earlier provisional regulations first promulgated in February 1996 and revised in May 1997, which also ban pornography and warn against leaking state secrets.
Chinese authorities have made attempts to censor pornography, politics, and Western news organizations on the Internet. But with scores of providers, Chinese surfers have been able to find almost anything they want.
It was not immediately clear whether Beijing would devote more resources to policing the Internet now that new regulations were in place.
Xinhua, citing figures from the Internet Information Center of China showing more than 49,000 host computers and 250,000 personal, said the regulations would "safeguard national security and social stability."
Computer networks are now indispensable as tools for managing state affairs, economic construction, defense, and science and technology, it said. They are a pillar of social development.
"Hence, the safe and effective management of computer information networks is a prerequisite for the smooth implementation of the country's modernization drive," it said. |
