I agree that the petition itself is controversial. The proposal is unlikely to be realized. Gathering a lot of signatures will help bring attention to the problem though. I would encourage people to sign it for that reason.
Martin Johnson Founder https://GreatFire.org - Monitoring Online Censorship In China. https://FreeWeibo.com - Uncensored, Anonymous Sina Weibo Search. https://Unblock.cn.com - We Can Unblock Your Website In China. On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 5:00 PM, Jacob Appelbaum <ja...@appelbaum.net>wrote: > x z: > > This is a great piece Martin! Thanks for the thorough analysis, > explanation > > and documentation. > > > > I have two comments: > > > > 1. It is a bit sad that the petition "People who help internet > censorship, > > builders of Great Firewall in China for example, should be denied entry > to > > the U.S.< > https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/people-who-help-internet-censorship-builders-great-firewall-china-example-should-be-denied-entry-us/5bzJkjCL > > > > " only got 9,024 signatures after 6 days. Yes, the petition is merely > > symbolic, but it *is* symbolic. I do hope significantly more people can > > sign it, otherwise, the GFW operators and Chinese authority can laugh > their > > way home, "see, so few people care!". I hope activists on this mailing > list > > can help spreading the word, 26 days remaining. > > > I think that reducing a worker's travel rights is a rather strange > tactic. It smacks of injustice. Borders as they exist today didn't exist > in such a way around one hundred years ago, do we really like that? Is > it such a good idea to promote a culture of control simply because in > the short term "we" somehow benefit from it? I think the answer is no > but I admit, I have a real big chip on my shoulder about harassment in > US customs. > > I would encourage people not to sign such a petition. It is a symbol and > it is a symbol of a control society hell bent on using coercive force of > any kind to produce results. We should be better. > > > > > 2. Even though HTTPS traffic is nontrivial to tackle, GFW has a much > > simpler solution for it. GFW can deteriorate the user experience of HTTPS > > websites, e.g. injecting random resets to HTTPS connections. People can > > still use the site, but it becomes slow and unstable, gradually more and > > more will switch away to use domestic replacement. It is a slow process, > > but can be a successful one. > > > > Indeed - we are seeing this exact strategy in many places in the world > right now. > > All the best, > Jacob > > > Cheers, > > > > Tom > > > > 2013/1/29 Martin Johnson <greatf...@greatfire.org> > > > >> At around 8pm, on January 26, reports appeared on Weibo and Twitter that > >> users in China trying to access GitHub.com were getting warning messages > >> about invalid SSL certificates. The evidence, listed further down in > this > >> post, indicates that this was caused by a man-in-the-middle attack. Full > >> post at > https://en.greatfire.org/blog/2013/jan/china-github-and-man-middle > >> > >> One interesting conclusion is that support for HTTP Strict Transport > >> Security in Chrome and Firefox makes a real difference. If > >> man-in-the-middle attacks become more common in China, preventing users > >> from adding exceptions and making the warning messages informative is > >> crucial. We need to find ways to convince users to use browsers that > >> support these safety measures. Currently, around 50% of Internet users > in > >> China use either the 360 so-called Safety Browser (which is a very > ironic > >> name) or Internet Explorer 6 (yes, it lives on in China). > >> > >> Martin Johnson > >> Founder > >> https://GreatFire.org - Monitoring Online Censorship In China. > >> https://FreeWeibo.com - Uncensored, Anonymous Sina Weibo Search. > >> https://Unblock.cn.com - We Can Unblock Your Website In China. > >> > >> -- > >> Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: > >> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: > https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech > > > > -- > Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: > https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech >
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