A friend just hacked through the government firewall from within China

[DaveinJapan]

and then bragged about it on his Facebook update!

The guy is a computer wiz, he lives in Japan but works for a Chinese company. I fear he's quite naive, though.

I already noted on his update "I think you should delete this comment", but my question for the many folks on here who are politically savvy about the workings of the Chinese government is...am I just being a bit silly or is this really a pretty dangerous game for him to be playing? I read that recently some Japanese folks were arrested in China for taking pictures of "forbidden" areas (whether trumped up or not, I have no idea), and it seems to me that they are often on the lookout for computer related shenanigans from inside their country.

Obviously, I don't want to send him email or anything on the remote possibility that I could inadvertently exacerbate the situation, but if it seems appropriate I'll talk to him about the danger (if any??) when he gets back to Japan next week. He travels to China pretty frequently.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

[CreekDog]

1. I sure hope none of his friends post what he did in a public place

why, think of what could happen?

:D

[DaveinJapan]

2. I actually did think about that...

But I have over 500 facebook friends and we don't communicate that often...I don't think it would be easy to make the connection (certainly harder than, say, look at his facebook page lol).

[siligut]

3. They are rigid, I wouldn't do it if I were him.

I was just there and while the people are casual, the military is everywhere and they aren't kidding around. Controlling information is very important for control of the people. He is playing with fire.

[DireStrike]

4. Why would he do something so stupid?

If he's smart enough to get around the firewall, he should be smart enough not to do something like that.

Unless it's actually really easy to get around the firewall...

[Scuba]

8. Ah hah !! You've got it !!

[Warpy]

5. You're not being at all silly

because eventually they'll find the hack and he'll be out of a job, at the very least.

Chinese people used to hack through the blockade every once in a while and show up on IRC, mostly to practice their English or other languages, but it was a pretty rare event. Westerners I know who teach school there have had no trouble accessing the web, though. They only protect their own citizens from the international community.

[gateley]

6. If I were you I'd go to his house and knock on his door - I hope he deleted it

and maybe you should delete your post here.

Always assume they (all sorts of "theys'" are reading everything you post.

Oh! He's in China now. Hopefully he heeded your advice and you'll see him next week. Have a talk with him to ip-zay the ip-lay.

[DaveinJapan]

7. Yup...he's in China at the moment, I'm in Japan.

I won't be communicating with him electronically til he gets back, just to be safe.

He didn't seem to heed my warning about deleting his own comment though, instead he made a crack about having to stay off DANGEROUS websites like facebook and twitter.

Yikes.

[Mimosa]

9. He should keep his success to himself!!!!

Doing what he did and making it known may be DANGEROUS to his health. :(

[applegrove]

10. I wouldn't dare piss off the chinese in that way. He could end up in jail big time.

I worked in a restaurant with Tibetans and they said the current Chinese government was very crafty. What makes your friend think he won't get caught?

[walldude]

11. Is his Facebook page legit? With his real name?

Did he really do this? And what government firewall is it? What is it blocking? Is it some crappy office firewall or is he talking something that controls like the national power grid? If he compromised some really secure system he could be in deep fucking shit. Imagine what we would do to someone who compromised a secure government system, then imagine what a Communist country would do to the same person....

[DaveinJapan]

14. I dunno the details, but

I would assume it's the same firewall that prevents Chinese citizens from googling up Tibet or whatever.

He said it was blocking Facebook and Twitter fwiw.

Then again, maybe it is just a crappy office firewall. I'll ask him when I see him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. You are correct

Hell I got to play games with the Iranian hackers during the Green Revolution. I ended up going into dynamic IP and all. I had nothing to fear FROM MY government.

And I got their lovely attentions for posting a few things in favor of it.

Yes inside Iran they used IP adresses to find those who did.

[mkultra]

13. my thoughts are that its bullshit

you don't hack through a firewall unless your in a movie and there isn't just one "government firewall"


Sounds like script kiddie bullshit bragging to me.

[DaveinJapan]

15. Well, he did write it on Facebook (which was his point to begin with). nt

[Rex]

16. And you are posting about it giving the bad decision even more exposure.

Not so sure that was a good idea either.

[mkultra]

17. im sure it wouldnt be hard to go through an anonymous forward

now, if he gained access to one of the Chinese routers and pushed his way through, then that's something special.

[DaveinJapan]

18. Like I said, I don't know the details. I do know he knows computers very well. nt

[eShirl]

19. The phrase "Too clever by half" comes to mind.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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