📡Guardians of Hong Kong
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We provide translation of news in English from local media and other sources, for academic use.
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#Facebook: #ChineseHackers Attempt to Breach #Uyghurs Communication Devices for #Surveillance

Facebook reported that groups of Chinese hackers tried to set up fake accounts on Facebook in order to get in contact with Uyghurs overseas. After gaining their trust, they send their victims malicious links disguised as Uyghur news sites or online stores, in an attempt to install spyware on their phones for surveillance.

The report on the hacking activities was published on March 24, 2021 in which Facebook did not directly link the incident to the Chinese government, but said that the activity "had the hallmarks of a well-resourced and persistent operation". The hacking groups involved, known in the cybersecurity industry as Earth Empusa and Evil Eye, have also been involved in other surveillance activities in the past.

The hackers mainly target Uyghur human rights activists, journalists, and dissidents from Xinjiang. Most of them currently live in Turkey, Kazakhstan, the United States, Syria, Australia and Canada.

Source: Stand News #Mar25

https://www.thestandnews.com/international/facebook-中國駭客試圖入侵維吾爾族通訊工具進行監視/

#Uyghurs #Cybersecurity #ChineseHackers #MassSurveillance #BigData
China’s surveillance system of ‘social credit’ has expanded globally and is now openly operational in Western Canada.

China’s Orwellian “social credit system” that records the social and financial behaviour of individuals and corporations across China, using a vast surveillance system, has expanded globally, and is now openly operational at the renowned Haidilao hot pot restaurant, in Western Canada.

Ryan Pan, a manager with Haidilao Hot Pot in Vancouver confirmed that over 60 surveillance cameras have been installed in the restaurant at the request of the Haidilao corporation, as part of the social credit system in China. He said that the Vancouver location has 30 tables with two cameras assigned to each table.

When asked specifically why Haidilao required so many cameras to monitor staff and patrons, Ryan Pan said that the cameras were installed to “punish” staff if they didn’t adhere to corporate standards and to “people track”. Pan also said that the video is sent back to China but declined to say why this was, other than to say the reason for this was “secret.”

Source: Sunday Guardians #Apr17

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/chinas-social-credit-program-creeps-canada

#China #Surveillance #SocialCredit #Canada
#Regime
Hong Kong Authority Introduces #SmartPrison with 24-hour #HD Surveillance, Detainee: I Live As an Animal

"Here, it is even worse than the CIC [Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre],"
almost every detainee in Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution in Hong Kong said the same thing.

In 2020, around 30 detainees in #CIC went on a hunger strike, protesting against their unlimited detention time, the facility's poor hygiene, and the inappropriate behavior of the correctional department staff.

The CIC Concern Group, a non-profit human rights group, was thereafter created by a group of social workers, pro-demoncracy activists and volunteers in Hong Kong; however, even them could not believe that there exists a detention centre in Hong Kong that is worse than the CIC.

In June 2021, the Hong Kong authority transferred some of the protesting detainees in the CIC to the Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution.

The newly established facility is the first "Smart Prison" in Hong Kong. This institution is full of HD surveillance cameras. All the detainees are required to wear an electronic bracelet for the authority to monitor their heartbeats and locations.

Those who are detained in the centre are thereoretically not prisoners, as they have only violated the immigration regulation; however, they are being detained in a prison.

To make it worse, the Correctional Service Department (#CSD) has already dispatched twice the Regional Response Team, Panther, within 4 months, to "combat illegal activities". It was found that some detainees have been placed in individual detention for 2 months.

Meanwhile, it was discovered that some correctional department staff have been watching the surveillance canera footage like a voyeur , followed by acts like masturbation and ridiculing the detainees.

A detainee said, "I live as an animal."

The CIC concerned group criticised that the authority has abused the detainees by means of violence, individual detention and privacy infringement.

The group's worst fear is that using the most disadvantaged detainees as guinea pigs is only the first step of the government and that the same operation systen would be appled to all prisons in Hong Kong next.

"The government labelled the CIC detainees as very dangerous to justify the need for an upgrade in military equipment. They can do thr sane thing in any prisons in Hong Kong."

Source: InMediaHK #Sep25
https://bit.ly/3o5PSbS

#Prison #Xinjiang #Surveillance #Dystopia #Panthers #Chinazi #TaiTamGapCorrectionalInstitution
#MassSurveillance
All Government buildings Will Require LeaveHomeSafe Starting November

#LeaveHomeSafe #COVID19 #Surveillance #HomelessPeople #StreetSleepers

Source: Stand News #Oct21

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#MassSurveillance
All Government buildings Will Require LeaveHomeSafe Starting November

The Hong Kong government announced yesterday that all citizens are required to record their visit with LeaveHomeSafe before entering government buildings and offices, such as public libraries, sports centres, museums, etc. It will be strictly enforced starting from November.

The Hospital Authority (HA) and the Police Force said that the new rule covers the HA Headquarters, public hospital administrative buildings, police headquarters, and police stations.

The Society for Community Organization said that many homeless people rely on the drinking water and showering facilities in government sports halls, and sometimes need to visit government offices for various procedures. However, most of them do not have a smartphone or even a mobile phone. As a result, many had expressed anxiety about making LeaveHomeSafe mandatory for these facilities.

When LeaveHomeSafe was first released in November last year, government officials said using it would be voluntary, and only a convenience for one's own visits electronically. However, days afterwards, officials stated on a radio programme that they would not rule out making it compulsory.

Updates: The government has announced that cemeteries, public toilets, public bathhouse and rubbish collection points are exempted.

Editor's note: LeaveHomeSafe is a digital contact tracing app launched by the Hong Kong Government in response to the pandemic, for recording visit history (eg. date, time, and venue). Unlike many countries who made their app open-source and welcomed public scrutiny, Hong Kong's app is proprietary, and its privacy statement acknowledges that user records would be uploaded and stored by the government.

#LeaveHomeSafe #COVID19 #Surveillance #HomelessPeople #StreetSleepers #BigData #Privacy

Source: Stand News #Oct21
https://bit.ly/3ErUfCS

see also: HK Gov't's COVID-tracing App Keeps Visit Records For Up to 7 Years and Shares Data with Enforcement Personnel
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29224
An executive director of an organisation for the blind said, "Mandatorily using the app "LeaveHomeSafe" for government buildings and other areas seems to punish people with disability".

#LeaveHomeSafe #surveillance #GoHKgraphics

[translator note: the Personal Information Collection Statement of "LeaveHomeSafe" paper version cannot be found from government website (https://www.leavehomesafe.gov.hk/en/personal-information-collection-statement/)]
#MadeinChina #Surveillance
Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to
#censorship concerns

Source: Reuters #Sept21;
National Communications Commision of Taiwan #Jan6

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#MadeinChina #Surveillance
Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to #censorship concerns

[Editor's note: The National Communications Commision of #Taiwan has confirmed the same result of Chinese censorship in China-made mobile phones in the findings released on January 6, 2022. Taiwan conducted a similar investigation after Lithuania published their report on September 21, 2021 as below]

#Lithuania's #DefenseMinistry recommended that consumers avoid buying Chinese mobile phones and advised people to throw away the ones they have now after a government report found the devices had built-in censorship capabilities.

Flagship phones sold in Europe by China's smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK)have a built-in ability to detect and censor terms such as "Free Tibet", "Long live Taiwan independence" or "democracy movement", Lithuania's state-run cybersecurity body said on Tuesday.

The capability in Xiaomi's Mi 10T 5G phone software had been turned off for the "European Union region", but can be turned on remotely at any time, the Defence Ministry's National Cyber Security Centre said in the report.

"Our recommendation is to not buy new Chinese phones, and to get rid of those already purchased as fast as reasonably possible," Defence Deputy Minister Margiris Abukevicius told reporters in introducing the report.

Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns.

Read the full article:
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/lithuania-says-throw-away-chinese-phones-due-censorship-concerns-2021-09-21/

#Cybersecurity #Censorship #Xiaomi

Source: Reuters #Sept21;
National Communications Commision of Taiwan #Jan6

The Report of National Communications Commision (#NCC) of Taiwan in Chinese:
https://www.ncc.gov.tw/chinese/news_detail.aspx
#WinterOlympics #Surveillance
Foreign Engineer Said the Official Software for #BeijingWinterOlympic Operates with Background Voice Recorder, Sending to China's Server

#My2022 #JonathanScott

Source: unwire.hk #Feb02

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#WinterOlympics #Surveillance
Foreign Engineer Said the Official Software for #BeijingWinterOlympic Operates with Background Voice Recorder, Sending to China's Server

Some investigators find out by reverse engineering that "My 2022", a smartphone software for Beijing Winter Olympics, has a suspicion of sending users' voice recordings in the background.

The Chinese government requires all athletes, coaches and staff to download the application for health tracing. Users have to input personal details, such as passport information and health declaration form, 14 days before the arrival.

"My 2022" also provides functions for voice call, file transfer, and browsing news reports related Winter Olympics.

Jonathan Scott, one of the investigators, indicated that although "My 2022" operates in the background, the status will change from active to operating, in order to have the permission to monitor, and send all voice recordings to the servers in China.

However, Scott did not explain the principle behind and the app stores also claim "My 2022" not to collect users' data.

Source: unwire.hk #Feb02
https://unwire.hk/2022/02/02/my2022-2/fun-tech/?fbclid=IwAR1KdgufRyBruUzXP9ar1OIjpvDVo4odMgefr3nr1Qdy614fuCDQD-QNVhA

#surveillance #My2022 #JonathanScott
#Surveillance
Portable charger in China Turned into Eavesdropping Device and GPS Locator

Source: RFA #Jul27

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#Surveillance
Portable charger in China Turned into Eavesdropping Device and GPS Locator


In China, a portable charger can become an eavesdropping device and a GPS locator. Acoording to Chinese media, with the installation of SIM card, such portable charger can eavesdrop a long distance away and locate the user accurately.

These devices come in various colours and models, but most have the functionality of "remote monitoring recording" and "precise positioning".

They cost from RMB300 to RMB600 and can be bought on some online platforms.

In China, a journalist from #Banyuetan (#半月談) successfully modifies a portable charger from a store with RMB300. He downloads a "#GPS365" app onto his phone. After logging in with the username and password given by the seller, the screen shows the device location, tracking record, contact list, messages etc.

The journalist puts "location" in trial and finds out that the activity tracking of the user can be seen clearly with the portable charger. Even places like underground and car parks can still be accurately shown on the system.

The staff told the journalist that the charger could record sound from the surroundings and automatically send the recording to the phone once the environment noise exceeds 50dB with "Sound Control Convo (#聲控語聊到)" installed in the app. The portable charger can also pick up phone calls automatically.

Source: RFA #Jul27
https://www.facebook.com/454004001340790/posts

#GPS #SoundControl #Tracking #Taobao #Privacy #Security #PrecisePositioning #MadeinChina
Cyberspace Administration of China: Already Held 30 Large IT Companies' Algorithm Technologies

Source: PC Market #Aug17

#CyberAdministrationofChina #surveillance #NationalSecurity #Webtracking #AlgorithmTechnology

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Cyberspace Administration of China: Already Held 30 Large IT Companies' Algorithm Technologies

Cyber Administration of China (#CAC) indicated on #Aug12 that 30 top IT companies have submitted part of their algorithm details, such as how to collect personal data and how to set up individual recommendation content. 

Companies includes #Tencent, #TikTok under #ByteDance, #MeiTuen, #iFeng, #Weibo, #Youku, #Kuaishou, #Baidu, #Sina, #Xiaomi, #WeChat, and #Tmall and #Taobao under #Alibaba.

#Bloomberg report stated that China can have full grasp of every move done by the citizens on the internet, and even all purchase detail and personal information can be seen clearly via the relevant enterprises and applications.

The CAC passed the regulations on algorithm recommendation in March this year, requiring all enterprises to reveal the algorithm used in every application.

Nominally, they can solve the issue of data misuse and enhance cyber security. But once when the authority obtained algorithm technology, they can take further control over web activity and carry out political propaganda.

They even can take "National Security" as an excuse, to obtain citizens' and companies' information.

Source: PC Market #Aug17
https://www.pcmarket.com.hk/china-netcom-algorithm-technology-of-30-technology-giants-has-been-mastered/?fbclid=IwAR3nrfecOdr8bYlAdIkaE3S783sF8pEprBrq_7Jg46s3lLXzzi1Pv8aSX0k

#CyberAdministrationofChina #surveillance #NationalSecurity #Webtracking #AlgorithmTechnology