Chinese websites adding Invisible Watermarks for national security? A spine-chilling method to stop netizens from taking screenshots and force down the Great Translation Movement
On 06 Sept 2022, a Hong Kong netizen, Ben, posted about a few big websites in Shenzhen and Hebei, including Douban and Zhihu, have implemented the “Invisible Watermark” function. This means that when a netizen makes a screen capture of the websites, the image will automatically record their information such as account logins and geographic location as a watermark that is invisible to the user. The information hidden in the “Invisible Watermark” can only be read using the specialized software for frequency domain filtering. This indicates that if a Chinese netizen took screenshots secretly and send to others for the Great Translation Movement, it will be very easy for the Chinese government to find out who took the screenshots and take actions for criminal accusation.
Ben also mentioned that the technology was used to protect copyrights, but it was not common a decade ago. “Now the Mainland China is using the Invisible Watermarks all over the internet, it is for national security needs and also to suppress dissent, of course they won’t mind using traps.” Ben said that there are still some ways to check if an image has an invisible watermark on it to not, which a Chinese netizen, Liang, who claims to be a CTO has also demonstrated ways to check invisible watermarks on Twitter. Ben mentioned “Bilibili, Weibo, WeChat and TikTok are catching up (with Douban and Zhihu), and soon it will become an unspoken rule for operation. He is also worried that “It’s not difficult to deepen the technology”, and in long term, “The deterrent force of being caught due to the privacy leak through screenshot images will inevitably heat up.”
Some netizens discussed this “Invisible Watermark incident” on Twitter and social platforms. It is mentioned that sharing screenshots or even taking photos of the screenshots will be dangerous for mainland netizens in the future, and the government is not keeping this a secret to create a chilling effect.
Source: Winandmac #Sep06
#Chinese #Website #Watermark
https://www.winandmac.com/2022/09/ccp-new-way-to-restrict-freedom-of-speech/
On 06 Sept 2022, a Hong Kong netizen, Ben, posted about a few big websites in Shenzhen and Hebei, including Douban and Zhihu, have implemented the “Invisible Watermark” function. This means that when a netizen makes a screen capture of the websites, the image will automatically record their information such as account logins and geographic location as a watermark that is invisible to the user. The information hidden in the “Invisible Watermark” can only be read using the specialized software for frequency domain filtering. This indicates that if a Chinese netizen took screenshots secretly and send to others for the Great Translation Movement, it will be very easy for the Chinese government to find out who took the screenshots and take actions for criminal accusation.
Ben also mentioned that the technology was used to protect copyrights, but it was not common a decade ago. “Now the Mainland China is using the Invisible Watermarks all over the internet, it is for national security needs and also to suppress dissent, of course they won’t mind using traps.” Ben said that there are still some ways to check if an image has an invisible watermark on it to not, which a Chinese netizen, Liang, who claims to be a CTO has also demonstrated ways to check invisible watermarks on Twitter. Ben mentioned “Bilibili, Weibo, WeChat and TikTok are catching up (with Douban and Zhihu), and soon it will become an unspoken rule for operation. He is also worried that “It’s not difficult to deepen the technology”, and in long term, “The deterrent force of being caught due to the privacy leak through screenshot images will inevitably heat up.”
Some netizens discussed this “Invisible Watermark incident” on Twitter and social platforms. It is mentioned that sharing screenshots or even taking photos of the screenshots will be dangerous for mainland netizens in the future, and the government is not keeping this a secret to create a chilling effect.
Source: Winandmac #Sep06
#Chinese #Website #Watermark
https://www.winandmac.com/2022/09/ccp-new-way-to-restrict-freedom-of-speech/
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大陸網站為國安加入「盲水印」？ 恐怖方式阻止網民截圖變大翻譯運動、進一步打壓 - winandmac.com 視麥媒體
香港有網民Ben今日撰寫文章，提到深圳河北各大網絡平台包括豆瓣和知乎﹐都已加入所謂的「盲水印」。這表示網民截圖的時候，圖片上會以水印方式留有本身的登錄資料、地理資料，但用家肉眼睇唔到，所以俗稱「盲水印」。要翻查有關資料，只可通過專用軟件解讀頻域訊息frequency domain filtering。這表示大陸網民偷偷cap圖，俾外國做大翻譯運動等情況的話，就可以很容易追查到，並找出「內鬼」拘捕相關網民。 Ben在文章也提到，這種技術原本是用來保護版權的，但當年會用的情況很少。「現在大陸大規模投放在盲水…