Surveillance-savvy Hong Kong protesters go digitally dark

guest · Sep 11, 2019

The new battle in Hong Kong isn’t on the streets: it’s in the apps
Activists are using Airdrop, livestreams, and innovative maps to keep their protest alive. But the authorities have plenty of tech of their own
September 10, 2019
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...ong-kong-isnt-on-the-streets-its-in-the-apps/

Information, streamed
So when protests broke out in June over plans to implement a controversial extradition law—which would see Hong Kongers accused of crimes turned over to mainland China’s notoriously opaque justice system—it was natural that many people turned to online services for more information and guidance.

Everything from supplies of food and water to press conferences are put together in the chat app Telegram, for example.
Online polls often dictate the location of the next traffic-disrupting flash mob.
Real time
Several teams of volunteers have started constructing and sharing live maps to help those on the ground during demonstrations.
All of this is put together by on-the-ground volunteers who draw the information out on a blank map on their iPads, and send it to an “integrator” who compares the data with news from live streams [...]
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guest · Sep 17, 2019

mood said: ↑

TikTok’s parent company appears to be censoring the Hong Kong protests
August 14, 2019
https://qz.com/1686840/bytedances-toutiao-search-and-tiktok-may-censor-hong-kong-protests/
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China Appears to Be Censoring Hong Kong Protests From TikTok
September 16, 2019
https://futurism.com/china-hong-kong-censoring-protests-tiktok

Pull out Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook and search for the Hong Kong protests. You’ll likely see videos of hundreds of thousands of umbrella-sheathed marchers filling through the streets of the Chinese cit [...]
Make the same search on the widely-popular video sharing app TikTok, though, and you won’t know there’s a protest at all. According to The Washington Post, that’s almost certainly a “politically convenient reality” created by TikTok owner ByteDance on behalf of the Chinese government — a terrifying example of how social media can be manipulated as a form of social control.

ByteDance declined to speak with the Post about its “purported independence from censors in Beijing.” Instead, it released a statement claiming the app is “a place for entertainment, not politics,” and that the app’s audience gravitates toward more “positive and joyful content.”
That’s a dubious claim. The app is arguably one of China’s “most successful social-media exports,” currently installed on a staggering 1.3 billion phones around the world, and the content shared through its bite-sized videos goes way beyond singing tweens and latte art.
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guest · Sep 21, 2019

Hong Kong protesters personal data leaked by Russian website
September 20, 2019
https://www.dw.com/en/hong-kong-protesters-personal-data-leaked-by-russian-website/a-50515519

Amid continuing tensions between pro-democracy protesters and the government in Hong Kong, a website named "HK Leaks" has been collecting and leaking confidential personal information of pro-democracy protesters, activists, journalists and politicians in recent days.
The site designates profiles to one of the three main categories, and shows their headshots, date of birth, telephone numbers, social media accounts residential address and "nasty behaviors."

According to the site, refusing to pay MTR ticket fares, participating in protests and peaceful strikes, sharing information about the anti-extradition bill movement and even covering protests as a journalist are all considered nasty behaviors. The website calls on the public to share information about the people who are "messing up Hong Kong," as part of its tagline reads.
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guest · Sep 27, 2019

Research outs poorly constructed disinfo campaign aimed at Hong Kong protests
September 26, 2019
https://www.cyberscoop.com/hong-kong-disinfo-campaign-graphika/

Hackers that appear to be acting in the interest of China’s government have been hijacking and using fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to push narratives denigrating the Hong Kong protests, according to research from Graphika.

Named “Spamouflage Dragon,” the people behind the campaign attempted to avoid detection algorithms by posting a small amount of political content interspersed with higher volumes of spam, such as cats, TikTok videos, pictures of landscapes, or sports. Twitter and Facebook accounts in the spam network have also been interspersing political posting with inspirational quotes, food, and travel.
Much of the messages have been critical of Hong Kong protesters while applauding Hong Kong police, according to Graphika.
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guest · Oct 3, 2019

mood said: ↑

Real-time maps warn Hong Kong protesters of water cannons and riot police
September 4, 2019
https://qz.com/1700205/real-time-maps-warn-hong-kong-protesters-of-poliec/
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Apple rejected an app in Hong Kong that helped protesters track police activity
October 3, 2019
https://www.businessinsider.de/apple-banned-hong-kong-app-for-tracking-protests-2019-10

Apple has rejected an app designed to help people in Hong Kong navigate protests and police activity, according to the app's creator.

The app, HKMap Live, displays a crowdsourced map of the local area with alerts about protester activity and logos marking the location of police vehicles.
On Wednesday, a Twitter account for HKMap Live announced that Apple had rejected its application to appear on the App Store, the only way for iPhone users to download the app.
The tweet caused outrage, and various outlets subsequently reported that Apple had "banned" the app. But on Thursday HKMap Live clarified that its app had never been available on the App Store to begin with.

"Clarification!!! We are never on the App Store, they rejected it during the review process. The process is resumed after recent appeal!" the developer wrote.
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guest · Oct 5, 2019

Apple reverses ban on HKmap.live app tracking Hong Kong protests & police
October 4, 2019
https://boingboing.net/2019/10/04/hkmap-live-hong-kong.html

A bit of good news for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and the app developers trying to help them not get injured or killed by police.

Apple has reportedly reversed its decision to ban the app HKmap.live, which allows users to track protests and police activity in Hong Kong. The earlier move to ban the app was seen by many as acquiescence to China's foreign policy, over the urgent needs of Apple users.
Mark Gurman at Bloomberg News reports on today's decision by Apple to restore HKMapLive to the App Store:
HKMapLive says they're still not live yet in the store, however...
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guest · Oct 9, 2019

China criticizes Apple for app that tracks Hong Kong police
October 9, 2019
https://apnews.com/5072bbc7b7894d63892997e2313b88fb

Apple became the latest company targeted for Chinese pressure over protests in Hong Kong when the ruling Communist Party’s main newspaper criticized the tech giant Wednesday for a smartphone app that allows activists to report police movements.
HKmap.live, designed by an outside supplier and available on Apple Inc.’s online store, “facilitates illegal behavior,” People’s Daily said in a commentary.

The newspaper warned Apple might be damaging its reputation with Chinese consumers.
“This recklessness will cause much trouble for Apple,” People’s Daily said. “Apple needs to think deeply.”
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hawki · Oct 10, 2019

mood said: ↑

China criticizes Apple for app that tracks Hong Kong police
October 9, 2019
https://apnews.com/5072bbc7b7894d63892997e2313b88fb
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"Apple pulls app used to track Hong Kong police movement

Apple Inc. has removed an app from its App Store that Hong Kong protesters used to track police movements.

In a statement Wednesday, Apple said the HKmap.live app had been taken down because it was endangering police and residents in Hong Kong, and violated its terms of service. The previous day, China's state-owned People's Daily Online newspaper harshly criticized Apple for allowing the app..."

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a...-police-movement-2019-10-09?mod=mw_latestnews

hawki · Nov 13, 2019

"Hong Kongers recreate protests with homemade virtual video game

A group of Hong Kong activists have developed a homemade computer game that uses virtual reality to recreate what it is like to take part in pro-democracy protests sweeping the financial hub.

Put together in less than a week, “Liberate Hong Kong” allows gamers to don a VR headset and dodge tear gas and rubber bullets during a nighttime clash in the district of Mongkok, a regular scene of battles between police and protesters in the real world...

The developers said they decided to create the game after local eSports player Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung was punished by Blizzard Entertainment for shouting a pro-democracy slogan during a live-streamed interview following a competition win..."

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/hong-kongers-recreate-protests-with-homemade-virtual-video-game/

guest · Dec 4, 2019

The Great Cannon DDoS Tool Used Against Hong Kong Protestors’ Forum
December 4, 2019
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...tool-used-against-hong-kong-protestors-forum/

The Great Cannon Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) tool was deployed again to launch attacks against the LIHKG social media platform used by Hong Kong protesters to coordinate during this year's anti-extradition protests.

Citizen Lab describes the Great Cannon as "not simply an extension of the Great Firewall, but a distinct attack tool that hijacks traffic to (or presumably from) individual IP addresses, and can arbitrarily replace unencrypted content as a man-in-the-middle."
The LIHKG Hong Kong-based website targeted with this DDoS siege device is used as a platform for various other purposes besides organizing the leaderless protests and it was compared to Reddit in media reports.

"It is unlikely these sites will be seriously impacted. Partly due to LIHKG sitting behind an anti-DDoS service, and partly due to some bugs in the malicious Javascript code," Doman added.
"Still, it is disturbing to see an attack tool with the potential power of the Great Cannon used more regularly, and again causing collateral damage to US-based services."
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guest · Jan 12, 2020

Death of privacy: Dash CMO slams Hong Kong’s phone seizures
January 11, 2020
https://decrypt.co/16458/death-of-privacy-dash-cmo-slams-hong-kongs-phone-seizures

The Secretary for Security of the city of Hong Kong police, Charles Lee, announced this week that the city’s police have seized over 3,700 phones from protestors, Business Insider reported.

Speaking in front of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, Lee said, “Under Hong Kong law, law enforcement agencies have the responsibility to prevent and detect crime to protect citizens' lives and property.”
He said that 3,721 phones have been seized by police from June to November 2019. The police conducted “digital forensic examinations,” said Lee, declining how these forensic examinations operated.

Fernando Gutierrez, CMO of the privacy coin Dash, told Decrypt, “We understand the need for authorities to fight crime, but not by renouncing privacy. Authorities are not always right or trustworthy, so the authorities-know-better approach is not acceptable.
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guest · Jan 15, 2020

Google removes WhatsGap from app store
January 16, 2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-removes-whatsgap-from-app-store/

Search engine giant Google has removed popular Hong Kong pro-democracy mapping app WhatsGap from its app store.
WhatsGap is an app used to identify retailers that are in support of Hong Kong's democracy.

Google told ZDNet the removal of WhatsGap was sparked by "sensitive content" that was being published on the app.

"We have a long-standing policy prohibiting apps that lack reasonable sensitivity towards or capitalise on serious ongoing conflicts or tragedies," a Google spokesperson told ZDNet.
But unlike Apple, which pulled HKmap.live from its app store last October, WhatsGap can be reinstalled on Android.

Google now joins Apple, Blizzard, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) -- all of which have bowed down to growing pressure from China.
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guest · Aug 27, 2020

hawki said: ↑

"Hong Kong Protestors Using Mesh Messaging App China Can't Block: Usage Up 3685%

How do you communicate when the government censors the internet? With a peer-to-peer mesh broadcasting network that doesn't use the internet.
Bridgefy downloads are up almost 4,000% over the past 60 days,..." [...]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnko...-china-cant-block-usage-up-3685/#366ff11e135a
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Bridgefy, A Messaging App Hyped As Great For Protesters, Is A Security Mess
August 27, 2020
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...ed-as-great-protesters-is-security-mess.shtml

Over the last year Bridgefy, a messaging app developed by Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, has been heavily promoted as just perfect for those trying to stand up to oppressive, authoritarian governments.

The problem: the app is a security and privacy mess, and the company has known since April, yet it's still marketing the app as great for protesters.
A new research study, first spotted by Ars Technica, found that the app suffers from numerous vulnerabilities that could actually put protesters at risk: [...]
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More specifically, the researchers reverse engineered the app and found they could create attacks allowing them to decrypt and read direct messages, "de-anonymize" users, impersonate users, track a target's movement, subject users to man in the middle attacks making it possible to change message content, and even shut down the network: [...]

Much of the problems stem from the fact that Bridgefy provides no means of cryptographic authentication, instead relying on a userID transmitted in plaintext.
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guest · Nov 2, 2020

Bridgefy launches end-to-end encrypted messaging for the app used during protests and disasters
November 2, 2020
https://news.yahoo.com/bridgefy-launches-end-end-encrypted-165715714.html

Offline-messaging app Bridgefy — which innovatively uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi — became known as the go-to app by thousands of protesters around the world to keep communications going even when oppressive regimes blocked or shut down the internet.
Recently, activists in Nigeria and Thailand have urged supporters to download the app, as last year, when protesters in Hong Kong downloaded Bridgefy to face the government’s censorship of phone services or data connections.

Bridgefy is now publishing a major new update, with a new, crucial feature for activists: end-to-end encrypted messages. This will allow people to securely send and receive messages when they don’t have access to data and will use the same encryption protocol used by Signal, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
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Press Release – Major Security Updates at Bridgefy!

he scenarios we’d originally envisioned didn’t call for high-end security; although we had big dreams, we never thought Bridgefy would turn into “the protest app of choice” of hundreds of thousands of people. As the Bridgefy App grew in popularity and in use cases, the obvious next step for us was to adapt. Working on improving the app’s security and privacy was something that our users called for, and we’re happy with the results.
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