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The high-tech war on Tibetan communication
Each year, March 10th in Tibet brings more police onto the streets, closer online censorship of terms like "Free Tibet" and "Dalai Lama" and a spate of cyberattacks. "Every March 10th, almost all major Tibetan organizations in Dharamsala are targeted with Distributed Denial of Service and other cyber attacks," said Tenzin Dalha, a researcher at the Tibet Policy Institute, part of the Central Tibetan Administration. Four years ago, that happened to the Voice of Tibet (VOT), a nonprofit media outlet run out of the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, bringing its website down for several days. The reason for the crackdown is that the date commemorates March 10th, 1959. On that day, rumors spread in the Tibetan capital Lhasa about the impending arrest of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, by the Chinese, who had invaded the territory in 1950. Tibetans rallied to support their spiritual leader and the mass protests led to a violent crackdown. The Dalai Lama and his entourage escaped to India, where he and the Tibetan government-in-exile remain. When VOT started in 1996, it was one of the few channels of communication between Tibetans and their government-in-exile across the border, as all newspapers, television and other print materials were heavily censored. Using shortwave radio, it transmitted its news service across the border into Chinese-occupied Tibet, both in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese.
Hackers used Google Drive to attack Tibetans
Tibetans and pro-democracy activists in China are often the victims of cyberattacks, but a public campaign to educate people against blindly opening email attachments has been a big success. Unfortunately, as Motherboard reports, this has had the knock-on effect of forcing hackers into being a lot smarter with their subterfuge. Since would-be victims are now wary of opening attachments, nefarious types are now using Google Drive as a trojan horse with which to breach targeted systems.
OS X malware used to spy on pro-Tibetan charities, reminds us all to keep updated
Pro-Tibetan organizations that use Macs have discovered that their data has been accessed thanks to malware-based siphoning more commonly associated with Windows machines. Security expert Jamie Blasco revealed that two separate backdoor trojans can breach OS X if infected Word documents (yes, we know) or emails are opened. However, those who regularly keep up with security updates shouldn't be too concerned: both holes were patched before the end of last year, although that's scant relief for those whose privacy has already been infringed.[Thanks, Charles]
China blocks iTunes access, Tibet album suspected
The government of China has blocked access to the entirety of the iTunes store, and the publishers of a single new Tibet-themed album are claiming responsibility. The album, Songs for Tibet [iTunes link], is a compilation of music by Sting, Alanis Morissette, Garbage and others, plus a 15-minute lecture by the Dalai Lama. The album is being released by the New York City-based Art of Peace Foundation, whose spokesman Michael Wohl said he believed the album was responsible for the outage, but couldn't prove it. Wohl said the foundation issued a press release claiming 40 Olympic athletes downloaded the album as a display of solidarity, which he suspects triggered the shutdown. Apple acknowledged that they are "aware of the log-on problems," but wouldn't say how many customers were affected nor comment further. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates Internet use in China, did not comment either. [Via the Associated Press.]
Olympic Battlefields: Four worlds, four dreams
"It is a matter of life and death, a road to game over or to win!"Ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which kicks off tomorrow in Beijing, homebrew developer Anti-Social Gaming has put out a polemic game titled Olympic Battlefields.Unlike Mario and Sonic's Olympic outing, however, you won't jump into any traditional events to win the gold for their respective franchises. Rather, you'll pick from one of four countries to represent their tacit agendas and "fight terrorism."For instance, if you choose the Tibetans, you'll be tasked with dragging Chinese people out of your country before they "turn militant." If you decide to side with China, you'll need to tap the "revolting Tibetans" and turn them into farmers, otherwise "they'll suicide bomb." Also, for some reason, the Chinese farmers and terrorist Tibetans look like Raiden and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.If that isn't controversial enough, you have the option of playing as Israelis or Palestinians, too. On the Palestinian side, you'll be charged with converting Jews to Islam by dragging them off the map. If you play as the Israelis, you will have to tap and convert Hamas terrorists into Jews. Again, if you don't neutralize them in time, they blow up!Looks like RanAway and In the Afternoon Sunshine have some serious competition now when it comes to the most offensive homebrew DS game.%Gallery-29236%[Via DCEmu]
