A self-styled whistle-blower has claimed to have proof that the coronavirus was made in a Chinese government laboratory, but scientists say there is no evidence this is true Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2254662-scientists-dismiss-new-claims-that-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-lab/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: Chinese government
China Would Rather See TikTok US Close Than a Forced Sale
Beijing opposes a forced sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations by its Chinese owner ByteDance, and would prefer to see the short video app shut down in the United States, Reuters reported Friday, citing three people with direct knowledge of the matter. From a report: ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok’s U.S. business to potential buyers including Microsoft and Oracle…
TikTok, US Discuss Ways To Avoid Sale
TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, is discussing with the U.S. government possible arrangements that would allow the popular video-sharing app to avoid a full sale of its U.S. operations, WSJ reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. From a report: Discussions around such an option, under way for months, have assumed increased urgency since the Chinese government took steps that make…
Texas A&M Professor Accused of Secretly Collaborating With China Amid NASA Work
CNBC reports:
A Texas A&M professor was charged with conspiracy, making false statements and wire fraud on allegations that he was secretly collaborating with the Chinese government while conducting research for NASA, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday… “Once again, we have witnessed the criminal consequences that can arise from undisclosed participation in the Chinese government’s talent program,” Assistant Attorney General…
How WeChat Censored the Coronavirus Pandemic
In China, the messaging platform blocked thousands of keywords related to the virus, a new report reveals. From a report: When the novel coronavirus was first discovered in China last winter, the country responded aggressively, placing tens of millions of people into strict lockdown. As Covid-19 spread from Wuhan to the rest of the world, the Chinese government was just as…
Kids May Be Using Laptops Made With Forced Labor This Fall
The ongoing persecution by the Chinese government of Uyghur Muslims is far from a distant problem. Recent reporting has identified Uyghur forced labor in the supply chain of major global brands, including BMW, Ralph Lauren, Samsung, and Sony. From a report: Now, as school districts scramble to obtain electronic devices for a school year that may be primarily virtual, some children…
Text Editor Notepad++ Banned In China After ‘Stand With Hong Kong’ Update
The website of Notepad++ is banned in China as of Monday, “obviously due to” its release of editions named “Free Uyghur” and “Stand with Hong Kong,” the source code and text editor announced on Twitter. TechCrunch reports: First released in 2003 by France-based developer Don Ho, free-to-use Notepad++ operates on Windows and supports some 90 languages. In his release notices for…
TikTok Tracked User Data Using Tactic Banned By Google
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MarketWatch: TikTok skirted a privacy safeguard in Google’s Android operating system to collect unique identifiers from millions of mobile devices, data that allows the app to track users online without allowing them to opt out, a Wall Street Journal analysis has found. The tactic, which experts in mobile-phone security said was concealed through an…
Richard Stallman Discusses Privacy Risks of Bitcoin, Suggests ‘Something Much Better’
Richard Stallman gave a new interview to the site Cointelegraph, which asked him his feelings about cryptocurrencies. “I’m not against them,” Stallman answers “I’m not campaigning to eliminate them, I just don’t particularly want to use them.” Cointelegraph then asks Stallman how he feels about tests underway for the Chinese government’s own central bank digital currency: Richard Stallman: “Digital payment systems…
China Is Now Blocking All Encrypted HTTPS Traffic That Uses TLS 1.3 and ESNI
China’s Great Firewall “is now blocking HTTPS connections set up via the new TLS 1.3 encryption protocol and which use ESNI (Encrypted Server Name Indication),” reports ZDNet: The block has been in place for more than a week, according to a joint report authored by three organizations tracking Chinese censorship — iYouPort, the University of Maryland, and the Great Firewall Report….