Asia Chats: Update on Line, KakaoTalk, and FireChat in China

In this post we report updates on how LINE, KakaoTalk, OneDrive and Flickr are being disrupted in China. We find that Flickr and OneDrive remain consistently blocked, but LINE and KakaoTalk show inconsistent fluctuation between accessibility and inaccessibility. We also analyze security and privacy of FireChat and test accessibility of the service in China.

Philipp Winter is the 2014 Citizen Lab Google Policy Fellow

Citizen Lab has selected Philipp Winter as its 2014 Google Policy Fellow. Philipp is a PhD Student at Karlstad University conducting research about censorship-resistant communication. This is the sixth year Citizen Lab has participated in the program.

Asia Chats: LINE and KakaoTalk Disruptions in China

In this post we examine how the Great Firewall of China is implementing DNS tampering and HTTP request filtering on KakaoTalk and LINE domains, which is disrupting service of the applications as a result. We find that Flickr and OneDrive are also blocked through DNS tampering. We also analyze recent changes to the LINE keyword filtering list.

Information Controls during Thailand’s 2014 Coup

The May 2014 coup d’etat in Thailand was the 19th coup attempt in the country’s history. It stands out from previous coups due to the military junta’s focus on information controls. In this report we document the results of network measurements to determine how the Internet is currently being filtered in Thailand and discuss other forms of information control implemented in the coup’s aftermath.

Workshop on Internet blocking at 2014 IGF

Robert Guerra, Senior Advisor to the Citizen Lab, in collaboration with Paul Vixie and ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) will be organizing a workshop at the 2014 United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) that will be held September 2-5, 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey.

7iber website blocked for second time

The Jordanian Media Commission has blocked access to 7iber.org from within the country. It was removed via the Press and Publication Law, which requires all media commentary on the “Kingdom’s internal or external affairs” to be approved by licensing from the Jordanian Media Commission.

Christopher Parsons and the Canadian telecommunications landscape – June 2014

Post-doctoral Fellow Christopher Parsons spoke with a variety of media organizations over the past month about his research and pressing events that have taken place in the Canadian telecommunications landscape. He generally discussed lawful access to telecommunications data, the release of transparency reports by Canadian Internet service providers, and the unveiling of an access to personal information tool.