A series of corporate leaks show that Chinese technology companies function far more like their Western peers than one might imagine. A trove of internal documents leaked from a little-known Chinese company has pulled back the curtain on how digital censorship tools are being marketed and exported globally. Geedge Networks sells what amounts to a commercialized "Great Firewall" to at least four countries, including Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Myanmar. The groundbreaking leak shows in granular detail the capabilities this company has to monitor, intercept, and hack internet traffic. Researchers who examined the files described it as "digital authoritarianism as a service."

Geedge Networks, a company with ties to the founder of China's mass censorship infrastructure, is selling its censorship and surveillance systems to at least four other countries in Asia and Africa. A leak of more than 100,000 documents shows that a little-known Chinese company has been quietly selling censorship systems seemingly modeled on the Great Firewall to governments around the world. Geedge Networks, a company founded in 2018 that counts the "father" of China's massive censorship infrastructure as one of its investors, styles itself as a network-monitoring provider, offering business-grade cybersecurity tools to "gain comprehensive visibility and minimize security risks" for its customers, the documents show. In fact, researchers found that it has been operating a sophisticated system that allows users to monitor online information, block certain websites and VPN tools, and spy on specific individuals. Researchers who reviewed the leaked material found that the company is able to package advanced surveillance capabilities into what amounts to a commercialized version of the Great Firewall--a wholesale solution with both hardware that can be installed in any telecom data center and software operated by local government officers.

If you ask a historian what happened on June 4, 1989, you will learn that this was the date that hundreds of protesters were killed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. However, if you ask China's controversial ChatGPT rival, DeepSeek, you are unlikely to get any response at all. During testing, MailOnline watched in real-time as answers to sensitive questions were scrubbed and replaced with evasive replies. On topics censored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the bot briefly attempts to respond before wiping away its own answers in front of the user's eyes. DeepSeek actively censors topics related to protests such as the White Paper Movement and Hong Kong's pro-democratic Umbrella Movement.

VPN adoption has seen steady growth over the past decade due to increased public awareness of privacy and surveillance threats. In response, certain governments are attempting to restrict VPN access by identifying connections using "dual use" DPI technology. To investigate the potential for VPN blocking, we develop mechanisms for accurately fingerprinting connections using OpenVPN, the most popular protocol for commercial VPN services. We identify three fingerprints based on protocol features such as byte pattern, packet size, and server response. Playing the role of an attacker who controls the network, we design a two-phase framework that performs passive fingerprinting and active probing in sequence.

Given that China already bans Google, Facebook, Twitter, and a host of foreign news websites (including time.com) In fact, ChatGPT parent company OpenAI's decision not to launch in China--Chinese and even Hong Kong phone numbers aren't permitted to sign up--appears to preempt that very fact, with the San Francisco-based firm telling Reuters that "conditions in certain countries make it difficult or impossible" to operate. Read More: Why China, Russia's Biggest Backer, Now Says It Wants to Broker Peace in Ukraine Nevertheless, canny Chinese netizens have found numerous workarounds to access the revolutionary service, such as using virtual private networks and an overseas friend's phone number; purchasing logins via online marketplace Taobao; or simply taking advantage of a variety of proxy bots embedded in ubiquitous messaging service WeChat. Chinese social media was so abuzz with ChatGPT content this month that one AI-generated fake government notice rescinding traffic regulations sparked bedlam and a police investigation in the eastern city of Hangzhou. Unsurprisingly, China's government has now stepped in with explicit bans on WeChat hosting proxy ChatGPT services, while a strident frontpage op-ed on the perils of investing in AI-related firms (and cited ChatGPT), which published earlier this month in the state-owed Securities Times newspaper, was linked to a fall in Chinese tech stocks.

President Xi Jinping wants China to dominate artificial intelligence by 2030. But all it seems the Middle Kingdom's new AI entrepreneurs want to talk about ancient history. Take Kai-Fu Lee, for example. The founder of Face was born in Taiwan and emigrated to America when he was eleven. After earning a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon in the 1980s, he worked his way up at Apple, Microsoft, and eventually, Google. In his book AI Superpowers, he likens Chinese entrepreneurs to "gladiators" fighting in a new techwar arena, where it's "kill or be killed."

Dozens of Google employees are speaking out against the company's plan to build a special search engine for China. The employees have joined with Amnesty International, urging Google to cancel the project. The company's plan calls for a search engine that would comply with China's policy of online censorship, often known as the Great Firewall. JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: The Chinese blogger known as Super Vulgar Butcher used to post about the government's abuses of power. His blog became quite popular.

The Google.cn for China website is seen on a computer screen in this photo illustration. Google is reportedly working on a censored version of its search engine to comply with China's government's demands. The Google.cn for China website is seen on a computer screen in this photo illustration. Google is reportedly working on a censored version of its search engine to comply with China's government's demands. Google is testing a mobile version of its search engine that will adhere to the Chinese government's censorship demands, including the blocking of certain websites and search terms, according to multiple reports.

Eight years after their very public falling out, could China and Google be pals once again? Whispers circulating Monday, first reported by The Intercept, suggested that Google would soon launch a Chinese version of its search engine that will kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party by scrubbing various bête noires: not least criticism of its human-rights record, calls for Tibetan independence and the bloodshed around Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. Free speech advocates have condemned the rumors, which have since been confirmed by anonymous Google sources to other media. Amnesty International warned complying with the Great Firewall -- the world's most sophisticated state-censorship apparatus, employing at least 2 million online censors -- would constitute "a gross attack on freedom of information and internet freedom." It would also mean Google would have to block search results in China for currently verboten Western media, such as the New York Times, Bloomberg and, indeed, TIME.

Google is reportedly going to launch a censored version of its search engine in China. The tech giant has been secretly planning to launch the product since last year, as part of a project referred to inside the company as'Dragonfly,' according to The Intercept, which was given internal documents from a whistleblower. It comes as Google has tried and failed to make inroads in the Chinese market over the past several years. Google has been planning to launch the product since last year, as part of a project referred to inside the company as'Dragonfly.' While China is home to the world's largest number of internet users, a 2015 report by US think tank Freedom House found that the country had the most restrictive online use policies of 65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.