[liberationtech] Kindle leaps Great Firewall

[Rebecca MacKinnon]

From a China-focused list-serv I'm on. This article comes from the South China Morning Post which requires a paid subscription to access its content.

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> Kindle hot property as it leaps Great Firewall
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> Adrian Wan
> Updated on Nov 01, 2010
> Amazon's Kindle e-reader is not officially for sale on the mainland but it is being snapped up like hot cakes on internet auction sites and other underground sales outlets.
> Why? Because it easily circumvents the mainland's internet censoring system, dubbed the Great Firewall of China. Owners are extolling the ability of its internet browsing function to access officially blocked sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
> The 3G model uses GSM, or global system mobile communication technology, with Wi-fi coverage in more than 100 countries, including China.
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> Kindles are a rare sight on the mainland because, as the Seattle-based e-commerce giant says on its website, it is currently unable to ship the devices or offer content there. But some people have found ways to sell them on the grey market. A search for Kindle returns hundreds of results on the popular auction website Taobao - the Chinese equivalent of eBay.
> A seller in Beijing said he ordered more than 30 to be shipped to an address outside the mainland and then had them carried in a few at a time. He has sold 300 in the past month. Several Chinese bloggers are recommending the Kindle, touting its ability to "scale the wall automatically".
> Some Net users are accustomed to using proxy servers to circumvent the mainland restriction, but the Kindle makes this unnecessary.
> "I still can't believe it. I casually tried getting to Twitter, and what a surprise I got there," a mainland blogger said. "And then I quickly tried Facebook, and it perfectly presented itself. Am I dreaming? No, I pinched myself and it hurt."
> Professor Lawrence Yeung Kwan, of the University of Hong Kong's electrical and electronic engineering department, said mainland internet patrols might have overlooked such access, adding it was possible the central government was more lenient with foreigners' internet freedom than with mainlanders.
> Kindle uses its own network, called Amazon Whispernet, to provide wireless coverage via AT&T's 3G data network in the US and partner networks in the rest of the world.
> A 3G wireless coverage map on Amazon's website includes numerous Chinese cities, suggesting its 3G link involves a Chinese carrier.
> Amazon and its mainland partner network might have agreed to transfer the connection to Amazon's station, presumably in the US, once the mainland gatekeeper sees the signal comes from a Kindle, Yeung said.
> The signal, which may be encrypted, then returns to the partner network in China so the internet patrols cannot see what is accessed.
> "Every Kindle device is pre-registered to a personal account, so every user's information is clear. In addition, Kindle has a book-buying focus, so the censors may think these connections are relatively safe," he said.
> The access ability applies only to the Kindle's 3G model, not the one with Wi-fi, which relies on the local connection only. Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.
> It was not a matter of an inability to track the connections via Kindle, Yeung said. "Even SMS are filtered on the mainland. They are more than capable of blocking this, too."
> Amazon does not sell Kindles to mainland customers. A search for Kindle yields no result on its Chinese website, amazon.cn.
> During Google's tussle with Beijing over censorship earlier this year, the biggest US firms with operations on the mainland were asked by Senator Dick Durbin to explain their "future plans for protecting human rights, including freedom of expression and privacy, in China".
> Amazon replied in a letter without spelling out policies on privacy and censorship. It reads in part: "Amazon has long been committed to protecting the privacy of customers. We know customers care how information about them is used and shared, and we appreciate their trust that we will do so carefully. We are committed to free expression ... In addition, Amazon has long been a leading proponent of maintaining the fundamental openness of the internet."
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> Copyright © 2010 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All right reserved

Rebecca MacKinnon
Schwartz Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
Co-founder, GlobalVoicesOnline.org
Cell: +1-617-939-3493
E-mail: rebecca.mackinnon at gmail.com
Blog: http://RConversation.blogs.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rmack


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