Internet traps for users

[Детективное агентство ИКС-Инфо.]

But this is not an amateur opinion ...

Why freedom fighters need to be wary of a worldwide network
Julia Savchenko

Just under two billion people worldwide have access to the Internet. According to Internews, the main device used to access the Internet today is smartphones, which have left traditional computers far behind.
At the same time, few users think about how vulnerable they themselves and their social networks (friends, colleagues who communicate through the Internet) become for any kind of external intervention. The "dark" sides of the Internet were discussed the day before in Washington at the Helsinki Commission of the American Congress. “We need to carefully monitor how the authorities of undemocratic regimes adapt to the conditions when the Internet has become part of our reality, and how they use the Internet for their own purposes,” says Robert Gierra, director of the Internet freedom project at Freedom House .
The expert cites the example of an increasingly frequent occurrence of cooperation between authorities and private companies that develop technologies for various kinds of surveillance of users. The New York City-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists identifies a number of technologies through which governments around the world are trying to curb the global network. Experts note that in most cases this is done quite successfully.
Blacklists, viruses, and fake Google
So, in Iran, the “favorite” technology of the authorities is blocking the Internet. Local ISPs are instructed to create blacklists of websites and block certain words used by search engines. In early 2011, according to the Committee, it was determined that the Iranian government began to use technologies that establish the presence and block “anti-censorship” Internet programs known as Tor. A distinctive feature of Internet politics in Burma is, according to experts, attacks on Internet sites created abroad by Burmese journalists in exile. Chinese authorities like to use virus programs. Viruses in letters are sent to members of NGOs, activists and journalists. The letters, as a rule, contain reliable information that can be used by journalists for professional purposes, however, at the same time that the letter is opened on computers, a secret program is launched, which subsequently allows authorities to monitor correspondence, gain access to confidential information and even use an infected computer to attack other goals. In Tunisia, before the revolution there, a government agency on the Internet developed technologies with which users from search engines were redirected to fake Google, Yahoo, and Facebook pages. From there, the government stole user logins and passwords in order to have access to and manipulate information sent by journalists and activists. Another way of total control over Internet communications is the state monopolization of telecommunication companies providing Internet access, as well as leased and mobile telephone lines. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists notes that Ethiopia is the “champion” in this matter, and other non-democratic countries are eager to learn from it.
Internet Police
Rebecca McKinnon, who represents the New America Foundation, emphasized during the hearing that democracies have a widespread belief that blocking international sites is the main mechanism by which repressive regimes fight the spread of information on the Internet. McKinnon emphasizes that this is just “one dimension of Internet attacks.” According to the expert, the authorities of different countries have perfectly mastered the Internet regulation technique, in which private Internet providers, upon the submission of government officials, themselves begin to act as “Internet policemen”. McKinnon colleague Kathleen Rin of Internews stresses that “Internet-related private sector behavior greatly enhances user vulnerability.” In this situation, experts have no answer to the question of how to return the Internet a good name. Within the walls of the American Congress, however, an appeal was made to all who care about the future of people for whom the World Wide Web has become a way of informational survival.
“We need a global movement of people who advocate for the protection of the Internet from all kinds of interference. After all, there is a movement of ecologists advocating for a clean environment. Now is the time to create a movement for those who advocate a clean Internet, ”Rebecca McKinnon emphasizes.

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

Thank.