Weibo Traffic Temporarily Redirected To Freedom Software 39
jjp9999 writes "Weibo, China's replacement for Twitter and Facebook, went offline for about two hours on Jan. 20, when a DNS attack switched its IP address to overseas VPN software used to circumvent censorship. On Jan. 21, the brief IP switch was the most discussed topic on Weibo, with one user, ITHome, saying posting 'What IP is 65.49.2.178? It's sure to go down in history.' The IP address is one of those used by Freegate, which is free software released by Chinese dissidents in the U.S. intended to help Chinese people break through the Great Firewall. However, Bill Xia, president of Dynamic Internet Technology, which makes Freegate, said he and his team of volunteers thought their networks were under attack when they got a surge of traffic with about 100,000 users a second hitting their IP address. Xia said they are still trying to analyze the incident, but he assumes it was a slip-up [on the part of] the Chinese authorities in charge of censoring content. 'Our guess is they messed up again,' he said. 'This doesn't make sense for them, so I assume it was a mistake in their operation.'"
How do you like them apples? (Score:2)
'Our guess is they messed up again,' he said. 'This doesn't make sense for them, so I assume it was a mistake in their operation.'
Oooooh! That's exactly the kind of excuse/veiled accusation the Chinese government would make. Brilliant! I love it.
Re: (Score:2)
An "accident"? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
I would imagine that their most popular social network and a high-profile freedom-enabling tool are part of a high-priority subset of the internet filtering operation's targets. They would be configured by a more trusted group than the rest of the rest of the sites they control. Having them in the same subset would make it all the more likely that a DNS configuration mistake would involve both.
It does seem more likely that it's deliberate, though.
Last day on job.chines new year. (Score:1)
Maybe some chinese guy had his last day on the job, have a long newyear holiday , and Start a new job after the new year holiday.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
The Chinese new year isn't until the 31st.
Re: (Score:2)
Auggh crap please completely disregard my comment. My apologies.
define "weibo" (Score:2)
Weibo is the Chinese word for "microblog". It refers to mini-blogging services in China ... Weibo uses a format similar to its American counterpart Twitter
i'm so glad it's clearly defined in the summary so that i dont have to look it up.
this is why we cant have nice things.
Re:define "weibo" (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Do any of those sites have actually meaningful names in Chinese, or are they just syllables like Hulu etc.?
"first syllable acronyms' (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, it's probably one of the most popular sites on the Internet (100 million messages each day). Some of these sites are good to know about -- like Baidu, QQ, Taobao, Sina Weibo, Weixin, etc. While you and your friends may not use them, they practically define the Internet for hundreds of millions of people.
The same can be said for processors, programming languages, pop culture icons/events or video games. there are billions of ARM based devices and yet few have even heard of an ARM processor. people all around the world use magnetrons on a daily basis and yet few people even know the very name of them or even where they are. there is no reason anyone should have to know about the existence of any of these because they will never need to.
it's all about relevance.
Re: (Score:2)
In China, people don't commonly use eBay, Facebook, or Twitter, and they also rarely use email (even elderly people would typically use QQ instead).
No shit. that's because they're blocked (well not ebay)
I love the firewall (Score:2)
The great firewall of china is brilliant -- it blocks facebook and twitter, but lets slashdot through.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Kinda like the editors (Score:2)
but he assumes it was a slip-up the Chinese authorities in charge of censoring content
They accidentally the whole thing?
Re: (Score:2)
LOL Engrish. Nice one!
Chinese did it (Score:1)
Also Wyoming (Score:2)
Looks like a screwup, not intentional.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/blog... [nytimes.com]
The Slashdot Anti-China Hate Train Rolls On (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)