Cyberspace & Cyber Security
All the electronic gadgets we use today are connected to the internet. Internet of things connects our
devices to many other devices, so they have our data, which can be accessed by some private companies, then
they can further use that data in a positive or negative way. But what is that space or place where these
immense amounts of digital information is stored?
It's Cyberspace.
Cyberspace is the notional environment in which communication over computer networks occurs. Cyberspace is undergoing a rapid change. Many of the changes are disturbing. The worldwide rise of censorship, surveillance, and even the militarization of cyberspace are early warning signs we need to take seriously.
We take cyberspace for granted. We don't think much beyond the screens in front of us. We simply log in, post on Facebook, write a tweet or send an e-mail and magically it's gone, instantly appearing on someone else's screen or someone else's inbox. We don't even read the terms and conditions of social media and blindly accept them.
For example, the Chinese version of Skype called TOM-Skype In around 2008, researchers heard about the suspicions of content filtering on the Chinese version of Skype, particularly on the chat client. So they set up an experiment in the lab, where they had two computers. On one computer was the Chinese version of Skype and on the other, they had the English version of Skype. In between they put a network monitoring tool called the Wireshark that they use all the time to monitor network traffic, and they started typing banned words.
They'd say: "Would you like to meet at Tiananmen Square?" On the other chat client, it would just say: "Would you like to meet at (blank)?"
They also noticed that whenever one of those banned keywords was being inputted, a connection was being made to an IP address, a server at that location was not password protected. They could look at all the directories on that server. They decrypted one of the directories and saw millions of personal Skype communications that were being surveyed by Skype on behalf of the Chinese government. Everything from credit card transactions to personal exchanges between two people was being vacuumed up and sent to a server in mainland China. This scandalous finding even made it to the business section of the The New York Times. A few years later researchers revisited the experiment and found that not only was the same keyword censorship still going on but also that it had become more refined and sophisticated. Even today Skype claims it gives end to end encryption, but who would believe Skype or any other social media in a world of cyber espionage and sabotage?
Cyberspace is changing rapidly, but in a direction, that's diametrically opposite from what it was meant to be To fully grasp the pivotal issues surrounding cyberspace, global security, and human rights today, researchers point to three major social forces:
1. Changes in communication technology.
2. Role of state in cyberspace.
3. Changing demographics of cyberspace.
The confluence of these three broad developments happening right now has a dramatic impact on human rights, liberal democracy, and freedom.
The core fundamental principles are under threat today. Information is no longer readily available on the internet. Governments arbitrarily cut off the internet or censoring it at their borders. The integrity of information is at questions today.
It's Cyberspace.
Cyberspace is the notional environment in which communication over computer networks occurs. Cyberspace is undergoing a rapid change. Many of the changes are disturbing. The worldwide rise of censorship, surveillance, and even the militarization of cyberspace are early warning signs we need to take seriously.
We take cyberspace for granted. We don't think much beyond the screens in front of us. We simply log in, post on Facebook, write a tweet or send an e-mail and magically it's gone, instantly appearing on someone else's screen or someone else's inbox. We don't even read the terms and conditions of social media and blindly accept them.
For example, the Chinese version of Skype called TOM-Skype In around 2008, researchers heard about the suspicions of content filtering on the Chinese version of Skype, particularly on the chat client. So they set up an experiment in the lab, where they had two computers. On one computer was the Chinese version of Skype and on the other, they had the English version of Skype. In between they put a network monitoring tool called the Wireshark that they use all the time to monitor network traffic, and they started typing banned words.
They'd say: "Would you like to meet at Tiananmen Square?" On the other chat client, it would just say: "Would you like to meet at (blank)?"
They also noticed that whenever one of those banned keywords was being inputted, a connection was being made to an IP address, a server at that location was not password protected. They could look at all the directories on that server. They decrypted one of the directories and saw millions of personal Skype communications that were being surveyed by Skype on behalf of the Chinese government. Everything from credit card transactions to personal exchanges between two people was being vacuumed up and sent to a server in mainland China. This scandalous finding even made it to the business section of the The New York Times. A few years later researchers revisited the experiment and found that not only was the same keyword censorship still going on but also that it had become more refined and sophisticated. Even today Skype claims it gives end to end encryption, but who would believe Skype or any other social media in a world of cyber espionage and sabotage?
Cyberspace is changing rapidly, but in a direction, that's diametrically opposite from what it was meant to be To fully grasp the pivotal issues surrounding cyberspace, global security, and human rights today, researchers point to three major social forces:
1. Changes in communication technology.
2. Role of state in cyberspace.
3. Changing demographics of cyberspace.
The confluence of these three broad developments happening right now has a dramatic impact on human rights, liberal democracy, and freedom.
The core fundamental principles are under threat today. Information is no longer readily available on the internet. Governments arbitrarily cut off the internet or censoring it at their borders. The integrity of information is at questions today.
