Big Brother Overload: China & USA

China: Wi-Fi monitoring system in Beijing cafes and bars

According to Mingpao Daily, Beijing Police has issued a notice to all the cafes and bars which provide Wi-Fi access to their customers to install a RMB20,000 monitoring system. Upon installation, users have to register their ID in the counter before logging in the Wi-Fi network.
The notice was issued by the Beijing police around end of June, 2011 to cafe, bookstore, and bar which provide free Wi-Fi access to their customers. If they reject, they will no longer be allowed to provide free Wi-Fi service.

The system is called “non profit network security auditing system”, the installation fee varies from RMB 2 - 40,000 dollars. The system can monitor 100 customers at the same time and their browsing record would be kept in the system for 60 days. The “notice” states that for those which reject to install the system, they would be subject to a RMB15,000 fine. The police can also suspend their business license.

It is believed that the system would be adopted in other cities upon testing in Beijing. The Beijing East City District police told reporters that the system is to help the police to crack down criminal offense. However, Internet users find the monitoring system a violation of user privacy.

Words of Caution at New York Post

News Corp.'s legal department on Friday issued a notice to New York Post staff asking them to save any information related to phone hacking and bribery of government officials, as the company faces ongoing scrutiny in a reporting-tactics scandal stemming from its News of the World U.K. tabloid.

New York Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan told staff in a memo the measure was being taken in light of allegations of phone hacking and bribing of government officials by the News of the World, which News Corp. closed this month, "not because any recipient has done anything improper or unlawful."

The notice comes after a government official said last week the U.S. Justice Department was preparing subpoenas as part of early-stage investigations into the allegations related to foreign bribery and the hacking of voicemail of Sept. 11 victims.. MORE

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