The Economist - USA (2021-11-13)

48 China The Economist November 13th 2021

also reinstallallofthetoolstheyusetocar­

ry out attacks.Thiscreatesanincentiveto

use addressesrepeatedly,whichfacilitates

the work of cyber­detectives.

Under  militaryoversight,China’scyb­

er­attacks oftenseemedhaphazard.Hack­

ers were givenlistsoftargetsatthebegin­

ning of each month,butthereappearedto

be  little  supervisionorco­ordinationof

their  efforts.The msshasintegratedthe

process  more closelywith otherintelli­

gence­gatheringoperations,saysMrRead.

One  team  might grab atarget’s mobile­

phone  data  froma telecomsfirm, then

hand the informationtoa differentgroup

that would useit toinfiltratethedevice.

ComputerexpertsatChineseuniversi­

ties have longco­operatedwithcyber­theft

operations conductedbythearmyandthe

mss. Such  peoplehavebeenobvioustar­

gets  for  recruitment by China’s intelli­

gence agenciesasin­housetalent.Nowthe

government is expanding the potential

supply  of  hackersbycreatinga vastnew

teaching  andresearchfacilityinthecen­

tral city of Wuhan,saysDakotaCaryofthe

Centre for SecurityandEmergingTechnol­

ogies  at  GeorgetownUniversityinWash­

ington.  The  40­square­kilometrecampus,

called  the  NationalCybersecurityCentre,

is  under  thedirectionoftheCommunist

Party’s  Cyberspace Affairs Commission,

led  by  Mr  Xi.Thecentrewillproduceits

first graduates—1,300ofthem—nextyear.

Growing numbersofpeopleareneeded

to  sift  throughthehugevolumesofdata

that are stolenbythehackers.MrBrazilof

BluePath  Labsreckonsthereareprobably

several  hundredthousandanalystswork­

ing on this already.“Theeconomyandmil­

itary have greatlybenefitedfromtechnolo­

gy  theft,”  he  says.“Whystopjustbecause

those foreignersarefeelingaggrieved?”

America’sFederalBureauofInvestiga­

tion has beensteppingupitseffortstocurb

the espionage.OnNovember5thanmssof­

ficer  was  convictedinOhioofconspiring

to steal jet­enginetechnologyfromGener­

al  Electric,  anAmericanconglomerate.In

July two mssspieslivinginChinawerefor­

mally  accusedofhacking intohigh­tech

businesses  around the world over the

course  of  manyyears, most recentlyto

steal  pharmaceuticaldata related to co­

vid­19 vaccinesandtreatments.

Companies that worry about China’s

hacking oftenusea privatecyber­security

firm  to  monitortheirnetworksforsubtle

patterns indicatinganattack,andtrytocut

it  off  before  itgoestoofar.Encryptingas

much data aspossiblehelpsthemtomin­

imise their losses.Butitisextremelyhard

to fend off allcyber­spying.If China’shack­

ers really wanttobreakintoa network,are

willing to workslowlyandareabletooper­

ate stealthily,theywilloftensucceed.The

entreaties  of Western governments will

not deter them.n

DissentinHongKong

New kids on the

cell block

S

omenewinmatesinHongKong’spri­

sonshavereadingwishliststhatreflect

interests beyond suchcommon behind­

barstopicsasself­improvementandhow

toexerciseinsmallspaces.Theirrequests

includedystopiannovelsabouttotalitar­

ianism,suchasGeorgeOrwell’s“1984”and

“BraveNewWorld”byAldousHuxley,or

booksaboutstrugglesagainstauthoritar­

ian rule, including Vaclav Havel’s “The

PowerofthePowerless”and“HowToFeed

A Dictator”byWitoldSzablowski.

Suchbookwormsbelongtoa newbreed

ofprisoner:thedissident.Beforethepro­

democracy demonstrations that roiled

HongKongformuchof2019,fewpeople

wereincarceratedfortakingpartinpoliti­

calprotests.Buttheauthoritieshavegot

tougher. More than10,000 people have

beenarrestedinconnectionwiththeun­

rest.Courtproceedingshavebegunagainst

a quarter of them. The government is

buildinga megacourttoprocessa backlog

ofcases,includingsomeinvolvingana­

tional­securitylaw thatwasimposed in

HongKonglastyear.Hundredsofpeople

arenowservingprisonsentencesorbeing

heldonremandforallegedoffencesrelat­

ed to theprotests. ManyHong Kongers

knowsomeoneinjailwhohasbeenac­

cusedofsuchcrimes.

Conditionsarebetterthaninthemain­

land’sjails,wherepoliticalprisonersare

allowedlittle,ifany,contactwiththeout­

side world and are often treated brutally. In

Hong  Kong,  volunteers  collect  books  and

organise  letter­writing  campaigns  for  de­

tainees.  Online  guides  provide  advice  to

correspondents  about  what  not  to  write:

avoid  slogans  from  the  protests  and  any

references  to  violence  or  sexually  explicit

material. Instead, write about trivial news,

tell  jokes,  describe  movie  plots  and  draw

sketches,  suggests  one  manual.  A  book­

seller recently ran an eight­part workshop.

Participants  wrote  letters  to  inmates  and

read prison literature by Nelson Mandela,

Havel and activists from Hong Kong. Josh­

ua  Wong  (pictured,  entering  prison),  one

of the best­known faces of the pro­democ­

racy  movement,  has  written  that  he  is

grateful  for  “every  word  and  every  sen­

tence” mailed to him. 

Sympathy  for  political  detainees  is

widespread  in  Hong  Kong.  During  a  heat­

wave in May, a petition for the provision of

cold  water  and  more  showers  to  those  in­

carcerated  garnered  over  140,000  signa­

tures.  A  cottage  industry  has  emerged  to

help them in other ways. Some Hong Kong­

ers transcribe popular YouTube videos for

inmates,  who  cannot  access  the  internet.

Other pen­pals copy and paste posts from

lihkg,  an  online  forum  that  attracts  de­

mocracy  enthusiasts,  in  order  to  create  a

physical  newspaper  for  inmates.  “As  an

avid user of lihkg, these forum­post print­

outs are my Bible,” says a detainee quoted

by a prisoner­rights group.

Well­known  pro­democracy  inmates

pass the time by exercising, writing letters,

helping fellow inmates with their appeals

and  publishing  articles  in  local  newspa­

pers.  Chow  Hang  Tung,  a  jailed  barrister

and  human­rights  activist,  accepted  her

boyfriend’s  proposal  of  marriage,  which

was  sent  to  her  by  letter.  It  was  later  pub­

lished  in  Ming Pao,  one  of  Hong  Kong’s

leading  newspapers.  These  young  Hong

Kongers  are  “learning  to  seek  freedom  in

an environment where they have lost their

freedom”,  writes  Chan  Kin­man,  an  aca­

demic who served 16 months in jail for his

role in the Umbrella Movement of 2014. 

Imprisoned  activists  are  scattered

throughout the city’s jails to prevent them

from communicating with each other. But

officials  still  worry  about  their  influence.

In  September  an  elite  squad  was  used  to

quell  a  protest  by  18  prisoners  angered  at

the treatment of other inmates, including

Tiffany  Yuen,  a  district  councillor  who  is

on  remand  under  the  national­security

law. They had been accused of acquiring a

prohibited number of chocolates and hair

clips. Bizarrely, officials feared they might

give them to other inmates to win support

for  Ms  Yuen.  “This  is  how  groups  begin,

like  terrorist  groups  recruiting  followers,”

said  Woo  Ying­ming,  the  head  of Hong

Kong’s prisons. Even behind bars, officials

keep Ms Yuen’s type under close watch.n

The city’s jails are filling up with

political prisoners

Joshua Wong, with more time to read