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Communist Youth League to Recruit 10 million Volunteers for Cyber Civilization

The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (CYL), the Chinese Communist Party’s youth organization, issued a directive in February of this year, requiring its nationwide subordinate organizations to recruit 10.5 million "young volunteers for cyber civilization" by the end of June. The date of the issuance was February 13, 2015. The title was, "The notice of the Communist Youth League about establishing teams of young volunteers for cyber civilization on a large scale, and advancing the operations of young volunteers for cyber civilization."
The document was issued to all CYL committees in provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, CYL committees at national railway and civil aviation authorities, organs under the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, CYL’s working committees at central government agencies, and large state-owned enterprises.
According to the Notice, these "young volunteers" are in charge of promoting positive energy online, and actively participating in the CYL Central Committee’s "Sunshine posting" operations, as well as pro-actively resisting negative energy in cyberspace. They are required to participate in at least three major activities in 2015.
The 10.5 million volunteers include four million from Chinese colleges and universities. Every higher education institute is required to submit the number of its volunteers. For example, Guangzhou based Sun Yat-sen University is supposed to supply 800; a demand was made that mainland campuses of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Baptist University must provide 800 and 100 each.
Source: BBC Chinese, April 7, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/04/150407_china_youth_internet
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BBC Chinese: Google Rejected CNNIC Issued Web Certificates

BBC Chinese recently reported that Google announced on April 1 that it will no longer trust the certificates that the CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) issues. The decision means that Google’s popular web browser Chrome will no longer recognize the web sites that carry CNNIC certificates, which are meant to provide proof that the site can be trusted. Chrome will instead issue a security warning to the users and recommend that they not open the web page. CNNIC then issued a statement calling Google’s move, “difficult to understand and accept.” Google officially explained that the decision was based on the fact that CNNIC allowed the Egyptian company, MCS Holdings, to issue unauthorized certificates for a number of Google domains (in short, a domain is an identifier for a computer on the network). This left users and websites vulnerable for hackers to conduct “man-in-the-middle” attacks (the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communication between two parties who believe they are directly communicating with each other). After learning of Google’s announcement, both Microsoft and Mozilla also revoked CNNIC certificates. Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla are the top three browsers in the world. 
Source: BBC Chinese, April 2, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/04/150402_china_google_internet
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CRN: No One Should Use the Internet to Interfere with Other Countries’ Internal Affairs

China Review News (CRN) reported, on March 30, 2015, about a high ranking official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who spoke at the 2015 Asian Boao Forum. The official was asked, “How have the Internet’s developments impacted the China-U.S. relationship?” In response, the official advised that all nations should cooperate in the world of the Internet and obey the UN Charter. At the same time, no one should seek to start Internet wars or to interfere with other countries’ internal affairs. He also suggested that the Internet needs a common set of rules that all nations should follow. In 2011, China and Russia submitted a draft for an international proposal; they refined that draft this year. The proposal called for the same sovereignty on the Internet as defined by the United Nations, for people’s basic Internet rights, and for a global framework for Internet governance.
Source: China Review News, March 30, 2015
http://bj.crntt.com/doc/1036/8/7/8/103687898.html?coluid=1&kindid=0&docid=103687898&mdate=0330004915
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China Association for Quality Promotion Published Report on Product and Service Quality

Xinhua reported that the China Association for Quality Promotion published the results of an investigation into the quality of products and services. The investigation revealed that, among the eight industries that have the largest number of quality and credibility concerns, the automobile industry ranked at the top. The eight industries investigated included automotive, electronics, furniture, telecommunications, insurance, water filter, and eyeglasses. A total of 1,662 companies in ten cities and provinces were investigated.

The report showed that the service industry in China is still poorly structured. It lacks the proper measurement and standards for good quality service. For the auto industry alone, the common service issues included fake repair and warranty service records; the use of low quality parts instead of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts; and random labor rate increases. The report also disclosed that fake products are commonly found in shoes, clothing, baby products, and health nutritional personal care items. Other phenomenon that affect the customer’s buying experience include late shipment arrival, lack of trade security guarantees, stolen bank cards, and leaked personal information.

Source: Xinhua, March 29, 2015
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2015-03/29/c_127633229.htm

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Chinese Airports Have the Worst On-Time Departure Records

China Economic Times reported that, according to South China Morning Post, among 61 major airports in the world, all of the seven worst on-time departure performance airports are in China. Hong Qiao and Pudong Airport in Shanghai and Xiaoshan Airport in Hang Zhou are the bottom three on the list with on-time departure rates of 37.17, 37.26 and 37.74 percent respectively. Other airports that have the worst records include Baoan Airport in Shen Zhen, Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, Chongqing Airport, and Beijing Capital International Airport. China Economic Times quoted comments from an aviation expert who stated that China is behind in airport management where airport networks are centralized in small regions. Since most airlines routes are between Beijing, Shanghai, and the Guangzhou region, any minor error in one area will affect the airline performances in other regions.

Source: China Economic Times, March 22, 2015
http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/201503/22/t20150322_4894111.shtml

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Apple Accepted China’s Comprehensive Safety Inspection

According to Chinese media, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, agreed to a request that China’s State Internet Information Office (SIIO) made that Apple’s phone, tablets, and laptop be subject to security inspections. Although Apple’s products are manufactured in China, Apple hardware and software designs are from the United States. The Chinese government fears that Chinese citizens will be subjected to secret surveillance because of the use of Apple products.
The media reported that Lu Wei, the director of SIIO, told Tim Cook that China is one of Apple’s biggest markets, but Apple’s agreement to allow Chinese security checks matters for China’s national security. China has long raised questions on safety issues related to Apple products. Chinese media reported last July that Apple’s iPhone poses a threat to national security because it can record the user’s location. China’s state media have also criticized Apple, charging the company with providing users’ data to U.S. spy agencies. Chinese media have called for severe sanctions against Apple.
In addition, in the past several weeks, Google’s services in China have been subjected to interference and the Chinese government procurement authorities have prohibited government agencies from using computers that have the Microsoft Windows 8 operating system.
Source: BBC Chinese, January 23, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/01/150123_apple_china_security
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BBC Chinese: China Blocks VPN and Proxy Providers

On January 23, BBC Chinese reported that the Chinese government has recently been blocking more and more VPN (Virtual Private Network) and Proxy service providers. [Editor’s note: VPN and Proxy servers are the primary technology channels used to bypass the government controlled Internet firewalls, such as the Chinese “Great Firewall.”] Multiple commercial VPN/Proxy service companies are reporting failures on overseas servers located in the United States and Australia. Some regular companies’ communications with foreign partners or even with their parent companies located outside China have been seriously impacted, especially small and medium sized companies. Large international companies are not heavily impacted since they typically build their own VPN infrastructure. Some Chinese officials, who would like to remain anonymous, confirmed that the government recently “upgraded” the Great Firewall to defend its “Internet sovereignty.” Not long ago, Google Mail was blocked in China as well – now the connection is largely restored. 
Source: BBC Chinese, January 23, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/01/150123_china_vpn_block
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Real Name Registration to be Implemented for Chinese Microblogging

China’s State Internet Information Office (SIIO) held a press conference on January 13, 2015, announcing that the office will comprehensively promote the management of real identities of Internet users. The principle will be "real name registration at the back end, voluntary registration at front end." Microblogging sites such as weibo (微博) and tieba (贴吧) are all subject to enforcement.
SIIO also announced the closure of 24 websites, 9 channels (columns), and 17 microblogging accounts, with charges that they faked government agencies or the media to publish false information and/or release illegal information involving gambling and fraud. In fact, rumors about real name registration on the Internet have been circulating for a long time. In 2014, SIIO issued "Interim Provisions on the Management of Instant Communication Tools and Public Information Services. The Provisions demanded that service providers of instant communication tools follow the principle of "real name back end and voluntary front end registration," requiring users to register their accounts after verification of their real identity information. At that time, microblogging was not subject to the regulation as it belongs to social networking media and is not one of the instant communication tools. However, some Internet service providers, such as Sina Weibo (新浪微博), have tried to implement real name registration for Internet users.
Source: China News Service, January 14, 2015
http://finance.chinanews.com/it/2015/01-14/6965736.shtml
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