(1/) I didn't want to augment her msg but I see some observers failed to see the obvious. Short thread.
She's mobilzing a massive crowd to have an interest on #Taiwan, and providing a path to fulfill their aggresions by using Baidu Map as a crowdsourced data platform (for now).
She's mobilzing a massive crowd to have an interest on #Taiwan, and providing a path to fulfill their aggresions by using Baidu Map as a crowdsourced data platform (for now).
(2/) Data uploaded by users, in this case, mostly POI (point of interests) and images of TW, are not useable for map data production. That's why we should see this as a novel campaign abt rapid mobilization on a another different dimension—yes, "civilian actions" engaged.
(3/) Internet traffic generated by this type of campaign might be confined within the "Chinese internet" as you can see that it has crashed their own site several times already, but you are not sure when [...]
(4/) ... the PRC organs would temporarily lift restriction on GFW for targeted websites, which could genuinely create an effect similar to a DDoS attack. For example, a million visitors suddenly advised to visit your site within an hour, and stay there for a few more hours.
(5/) This type of crowd mobilization on the internet is not new, but PRC's mil-civ fusioned society make it easier to launch an effective (though ugly) attack w/o any upfront cost. This is what we call "unconventional warfare" if you might.
(6/) While this is not damaging to TW's security for the moment at all now, but you've already seen plenty of govt and academic sites hacked and defaced easily in the last few days. Network engineers are seeing unusual amount of traffic every night, and [...]
(7/) [...] we have not envisioned potential harms that could emerge from this seemingly fanatic and internal rallying. There will be more and I'm sure. Watch this space w/ cautions and imaginations and try to think like a PRC official. [end]
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
