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CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA SITES ARE ADDING HIDDEN WATERMARKS TO SCREENSHOTS. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK.
Sharing screenshots of delicate content material in China has simply turn out to be extra dangerous.
Extra Chinese language social media providers are placing hidden watermarks on screenshots that make the pictures traceable irrespective of the place they’re shared, a function that an analyst stated may forestall the unfold of censored content material.
Some Chinese language web customers not too long ago found the covert watermarks on screenshots taken on Zhihu, a question-and-answer web site just like Quora. By tweaking the colours of the screenshots, the customers discovered strings of numbers plastered throughout the web page. Some suspect it’s info that could possibly be used to determine who took the screenshots.
It follows the instance of Douban, a web based discussion board that launched an identical function in February. The platform permits directors of message teams to choose in to the function, which embeds delicate watermarks in screenshots that include info of who took the screenshot and its origin, ostensibly to forestall customers from lifting others’ content material.
However Eric Liu, an analyst monitoring Chinese language censorship for the U.S.-based China Digital Instances, stated Chinese language social media corporations are utilizing such methods, known as steganography, to hint delicate content material to their supply and block accounts that share the knowledge on banned international platforms.
“It’s a technique to cease censored content material from spreading,” Liu instructed VICE World Information. “If censored content material goes viral on social media past the firewall, it will put immense strain on home platforms.”
Zhihu didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Digital watermarking has for years been used for functions resembling copyright safety and video authentication, and will come within the type of hidden messages or imperceptibly altered pixels. As early as 1997, Playboy thought of placing digital marks on its images to trace pirated copies on the web.
Many workplace printers additionally put monitoring codes, invisible to the bare eye, on printed paperwork that affiliate them with the printer’s serial quantity. That is how the U.S. Nationwide Safety Company in 2017 recognized a contractor who leaked labeled paperwork to The Intercept, which posted images of the paperwork on-line.
The introduction of hidden watermarks comes as China additional tightens its management over the web and squelches on-line dissent. China has strictly required all web customers to register with their actual names since 2017. Many social media platforms, that are tasked with censorship, require customers to confirm their identities with biometric options resembling facial recognition.
Whereas most international social media websites, together with Twitter and Fb, are blocked by China’s firewall, authorities have sought to trace down residents that criticize the Chinese language authorities on these platforms. At the least 2,300 residents in China have been punished and even sentenced to jail for his or her on-line remarks, together with tweets, in response to a crowd-sourced database.
Extra not too long ago, Beijing was outraged by an rising on-line marketing campaign to take screenshots on Chinese language social media and translate them that highlights rising nationalism within the nation on Twitter and Reddit.
State shops have accused the marketing campaign, dubbed the Nice Translation Motion, of smearing the nation by cherry selecting probably the most excessive sentiments. Some customers recommended the hidden watermarks are launched to catch the volunteer translators.
Zhihu’s function, which was first famous by customers on Sunday, seems to have been rolled again by Tuesday.
However many Zhihu customers weren’t relieved. “The area for dialogue inside the home web has by no means been this dire, a slight offense may get your publish deleted, your account suspended and lead to a visit to the police station,” one consumer wrote in a thread discussing the brand new function. “It’s why extra refugees are gathering on international platforms, the place they will communicate comparatively freely. However this makes those that wish to impose management uncomfortable.”
“I assume different home platforms would quickly comply with swimsuit,” they added.
Observe Rachel Cheung on Twitter and Instagram.
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