Google pic service 'a security threat'

South Korea has expressed concern about a service offered by US internet company Google that shows satellite photos of sensitive facilities in the country, the president's office said on Thursday.

The office said Seoul was in talks with Washington over Google Earth, a map search engine service from the US portal site, which makes available images of South Korea's presidential office and military facilities including air force bases and naval ports.

"As (Google's) satellite photos are beyond our control, we are in discussion with US authorities," presidential spokesman Kim Man-soo said.

He said Google Earth's satellite photos sparked "security concerns."

South Korean newspapers have said the service could pose a great security threat to the country, which is still technically at war with North Korea.

Don't get me wrong. I love nearly everything about Korea and Koreans. I went to a Korean community on Sundays for most of my college career. Many of my friends are Korean or Korean-American. I've also had the privilege of visiting South Korea a few years back, graciously hosted by my Korean friends, and poignantly seeing the DMZ, the War Memorial museum, and other reminders of a devastating conflict just over 50 years ago.

But in this case, I fail to see much justification for South Korea's complaints. Yes, there's always the threat of attack from North Korea. Same with Taiwan and Mainland China... or Israel and pretty much every other Middle Eastern state. And yet, you don't hear Taipei or Jerusalem complain... or how about Pyongyang itself?

Are they so naive to think that during the decades of the Cold War, a Russian/Soviet satellite never snapped some pics of Seoul, and they were never shared with Pyongyang?

At most, bring it up with Google -- not the US government. Actually... not even Google in this case, as they didn't go and snap those photos, but the commercial providers of satellite imagery that Google Earth merely aggregates. It's not like Google is the only game in town... try Space Imaging or even good ol' Microsoft.

OK, granted, it's not like I'll sleep better knowing I can view overheads of the Presidential Palace in Seoul. But if every government or private entity starts complaining -- through diplomatic channels normally reserved for government-government affairs, no less -- where is the line drawn?

Aiyah. Or as they would say... aigoo... =P

Untilnow, I haven't really blogged about Katrina and its aftermath. Such wasdue not to insensitivity on my part, but rather the fact that living onthe other side of the planet, and (thankfully) having no friends orfamily in the disaster area, it all seemed far-removed for me. Mysources for information were generally the same media outlets as mostothers, and my general philosophy in blogging is that "我不说废话" -- Idon't like to say wasteful things, ie, "me too!" without addinganything new and personal.

And now, after reading two things, I feel I finally can do the latter.

First, read this blog entryfrom my friend cndbanana. Before you do so, make sure you'reemotionally OK, as you'll likely get sick to your bone afterwards. Thistragedy certainly takes on a new and very ugly dimension whenit affects someone you personally know.

Also, this article (link courtesy of kitw) has been by far the Katrina-related piece that has made the most impact on me.

...Whatwe consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that isnormal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursueand protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fightingagainst it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficultiesthey face. They don't sit around and complain that the governmenthasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disasteras an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

But what aboutcriminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving theirhouses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything...

Thesepeople have no stake in anything... have no life worth living, and theatrocities like what cndbanana wrote about mean nothing.

It'seasy to blame the government from Bush on downward. Yes, they are notfaultless of this. May things change for the better in terms ofdisaster preparedness and response.

More importantly though,it's easy to blame the victims themselves and their reckless mentality.And yet, the blame game is meaningless -- because the implied reason whywe blame is to effect change on the part of the blamed. Here, inblaming we're asking for change which is nearly impossible given thesecircumstances: a vicious cycle, with each new generation born with aworldview of despair, of hopelessness, of not knowing love nor trust.

Inmany ways, it itself forms a stronghold in this segment of humanity...different and yet similar to other strongholds of worldview in otherpopulations worldwide. I take solace in knowing, Thinking and trustingthat only His redemptive plan can truly break them.

ForHis family, 9/11 was an example of the effects of worldview extremismleft unchecked,  reminding us of the need to find strategies inpiercing those strongholds by sharing that which iseternal.  Likewise, Katrina illustrates extremism of anotherkind... and ultimately, it will also result in taking a long, hardlook at our own disenfranchised and disillusioned in our own backyard.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. -- Proverbs 27:6

I've been reminded of this verse lately in a good way. For me, the most crucial element that separates casual acquaintance or even regular friendship from a truly close and deep relationship is not so much common personalities, interests, or beliefs (important as they are)... but the ability to keep it real.

Those who realize a relationship isn't just sugarcoated flattery and handholding, but also consists of being completely transparent and holding no punches back... those who understand growing isn't about pushing my "warm fuzzy encouragement" button, but sharing the truth in love... they are whom I'm privileged to call my brother/sister/gege/jiejie/hyung/nuna.

To those of you out there in that role and those who will be -- in all my stages of life up until now -- thank you. =)

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It seems China Telecom is planning on blocking Skype throughout China, and Shenzhen seems to be the first hit.

Not only do I have Skype-to-Skype conversations (which are totally free) with many friends here and abroad, I also use it for my international outgoing phone calls, since it's almost always cheaper than even the cheapest Chinese calling cards (at least for every country I'd have an interest in calling).

In the back of my mind (the "NT" part of my personality at work), I realized it was always possible to block Skype here, and I sort of found it interesting that they only did so now, after its usage has exploded -- particularly in this country. Yay, one more online annoyance... as if the frequent Google/Gmail slowdown and outright outages weren't enough.

Right now, I tried calling a US phone number and it got through, so Shanghai seems OK for now. Still, if you're in China and have money in your Skype account, enjoy it while you can. For me, I'm thinking it's high time to get that VPN server up and running in the States...

Details from a Reuters article, reproduced below:

By Doug Young

SHANGHAI, Sept 9 - China Telecom has started blocking access to a popular Internet telephone service that is threatening its long-distance revenue, according to local media reports and Internet postings.

China's largest fixed-line phone carrier recently began blocking access to service from Skype Technologies SA, a European-based Internet telecoms services provider, in the affluent southern city of Shenzhen near Hong Kong, according to the reports, including one in the Shanghai Daily.

They said China Telecom, whose broadband Internet service allows access to Skype, has plans to eventually block the service throughout its coverage area nationwide.

They also said the carrier has created a "black list" of people who use the service in Shenzhen, and threatened to fine anyone who tries to get around the new obstacles.

A China Telecom spokesman had no comment on the reports about the Shenzhen blockage, but gave a broader view.

"Under the current relevant laws and regulations of China, PC-to-phone services are strictly regulated and only China Telecom and (the nation's other fixed-line carrier) China Netcom are permitted to carry out some trials on a very limited basis," he said.

Skype service, which allows people to make calls from their PCs to regular phones, enables subscribers in China to dial to major Western markets in the United States and Europe for as little as 2 eurocents per minute (2.5 U.S. cents), compared with rates closer to $1 per minute from China Telecom.

China routinely blocks access to Web sites on politically sensitive subjects such as the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square that left hundreds dead. But blockage of sites for purely economic reasons is much less common.

Tom Online, a Beijing-based provider of wireless value-added services that has a year-old relationship with Skype for Internet instant messaging services, said its product in China was still operational.

HOT TOPIC

The Internet telephony blockage was a hot topic on several Web forums hosted by Skype.

"The whole thing looks to me like a plot to make back the money China Telecom thinks they lose because of Skype," complained one user in Shenzhen, who said his access was blocked but his wife, also in Shenzhen, was able to access the system.

Other users in Shanghai said they were still able to access the system.

Long distance business is an important revenue source for both China Telecom and China Netcom, accounting for about 20 percent of China Telecom's total revenue last year.

Internet-based services like Skype are putting pressure on both companies to lower their long-distance tariffs, which have been coming down at a rate of about 12-15 percent annually in recent years, said BOC International analyst Alan Ng.

"Eventually (Internet-based phone services) will be a threat," he said. "Whether it's already a serious threat, I doubt it. But it will get even more popular, and certainly that is why China Telecom is very concerned."

U.S. Web auction giant EBay Inc. is currently in talks to buy Skype, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday, amid concerns that the European company could crimp highly-profitable eBay's growth.

China Telecom shares were down 0.88 percent at HK$2.80 in Hong Kong on Friday. They are unchanged since the beginning of the year, trailing a 6 percent gain for the broader Hang Seng Index.

Investors are fretting about China Telecom's slowing growth, as they wait for the outcome of a highly anticipated industry restructuring expected to include the eventual awarding of third-generation (3G) mobile licenses.

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...my blogging. Has it been this long?!

Long before blog was a word in the English language, my very first entry,written during the summer before I entered college, was posted. It evenhas my old (long-defunct) high school email address on the bottom.

Granted, my writing was sporadic to say the least until probably early 1999, when jack.html,just my friend Danny's page of links, started to take on a life of itsown in creating our own little Stanford "blogosphere" (a word for whichI'm still not hip enough to be sprinkling in my daily speech...)whereby everyone would be linking and replying to each others' entries.

BeforeI finally moved to blog software in early 2004, I manually edited byhand all the HTML for all my pages, updating the indices, etc, whichdiscouraged spur of the moment thoughts. They're still out there(albeit hidden for now... some things I wrote then were just dumb orthey might cause problems in this country) I do plan to consolidate allthose entries -- umm... someday...

Ina way, though many things -- my environment, circumstances, worldviews,and life passions -- have changed in the past 10 years, the fundamentalreason why I embrace this medium hasn't: because of my non-linear wayofthinking and formulating ideas (starting in some random place ratherthan at the beginning always, going back, jumping about, fleshingthings out, revising, revising some more) I've always found it easierto communicate in writing than in speech.

True, right nowbeing in this country in my position has forced me to watch some thingsI say in public and yes, it's something I find constricting at times.Furthermore, at the moment there doesn't seem to be a simple solutionfor more secure posting that I'm entirely satisfied with both from atechnical and ease of use perspective.

Still I hope that what Iwrite continues to encourage, enlighten, amuse, confuse, disgust, oraffect someone, someway, somehow, somewhere... and to everyone else outthere, keep it up as well!
The story behind the namePS: Might as well answer the question... why "Ryu2" as my identity in most online communities?When I first started using the Internet and IRC back in the day (late1993), I need to pick a name. The straightforward "mwang" didn't soundinteresting enough, and was generic enough that it would often betaken. This was when Street Fighter 2had just come out for the SNES so my friends and I would be playing itoften. My favorite character was Ryu, so I gravitated towards thatchoice. Unfortunately, it too would be taken oftentimes, so I justadded a 2 and it's stuck since then. And that, as they say, is that. =)

From W to Condi at the UN summit...

I suppose you gotta do what you gotta do, no matter who or where you are... =P

See the original page on Yahoo or the full photo on Reuters.

So, I've finally decided to forgo the "do it yourself" mentality that has tended to pervade my site from the earliest days and switch over to Flickr for hosting my photos.

Yes, it's way cool and blows other services out of the water... community and affinity groups, RSS feeds, a web-services API, and one of the few examples I've seen of Macromedia Flash used not just appropriately, but beneficially from a UI perspective.

Flickr seems like the end-all for everything... unless you're in China.

It's @#$#@ slow.

Much slower than dialup. Loading one's homepage can take upward of 2-3 minutes. Uploading a single picture of less than 1 MB size both from my home AND my work takes 10-15 minutes, and is often cut-off in the middle.

Photostream? More like Photodrop. Drip... drip... drip.

I'm certainly not the only one to experience this issue, and searching for "China" in the Flickr forums reveals many more disgruntled users.

For Flickr users in the US, my question is thus... has Flickr been likewise slow for you? I'm guessing it isn't... as it seems to have gained a very loyal fanbase, and it's being hosted by Yahoo nowadays. Yahoo itself loads quickly and normally from China -- and all the other US sites aren't anywhere near this glacial pace either. So, methinks China's Big Brother once again strikes again.

At first, I thought -- at least Flickr isn't blocked like blogspot, Geocities, or other well-known properties. But... the way Flickr is, it's actually even insidious -- rather than outright block it, just make things slooooooooooooooow and waste users' time. No time left to organize counter-revolutionary activities when you're looking forlornly at that progress bar on the Flickr Uploadr! Briiiiiiiiiiiilliant...

I'm really starting to wonder whether or not (along with the Skype monkey-business) all this is indeed a form of economic protectionism on the Internet that China is practicing, especially with Chinese players like NetEase getting into the game.

The one bright spot seems to be that email uploading works quickly and efficiently. Of course, you can only email a few pics at a time... if they'd support FTP, I could at least use a client with auto-resume, rather than the brain-dead Uploadr.

And such is my Flickr saga thus far. Yes, I'll post a link for your viewing pleasure... once I've uploaded all my new pics. It's been going for the last 24 hours and counting... =P

Myfirst wedding in Shanghai... and my first wedding where I was the"official" photographer for the occasion. I've done my share ofunofficial wedding picture taking before, but this was the first time Iwas, um... suckered into being the "real" thing. =)

I enjoyedit a lot... simple, intimate, and yet memorable, having its share offunny moments, and most of all, honoring Him at the same time.

Forme though, I was playing the role of the observer, running around,trying to document everything -- it's really a different weddingexperience when you're in that position.

Anyhow, finally hadtime to go through and edit all of them over the past two days.(Although, as detailed in my last entry, uploading the pics to flickrfrom China was the real ordeal.)

Check out the pics before the ceremony and the ceremony itself. Apologies in advance for everyone in China... it's gonna be slow loading. Try using Proxify or another proxy for better results. The after-ceremony and afterparty shots will be forthcoming.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

For those of you who don't know, last night was the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节, zhongqiujie) It's the time of year when the full moon appears, and traditionallyChinese celebrate it by gathering with their families and eatingmooncakes, pastries with salted egg yolk and other fillingsinside.  For several months now, mooncakes have been sold nearlyeverywhere -- not only the traditional recipes, but even companies likeStarbucks and Haagen Daaz have cashed in by selling their own uniquetwists, like coffee-flavored or ice-cream filled mooncakes.  Eventhe Canadian Embassy has gotten into the craze, with such "interesting" favors like smoked salmon or maple syrup.

According to my local friends, the younger more health-conciousgeneration don't really like to eat mooncakes all that much, sincethey're laden with lard, rich fillings, egg yolk and other decadent,waistline-expanding, artery clogging goodness.

Still, I wouldn't have guessed it, for I was with both mylocal and expat Groups yesterday, and we abundantly ate mooncakes atboth times (passing them out by the hundreds at the latter).

Needless to say, I'm mooncaked out for the time being... time to hit the gymn. 

Until next year...

Rarely do I link to someone else's blog entry outright... this is one of those times.

Read this entry from my college friend soogebear.  For me, the feeling of "deja vu"hit me with a force that was almost physical.

Most of us in the Asian-American Family have probably heard a story like soogebear's in one form oranother, and yet it's one thing whenit's a stranger writing, another thing entirely when it'ssomeone you've known personally since undergrad days sharing from the heart.

Some of us even feel the same way ourselves... and yet regardless ofhowlong and strong those feelings have been, it's always an encouragement to vicariously (re-)experience themvia someone else -- and through that to know that you'renot just someone alone in a crazy place having crazy thoughts.

Nothing more to say...

I'll probably be off to Korea for the October 1st holiday.

No... not South. ;)

Yes, the door has opened... very suddenly. He's faithful indeed.

If you are seriously interested in joining or finding out more, drop me a private email.

If not, your thoughts would be highly appreciated...

***I'll be in Beijing all day Friday. I'll be picking up my visa foryou-know-where in the morning but I should be totally free after 12 PM.If any of you are visiting/sticking around there and wanna dosomething, email, call or text me.

***The capitol's airport is called Sunan International and its IATAairport code is... FNJ.  I thought PVG was sort of funky andnonintuitive, but thisdefinitely takes the cake.

I'll write something more substantial... sometime... =P

and so it begins... sort of. as I was about to leave, I realize I couldn't find my wallet. long story short, miraculously found it, but missed the last pek flight, got on the first one tomorrow... the last seat... in first class. :p called my bj hosts to advise, and now spending the night in the pvg terminal. blogging this from my phone. perhaps Someone is telling me something of slowing down and preparing my heart...