At the moment of the Epidemic, many Canadian universities are taking classes through the Internet. But the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency recently warned universities that using the Internet acceleration service software provided by China’s Alibaba to attend classes could be a security concern.
Some Canadian universities are using the “Global Acceleration” public Internet acceleration service launched by Chinese technology company Alibaba in order to make it easier for overseas students to access classes online, allowing students in remote areas to attend classes via the Zoom platform without being affected by Internet speed. But the Canadian Intelligence Agency believes there are security concerns about using Alibaba’s equipment because it would allow Chinese Communist intelligence services to conduct surveillance through the service.
The intelligence agency met with the Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers last fall to explain the potential pitfalls. The council confirmed that it had received a reminder from the intelligence agency, but would not say how many universities across the country were involved in using Alibaba’s service.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
Emmett MacFarlane, an associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, which uses Alibaba’s global acceleration service to support Zoom classes, is concerned about the opportunity for Chinese Communist authorities to monitor student discussions on the Internet. But as a teacher, he could not adjust the content of his lectures or avoid certain topics. The university says that “the entire network traffic service is protected by end-to-end encryption. Alibaba also said that “the company does not have access to student accounts or information transmitted by the school.”
Lin Feng, a Chinese student studying at Simon Fraser University, said he majored in mechanics and was not too concerned about sensitive content, so he would not worry too much, but other students do have concerns about course discussions on the Internet: “Some of my friends are taking courses in politics and law, and these humanities things will discuss sensitive events on the Chinese side. People will be cautious, and Zoom has had previous incidents where information was passed on to the Chinese Communist authorities, and will be afraid of what consequences their comments might trigger.”
Stephanie Carvin, a Canadian security expert, said private companies in China remain under many government controls, and a few years ago, the chairman of Chinese insurance giant Anbang Insurance was accused of fraud, during which Chinese Communist authorities took over the company and collected vast amounts of data for government use. Last October, Alibaba founder Jack Ma criticized China’s financial regulatory system, which subsequently halted the listing of Alibaba’s Ant Financial, and Beijing has also shown intentions to potentially nationalize Alibaba. All of these phenomena show that the Chinese regime has so many means of controlling business activities that security has to be watched.
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