Fan Binxing

The early years

Fan was born on July 17, 1960, in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. In 1981, the young man received a bachelor 's degree at Harbin Polytechnic University . At Tsinghua University in 1984, Fan Binshin was awarded a master 's degree . In 1989 he defended his doctoral dissertation at Harbin Polytechnic University.

Professional Activities

Fan Binxing taught at Harbin Polytechnic University for 15 years, starting in 1984, from 1990-1993. After defending his Ph.D. thesis, while continuing his education, Fan Binxing worked in the field of computer science and technology at the Defense Scientific and Technical University of the People's Liberation Army of China . In 2000, Fan became deputy director and chief engineer of the Computer Network and Information Security Management Center. Already in 2002 he received a promotion, was appointed director of this organization. At that time, he also became the chief scientist in the field of information security at the Institute for the Study of Computational Technologies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences .

Since 2003, he has been working as the head of the Technical Group for Emergency Response in the National Internet Computer Network under the Ministry of Industry and Informatization of the PRC. Since 2005 - Visiting Professor at the Defense Scientific and Technical University of the PLA, as well as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences. At present, he is the honorary chairman of the Computer Network and Information Security Management Center.

Creator of the Great Chinese Firewall

In an interview with the Global Times newspaper in February 2011, Fan Binshin admitted that he had 6 VPN services installed on his personal computer, which he uses to access sites that he initially helped to block, as well as to test his development. In addition, Fan once said that there is an “eternal struggle” between the Chinese Firewall and VPN programs. ^[4] When asked about how the Great Firewall works, he replied that it was "state secret . " The publication of this interview aroused great indignation from the public, after which the interview was deleted on the Global Times official website , but this article can still be found on other media sites.

A strong flurry of online criticism hit the developer when he launched a microblog on Sina.com . A few days later, Fan closed his account. “They can’t get what they want, so they need to blame someone: for example, you can’t get an American visa and you are throwing mud at visa issuers,” Fan Binshin commented.

The father of the "Chinese firewall" supports the decision of the Chinese government to monitor the flow of information on the Internet. He is also convinced that the practice of censoring Internet content is a worldwide phenomenon, and that China is not the only country that controls the Internet. "As far as I know, about 180 countries, including South Korea and the United States , monitor online," says Fan Binshin. However, the developer avoids discussions about comparing foreign censorship and his own creation. The creator of the Golden Shield claims that “calls for a more open information space are nothing more than a threat from soft power to China from abroad.” Fan also admitted that his Great Firewall does not very well determine whether permitted or forbidden information appears on user devices as a result of a search. If the site contains certain words (sensitive words), due to the limitations of the Golden Shield mechanism, it simply blocks access to all materials on the site. “The firewall checks and blocks everything. This is similar to how passengers are forbidden to carry water on board the aircraft, because the security system does not allow to distinguish between water and nitroglycerin . "

In 2014, during an interview with the Chinese People’s Daily newspaper , the creator of the Chinese Firewall said that China should begin to establish the border of the national Internet network, secure its voting rights in the field of information technology , create its own information technologies, and build a system protection of the Internet space, thereby it is even better to protect state interests . “By analogy with territorial waters, land, celestial space, outer space, the United States has formed such a concept as a domain , or Internet space. Three large US strategies include a nuclear strategy, a space strategy, and an Internet strategy. The five main areas of sovereignty , in turn, include territorial waters, land ownership, airspace, outer space and Internet space. Today, when there is a threat of Internet war between the powers, state sovereignty is increasingly manifested in the control of the Internet space. "

In 2016, Fan Binxing made a speech at the Super-Computer Center ( 超 算 中心 ). He commented on the flaws of the Chinese Internet filtering system. During the report, he repeatedly praised the filtering algorithms developed by American science and technology firms. He even suggested that Chinese researchers make inquiries and study these developments. Fan Binxing expressed concern that as a result of filtering, a huge amount of information is being blocked in the Firewall system. According to the well-known programmer , Firewall should offer a solution to this problem using more advanced technologies. “I think that providing free access (to Twitter , Facebook ) for students is actually quite simple, it can be done, but the fact that this is not possible right now only shows a lack of technology.”

Political career

In January 2008, Fan Binxing was elected as a deputy of the NPC of the 11th convocation. With great advantage, he was elected to the NPC of the Haidian constituency in Beijing in November 2011.