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There seems to be a great market DPI and other "security" focused technologies. You can always sell such products to Governments. That being said, I find it ha

There seems to be a great market DPI and other "security" focused technologies. You can always sell such products to Governments. That being said, I find it hard to believe that the internet can be censored and regulated. It just takes too much time and effort to be worth it. Whatever the technology used, there will always be workarounds. There is no such thing as foolproof technology. More and more its seems like a big con. The Government wanted it and some smart guy told them it can be done. He must be making a lot of money now.

hga 16y ago
The ruling class of the PRC is currently willing to keep power by any means necessary. I'm hesitant to bet against a ruling class while it still maintains its own Gulag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laogai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laogai) and gets 65% of the country's organs for transplant from those it executes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_in_the_People%...). Yes, someday it will likely all come tumbling down, although I think that history shows that tends to happen when the ruling class loses the will to engage in such extremes. Or if its own history is any guide it might split apart again. But in the meanwhile they clearly think its worth the time and effort. And little mammals like us startup types need to be careful to avoid getting trampled underfoot.
- jhancock 16y ago
  Why does it have to come tumbling down? Can't you see a way forward where things improve without violence? There isn't one ruling class. I've seen government power change several times in Shanghai and at the national level over 10 years. You sound very pessimistic. What are doing to make the world a better place? Here are a few suggestions: * If you are a Chinese national, go home and become a member of the party, vote, and get involved in making your country better. * If you have a method to fix one of the many problem in China (pollution, energy, etc.) you should go show it to the person in the Chinese gov that handles such policy. If you've got a great solution, I can get you touch with people that will listen.
  - hga 16y ago
    It doesn't have to happen with (a lot of) violence. The final denouncement of the Soviet Union was fantastically non-violent compared to what just about everyone expected. But authoritarian regimes like the PRC's aren't very stable, they have legitimacy problems, succession problems, sooner or latter they tend to "tumble down". The very fact that the ruling class is spending so much effort keeping a lid on things by continuing to build the Great Firewall of China (with all its collateral damage as we're discussing here), preventing any alternative forms of civil society from getting big (organized religion, Falun Gong ... are there even Chamber's of Commerce that are independent of the government???) tells us important things. And then there are the looming demographic issues. The One-Child Policy is leading to a nasty 4-2-1 generational aging---4 grandparents have 2 parents who have 1 child ... to support all the parents---and a nasty male to female ratio imbalance. Who's going to support those parents in their old age? Who are those unmatched 10s of millions of men going to marry? What happens if one or neither of those problems get solved? Energy doesn't seem to be a big problem for the PRC (is the Earth about to run out of coal, uranium, etc.?). Pollution ... well, wealth and the rule of law are what solved it in the developed nations. We'll see how the wealth game continues in the PRC, but I don't see any possibility of a sudden outbreak of the rule of law.
barkingcat 16y ago
There is nothing such as foolproof technology - that's why a large part of the firewall is powered by people. It helps develop computer skills in a large part of the population that would otherwise be out of work, and you reach your censorship targets at the same time. I think tens of thousands of young people (if not more) are employed as "firewall monitors" in China.
- braindead_in 16y ago
  Who monitors the monitors?

hga 16y ago

The ruling class of the PRC is currently willing to keep power by any means necessary. I'm hesitant to bet against a ruling class while it still maintains its own Gulag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laogai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laogai) and gets 65% of the country's organs for transplant from those it executes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_in_the_People%...). Yes, someday it will likely all come tumbling down, although I think that history shows that tends to happen when the ruling class loses the will to engage in such extremes. Or if its own history is any guide it might split apart again. But in the meanwhile they clearly think its worth the time and effort. And little mammals like us startup types need to be careful to avoid getting trampled underfoot.

jhancock 16y ago
Why does it have to come tumbling down? Can't you see a way forward where things improve without violence? There isn't one ruling class. I've seen government power change several times in Shanghai and at the national level over 10 years. You sound very pessimistic. What are doing to make the world a better place? Here are a few suggestions: * If you are a Chinese national, go home and become a member of the party, vote, and get involved in making your country better. * If you have a method to fix one of the many problem in China (pollution, energy, etc.) you should go show it to the person in the Chinese gov that handles such policy. If you've got a great solution, I can get you touch with people that will listen.
- hga 16y ago
  It doesn't have to happen with (a lot of) violence. The final denouncement of the Soviet Union was fantastically non-violent compared to what just about everyone expected. But authoritarian regimes like the PRC's aren't very stable, they have legitimacy problems, succession problems, sooner or latter they tend to "tumble down". The very fact that the ruling class is spending so much effort keeping a lid on things by continuing to build the Great Firewall of China (with all its collateral damage as we're discussing here), preventing any alternative forms of civil society from getting big (organized religion, Falun Gong ... are there even Chamber's of Commerce that are independent of the government???) tells us important things. And then there are the looming demographic issues. The One-Child Policy is leading to a nasty 4-2-1 generational aging---4 grandparents have 2 parents who have 1 child ... to support all the parents---and a nasty male to female ratio imbalance. Who's going to support those parents in their old age? Who are those unmatched 10s of millions of men going to marry? What happens if one or neither of those problems get solved? Energy doesn't seem to be a big problem for the PRC (is the Earth about to run out of coal, uranium, etc.?). Pollution ... well, wealth and the rule of law are what solved it in the developed nations. We'll see how the wealth game continues in the PRC, but I don't see any possibility of a sudden outbreak of the rule of law.

barkingcat 16y ago

There is nothing such as foolproof technology - that's why a large part of the firewall is powered by people. It helps develop computer skills in a large part of the population that would otherwise be out of work, and you reach your censorship targets at the same time. I think tens of thousands of young people (if not more) are employed as "firewall monitors" in China.

braindead_in 16y ago
Who monitors the monitors?