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The regulations also demand that all chat room users in mainland China verify their real identity... Effective 8 October, the following types of content will b

by brd 9y ago

The regulations also demand that all chat room users in mainland China verify their real identity... Effective 8 October, the following types of content will be prohibited in chat groups on China-based messaging platforms: 1. Sensitive political content 2. Rumors 3... Holy shit. What is this going to do to the Chinese tech scene? The liability being created here is crazy to consider. Lets all hope these practices aren't looked at as successful by other governments, I'd hate to see other countries following suit.

revelation 9y ago
It just means they can jail or shutdown who they want. Of course they could and have done that before, so really there is no change. Law isn't what paper says, but what the ruling party decides.
- chaostheory 9y ago
  It's also who your friends and family are in the CCP.
- adventured 9y ago
  > Of course they could and have done that before, so really there is no change. It's almost never about acquiring new power, they don't need that. It's about enforcing policy through a more specific enlightenment (ie don't do this, this isn't acceptable, etc). In other words, it's encouragement to aggressively keep with the line they've drawn. The party goals are dramatically easier to achieve/uphold if they have lots of lower level hands willingly helping.
- wallace_f 9y ago
  >Law isn't what paper says, but what the ruling party decides. Isn't this up for debate? On one hand, in SK a Samsung chief and heir and also former President are facing long prison sentences (some of the protests leading up to this were argued to be the largest peaceful protests in history, ever).* On the other, in the US a convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, never spent a day in jail. He is a billionaire and very close friend of Bill Clinton's. I am interested in historically how well the rule of law in the US has or has not applied equally to all citizens? *I personally found it really strange this has gotten so little attention in Western media.
  - learc83 9y ago
    >On the other, in the US a convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, never spent a day in jail. That is incorrect. He spent 13 months in prison and is now a registered sex offender.
    - wallace_f 9y ago
      No, he did not spend 13 months in prison. For 13 months he was required to sleep in a special cell, weeknights only. He was free to leave during the day and weekends.
      - learc83 9y ago
        He was often allowed to leave for work release to help the government build a case against Bear Stearns. He definitely had to stay there during the weekends. According to federal prosecutors, only one of the girls would agree tontesitfy against him and that wasn't enough to get a conviction. If you read about the case in sources that aren't determined to link the whole thing to a Bill Clinton conspiracy, you'll see it wasn't an open and shut case. It's pretty likely prosecutors agreed to a deal because they thoght he'd walk otherwise. The local DA convened a grand jury and they thought there was only enough evidence to support fairly minor charges. Maybe he was paying off witnesses, but you need evidence of that. Regardless he still spent time in jail.
        wallace_f 9y ago
        Do you have a source regaring the terms of his sentence? Anyways, one of the interesting things about his involvment was that he has paid out in civil lawsuits to about 40 victims.
scottLobster 9y ago
I'm no expert on China, but this fits the pattern of them making extreme laws (ie death penalty for corruption) and then selectively enforcing them. Laws are tools for the party to use when it feels it might benefit, not universal rules.
- Retric 9y ago
  What's really interesting about this is how unstable it makes the country. Clamp down and eventually you end up in a USSR situation where the government suddenly disintegrates with little real warning because there is no feedback loop to maintain stability. Things seem ok because everyone ends up walking around pretending things are good even the people enforcing the rules. Untill you get a little spark and suddenly nobody is willing to stop it. PS: I am not saying it's going to happen, but I expect the odds of complete failure in the next 20 years are well over 5%. And if it does fail things could get insanely ugly.
  - meric 9y ago
    It it's quick it will recover fast, it's if it's a grinding situation like Venezuela or Ukraine or Syria, where change occurs but there are still large blocs of people fighting for the government then it gets horrible.
  - sushcount 9y ago
    Chinese government is panicking over its crashing economy, and it shows in its actions. As of this year, it - banned soft cheese - banned all korean music and entertainment - (got rid of) Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Laureate, and prevented his wife from leaving China - banned ICO - banned a bitcoin exchange - prevented its companies from investing overseas (Wanda, etc) - (rumored) prevented the richest person from leaving China - banned beards and veils in xinjiang - banned 'muhammad' and 'jihad' as baby names - banned entertainment news that promotes western lifestyles etc
    - dis-sys 9y ago
      crashing economy? come on, can't wait for that, I have been hearing this for 25 years, please deliver it.
klokoman 9y ago
Politicians keep saying things like "China is the future", young people hate free speech, so there are no reasons to hope.
StreamBright 9y ago
It is not only in China: https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/30/15898386/germany-facebook-hate-speech-law-passed https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/30/15898386/germany-facebook...
HenryBemis 9y ago
Freedom of Speech, and Right to Privacy all the way from "here" (pick your own "here") to a dark, cold, chinese prison cell (and not back, nothing escapes from that).
stcredzero 9y ago
Lets all hope these practices aren't looked at as successful by other governments, I'd hate to see other countries following suit. There are activists basically asking for this in the US and western countries.

by brd 9y ago

revelation 9y ago

It just means they can jail or shutdown who they want. Of course they could and have done that before, so really there is no change. Law isn't what paper says, but what the ruling party decides.

chaostheory 9y ago
It's also who your friends and family are in the CCP.
adventured 9y ago
> Of course they could and have done that before, so really there is no change. It's almost never about acquiring new power, they don't need that. It's about enforcing policy through a more specific enlightenment (ie don't do this, this isn't acceptable, etc). In other words, it's encouragement to aggressively keep with the line they've drawn. The party goals are dramatically easier to achieve/uphold if they have lots of lower level hands willingly helping.
wallace_f 9y ago
>Law isn't what paper says, but what the ruling party decides. Isn't this up for debate? On one hand, in SK a Samsung chief and heir and also former President are facing long prison sentences (some of the protests leading up to this were argued to be the largest peaceful protests in history, ever).* On the other, in the US a convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, never spent a day in jail. He is a billionaire and very close friend of Bill Clinton's. I am interested in historically how well the rule of law in the US has or has not applied equally to all citizens? *I personally found it really strange this has gotten so little attention in Western media.
- learc83 9y ago
  >On the other, in the US a convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, never spent a day in jail. That is incorrect. He spent 13 months in prison and is now a registered sex offender.
  - wallace_f 9y ago
    No, he did not spend 13 months in prison. For 13 months he was required to sleep in a special cell, weeknights only. He was free to leave during the day and weekends.
    - learc83 9y ago
      He was often allowed to leave for work release to help the government build a case against Bear Stearns. He definitely had to stay there during the weekends. According to federal prosecutors, only one of the girls would agree tontesitfy against him and that wasn't enough to get a conviction. If you read about the case in sources that aren't determined to link the whole thing to a Bill Clinton conspiracy, you'll see it wasn't an open and shut case. It's pretty likely prosecutors agreed to a deal because they thoght he'd walk otherwise. The local DA convened a grand jury and they thought there was only enough evidence to support fairly minor charges. Maybe he was paying off witnesses, but you need evidence of that. Regardless he still spent time in jail.
      - wallace_f 9y ago
        Do you have a source regaring the terms of his sentence? Anyways, one of the interesting things about his involvment was that he has paid out in civil lawsuits to about 40 victims.

scottLobster 9y ago

I'm no expert on China, but this fits the pattern of them making extreme laws (ie death penalty for corruption) and then selectively enforcing them. Laws are tools for the party to use when it feels it might benefit, not universal rules.

Retric 9y ago
What's really interesting about this is how unstable it makes the country. Clamp down and eventually you end up in a USSR situation where the government suddenly disintegrates with little real warning because there is no feedback loop to maintain stability. Things seem ok because everyone ends up walking around pretending things are good even the people enforcing the rules. Untill you get a little spark and suddenly nobody is willing to stop it. PS: I am not saying it's going to happen, but I expect the odds of complete failure in the next 20 years are well over 5%. And if it does fail things could get insanely ugly.
- meric 9y ago
  It it's quick it will recover fast, it's if it's a grinding situation like Venezuela or Ukraine or Syria, where change occurs but there are still large blocs of people fighting for the government then it gets horrible.
- sushcount 9y ago
  Chinese government is panicking over its crashing economy, and it shows in its actions. As of this year, it - banned soft cheese - banned all korean music and entertainment - (got rid of) Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Laureate, and prevented his wife from leaving China - banned ICO - banned a bitcoin exchange - prevented its companies from investing overseas (Wanda, etc) - (rumored) prevented the richest person from leaving China - banned beards and veils in xinjiang - banned 'muhammad' and 'jihad' as baby names - banned entertainment news that promotes western lifestyles etc
  - dis-sys 9y ago
    crashing economy? come on, can't wait for that, I have been hearing this for 25 years, please deliver it.

klokoman 9y ago

Politicians keep saying things like "China is the future", young people hate free speech, so there are no reasons to hope.

StreamBright 9y ago

It is not only in China: https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/30/15898386/germany-facebook-hate-speech-law-passed https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/30/15898386/germany-facebook...

HenryBemis 9y ago

Freedom of Speech, and Right to Privacy all the way from "here" (pick your own "here") to a dark, cold, chinese prison cell (and not back, nothing escapes from that).

stcredzero 9y ago

Lets all hope these practices aren't looked at as successful by other governments, I'd hate to see other countries following suit. There are activists basically asking for this in the US and western countries.