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In some respects I'd rather have my data managed by a Chinese company than a British one. It's exponentially more difficult for the Chinese government to wield

In some respects I'd rather have my data managed by a Chinese company than a British one. It's exponentially more difficult for the Chinese government to wield data against me than it is for the British government, as I do not live somewhere where the Chinese government has any power over me.

stcredzero 9y ago
It's exponentially more difficult for the Chinese government to wield data against me than it is for the British government, as I do not live somewhere where the Chinese government has any power over me. It depends mostly on the nature of the data, and how much interest they have in you. If the data is damning enough, and they would find value in using it against you, then the Chinese government is perfectly able to hire someone to do so. Anyone in China who is significantly wealthy is effectively involved in politics, with potentially life and death consequences. To stay under the radar, you have to stay at the level of inconsequential small fry.
- jstanley 9y ago
  Right, but if you're not in China at all, the Chinese government don't care about you. So it's (in some respects) safer to have your data managed in a foreign country than in the country you live in, as a counterpoint to the claim that "it makes so much more sense that your data is subject to the law in the country you reside in".
  - stcredzero 9y ago
    Right, but if you're not in China at all, the Chinese government don't care about you. In the vast majority of cases, yes. In an absolute sense, no. So it's (in some respects) safer to have your data managed in a foreign country than in the country you live in, as a counterpoint to the claim that "it makes so much more sense that your data is subject to the law in the country you reside in". There is a point to that.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Right, but if you're not in China at all, the Chinese government don't care about you. That’s ,at best, less than clear, considering the actions attributed to PLA Unit 61398.
  - klodolph 9y ago
    > So it's (in some respects) safer to have your data managed in a foreign country than in the country you live in, as a counterpoint to the claim that "it makes so much more sense that your data is subject to the law in the country you reside in". To clarify, I'm saying it makes sense from a legal and societal perspective, not from a personal privacy perspective.
kobayashi 9y ago
How privileged you are, then, not to live under the Chinese regime.
- jstanley 9y ago
  The point was that sometimes it's better to have your data managed by a foreign government. Not that the Chinese government is somehow better than any other arbitrary government. If you live in China, feel free to mentally switch "Chinese" and "British".
vatueil 9y ago
Perhaps on an individual level it's true that moving accounts off-shore can be advantageous (although the flip side of ceding your data to a regime that isn't responsible to you in the slightest is that they have even less reason not to misuse it if it ever benefits them). But on a societal level if everyone followed this tactic we would all be worse off, especially if the foreign government is not a liberal democracy or otherwise at odds with your home country.

stcredzero 9y ago

It's exponentially more difficult for the Chinese government to wield data against me than it is for the British government, as I do not live somewhere where the Chinese government has any power over me. It depends mostly on the nature of the data, and how much interest they have in you. If the data is damning enough, and they would find value in using it against you, then the Chinese government is perfectly able to hire someone to do so. Anyone in China who is significantly wealthy is effectively involved in politics, with potentially life and death consequences. To stay under the radar, you have to stay at the level of inconsequential small fry.

jstanley 9y ago
Right, but if you're not in China at all, the Chinese government don't care about you. So it's (in some respects) safer to have your data managed in a foreign country than in the country you live in, as a counterpoint to the claim that "it makes so much more sense that your data is subject to the law in the country you reside in".
- stcredzero 9y ago
  Right, but if you're not in China at all, the Chinese government don't care about you. In the vast majority of cases, yes. In an absolute sense, no. So it's (in some respects) safer to have your data managed in a foreign country than in the country you live in, as a counterpoint to the claim that "it makes so much more sense that your data is subject to the law in the country you reside in". There is a point to that.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Right, but if you're not in China at all, the Chinese government don't care about you. That’s ,at best, less than clear, considering the actions attributed to PLA Unit 61398.
- klodolph 9y ago
  > So it's (in some respects) safer to have your data managed in a foreign country than in the country you live in, as a counterpoint to the claim that "it makes so much more sense that your data is subject to the law in the country you reside in". To clarify, I'm saying it makes sense from a legal and societal perspective, not from a personal privacy perspective.

kobayashi 9y ago

How privileged you are, then, not to live under the Chinese regime.

jstanley 9y ago
The point was that sometimes it's better to have your data managed by a foreign government. Not that the Chinese government is somehow better than any other arbitrary government. If you live in China, feel free to mentally switch "Chinese" and "British".

vatueil 9y ago

Perhaps on an individual level it's true that moving accounts off-shore can be advantageous (although the flip side of ceding your data to a regime that isn't responsible to you in the slightest is that they have even less reason not to misuse it if it ever benefits them). But on a societal level if everyone followed this tactic we would all be worse off, especially if the foreign government is not a liberal democracy or otherwise at odds with your home country.