Simplistic, but encompassing: Liberals: It restricts free expression. Conservatives: The government is picking winners and losers. As for being a wedge to

Simplistic, but encompassing: Liberals: It restricts free expression. Conservatives: The government is picking winners and losers. As for being a wedge to gradually loosen censorship. The GFC (Great Firewall of China) started with Western companies selling technologies and consulting to the Chinese government that enabled early versions. Did that participation act as a wedge that opened up Chinese society? As I said at that time, China is the prototype. Now, we have not just these Western companies but also the Chinese selling Great Firewall solutions to other countries. (And the Chinese have the more turnkey systems and a proven track record.) There's the old but apt adage: "Don't play by their rules." (Which, by the way, has been modern China's approach to us, the past few decades. Or, they've been playing by the rules they observed in us, not the ones they were told by us. Break the law as much as you can. Cost/benefit. Might makes right...)