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It wasn't advice. It was an opinion. I can tell you that AI, NLP, software, Portland Protest, and Donald Trump all aren't sensitive subjects. Tiananmen obviou

It wasn't advice. It was an opinion. I can tell you that AI, NLP, software, Portland Protest, and Donald Trump all aren't sensitive subjects. Tiananmen obviously is. But let's face it. Are you going to talk about Tiananmen and similar subjects all day long? Most Chinese people are apolitical. As I said, 99.9% of your conversations won't be about anything political. Yes I get that you're ideologically opposed to censorship, and that we "shouldn't have to" move to a different platform to talk about certain subjects. I agree. I'm not talking about ideology, I'm talking about what's practical. You want to put up a barrier between yourself and your Chinese friends on the odd chance that 0.1% of your conversations might be about Tiananmen, and you can't be bothered to move to another platform? You have to pick your battles. Let's face it: even if you refuse to use Wechat due to ideology, you won't change anything about the censorship policy. And your Chinese friends clearly don't care, and if the Chinese government answers to anybody then it would be first to them, and maybe a few kilometers behind them, be interested in what you think. So why are you taking this ideological stance for them? Isn't Chinese censorship mainly their problem and not yours? If you want to convince your Chinese friends of how evil CCP is, and therefore that they should ban Wechat, go ahead. But don't you think that it should be their choice and not yours?

creato 6y ago
> You want to put up a barrier between yourself and your Chinese friends on the odd chance that 0.1% of your conversations might be about Tiananmen, and you can't be bothered to move to another platform? This kind of thinking is exactly why WeChat should be banned. China has banned every other means of communication, so it's the only option. Banning WeChat isn't a provocation, it's reciprocation.
- FooBarWidget 6y ago
  Reciprocation, for what? For censoring their own citizen? That's like saying China should sanction the US for crimes during BLM. Of course censorship isn't okay, but US doesn't get to play world police. And you're supporting this attack in order to spite China, while totally ignoring practical outcomes for Chinese people, the very people you claim to support? "We support you, we just hate your government. So we'll forcefully liberate you, even if you didn't ask for liberation." Live and let live. Is that so hard?
  - creato 6y ago
    > Reciprocation, for what? For censoring their own citizen? It doesn't matter why they are banning every other means of communication. The fact is, they are banned. It's not a matter of spite. In every other area of international relations, reciprocation is how things get done. You tariff me, I tariff you. You restrict visas for me, I restrict visas for you. It would suck for Chinese people overseas. That would be unfortunate. They should petition their government to unban a few means of communication!
    - FooBarWidget 6y ago
      Your tit-for-tat comparison makes no sense. Censoring messages on Wechat does not affect US. You’re making up a non-existant attack from China against US. Your attitude is 100% spite, you're just rationalizing it.
      - fsflover 6y ago
        > Censoring messages on Wechat does not affect US. It removes spying on US users.
        FooBarWidget 6y ago
        If the ban is limited to the US only, and if they provide clear conditions on how to resolve this problem (such as pointing out which concrete US data laws are violated, and talking about clear steps towards resolving those violations) then you may have a point. But the ban is world wide. Even inside China. And there are no conditions, it's a ban that cannot be resolved. Claims of spying is just an excuse. They want to burn China's prosperity down to the ground.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - jariel 6y ago
        The CCP is absolutely censoring, monitoring and harvesting data from every app that is based and controlled from China, especially WeChat. That is publicly stated policy. There is no need for 'tit for tat' apps from China should be banned by every reasonable jurisdiction outside China for that reason alone. Without even getting complicated, just using EU GDPR as a basis for banning it would be just fine under already established legislation. We just went through the entire 20th century of trying to overcome such bad regimes, the only reason that China is able to get away with any of it is due to basic economic power i.e. trade interdependance. So it's time to reconsider and realign - too bad Trump pulled out of the TPP because that would have been a good first step.

creato 6y ago

> You want to put up a barrier between yourself and your Chinese friends on the odd chance that 0.1% of your conversations might be about Tiananmen, and you can't be bothered to move to another platform? This kind of thinking is exactly why WeChat should be banned. China has banned every other means of communication, so it's the only option. Banning WeChat isn't a provocation, it's reciprocation.

FooBarWidget 6y ago
Reciprocation, for what? For censoring their own citizen? That's like saying China should sanction the US for crimes during BLM. Of course censorship isn't okay, but US doesn't get to play world police. And you're supporting this attack in order to spite China, while totally ignoring practical outcomes for Chinese people, the very people you claim to support? "We support you, we just hate your government. So we'll forcefully liberate you, even if you didn't ask for liberation." Live and let live. Is that so hard?
- creato 6y ago
  > Reciprocation, for what? For censoring their own citizen? It doesn't matter why they are banning every other means of communication. The fact is, they are banned. It's not a matter of spite. In every other area of international relations, reciprocation is how things get done. You tariff me, I tariff you. You restrict visas for me, I restrict visas for you. It would suck for Chinese people overseas. That would be unfortunate. They should petition their government to unban a few means of communication!
  - FooBarWidget 6y ago
    Your tit-for-tat comparison makes no sense. Censoring messages on Wechat does not affect US. You’re making up a non-existant attack from China against US. Your attitude is 100% spite, you're just rationalizing it.
    - fsflover 6y ago
      > Censoring messages on Wechat does not affect US. It removes spying on US users.
      - FooBarWidget 6y ago
        If the ban is limited to the US only, and if they provide clear conditions on how to resolve this problem (such as pointing out which concrete US data laws are violated, and talking about clear steps towards resolving those violations) then you may have a point. But the ban is world wide. Even inside China. And there are no conditions, it's a ban that cannot be resolved. Claims of spying is just an excuse. They want to burn China's prosperity down to the ground.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    - jariel 6y ago
      The CCP is absolutely censoring, monitoring and harvesting data from every app that is based and controlled from China, especially WeChat. That is publicly stated policy. There is no need for 'tit for tat' apps from China should be banned by every reasonable jurisdiction outside China for that reason alone. Without even getting complicated, just using EU GDPR as a basis for banning it would be just fine under already established legislation. We just went through the entire 20th century of trying to overcome such bad regimes, the only reason that China is able to get away with any of it is due to basic economic power i.e. trade interdependance. So it's time to reconsider and realign - too bad Trump pulled out of the TPP because that would have been a good first step.