The great firewall is not an impenetrable fortress. People in China routinely access the external world and most websites are not blocked at all until they are

The great firewall is not an impenetrable fortress. People in China routinely access the external world and most websites are not blocked at all until they are found to contain 'anti-nationalist' material. Even then, people use a variety of VPNs to access sites not otherwise accessible. As to your second point, people of all countries are easily blinded by their own nationalistic rethoric. I mean how many in the US had access to the same information as Snowden and said nothing? People acting in these circles are vetted for their patriotism and checks are in place to make sure they don't deviate. People who are into these secret clubs -whether they are government agencies, hacking groups, terrorists, etc- tend to not want to lose their privileges, because it gives them power an insight- and also because they know the consequences to themselves -and possibly on their families- of violating their masters' trust. It takes real courage to give that up and the outcome is probably often pretty bleak.