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The reason China's censorship works so well is not because it is so hard to bypass, its because the general populace doesn't understand or wants to take the tim

The reason China's censorship works so well is not because it is so hard to bypass, its because the general populace doesn't understand or wants to take the time to understand how to bypass it. Imagine if FOX was your only news source just because you had to go out of your way to get a black box and steal your neighbor's cable. (Maybe that's stretching it a little, but you get my point.)

KirinDave 18y ago
I don't agree with this statement at all. China has a lot of highly educated (and in practice, unemployed) young people. Many of them are in IT. In my opinion, it's ludicrous to think that large numbers of people don't circumvent the great firewall routinely (perhaps even for simple privacy issues devoid of any seditious intent). Look at America. Lots of people use privacy-enhancing technology, even in illegal contexts, without really understanding it or the issues that surround it.
- gojomo 18y ago
  Those people who are skilled enough to circumvent the censorship also know they could be summarily punished for doing so. That is, the firewall/censorship is not designed to be unbreakable, but just to send a message: when you go around this, you are now breaking our rules, and we can get you at our option. This is effective enough to induce people to limit their curiousity. See for example James Fallows, who lives in China and is not just speculating on what's 'ludicrous to think': "'The Connection Has Been Reset' - China’s Great Firewall is crude, slapdash, and surprisingly easy to breach. Here’s why it’s so effective anyway." http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall The punishment might include "re-education through labor" without any trial, or disappearing into detention, as with people who simply applied for protest permits during the recent olympics: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html?em http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest....

KirinDave 18y ago

I don't agree with this statement at all. China has a lot of highly educated (and in practice, unemployed) young people. Many of them are in IT. In my opinion, it's ludicrous to think that large numbers of people don't circumvent the great firewall routinely (perhaps even for simple privacy issues devoid of any seditious intent). Look at America. Lots of people use privacy-enhancing technology, even in illegal contexts, without really understanding it or the issues that surround it.

gojomo 18y ago
Those people who are skilled enough to circumvent the censorship also know they could be summarily punished for doing so. That is, the firewall/censorship is not designed to be unbreakable, but just to send a message: when you go around this, you are now breaking our rules, and we can get you at our option. This is effective enough to induce people to limit their curiousity. See for example James Fallows, who lives in China and is not just speculating on what's 'ludicrous to think': "'The Connection Has Been Reset' - China’s Great Firewall is crude, slapdash, and surprisingly easy to breach. Here’s why it’s so effective anyway." http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall The punishment might include "re-education through labor" without any trial, or disappearing into detention, as with people who simply applied for protest permits during the recent olympics: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html?em http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest....