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The US government would speak from a place of greater credibility if their sabre-rattling on "security" grounds didn't line up oh-so-perfectly with commercial c
by hakfoo 4y ago
The US government would speak from a place of greater credibility if their sabre-rattling on "security" grounds didn't line up oh-so-perfectly with commercial concerns.
Huawei and ZTE were selling cheaper, good enough kit that was appealing enough that Western telecoms would buy it.
TikTok is succeeding in markets where Facebook and Twitter are foundering.
Various "let's deny them chips/equipment" activity might protect Taiwan, but it also serves to hamstring their economic development.
Being able to pull the "security" card is a great way to allow the existing players to remove a huge headache without being inherently more competitive.
If we're worried about mapping/surveilance of high value targets, those places should be no-phones as a whole in the first place. If you don't have enough organizational discipline to prevent soldiers from livestreaming their equipment, perhaps you need to be addressing that rather than whack-a-moling platforms.
If you're concerned about CPC propaganda, the answer is in parenting and education. Kids need to learn intelligent media consumption, whether it's "The toy is never as good as in the TV commercial" or "Check the credentials and sponsors of the news sources your friends are pushing, and devalue accordingly."
- sk5t 4y ago> If you're concerned about CPC propaganda, the answer is in parenting and education. Isn't this like saying the solution to greenhouse gases is personally to drive less, while sparing any broader regulation, i.e. a ridiculous but business-friendly fiction?
- hakfoo 4y agoI'd say it's more "We're going to teach everyone to read rather than expect everyone to put picture symbols on everything." Media literacy is hugely important. It goes beyond CPC propaganda, but that's definitely a good way to start the conversation. If we start trying to go after specific platforms and messages, it's a fiasco: a lot of splash damage (people losing their platforms), a lot of playing catch up as the culture advances faster than regulators, and a dangerous risk of uneven enforcement (will domestic-terrorist content be as relentlessly monitored as pro-China content?) It also can never reach certain types of disinformation that's politically or commercially favoured. Better media consumers are immune from a broader set of threats.
- MagicMoonlight 4y agoNah, I’m happy with the concentration camp country being banned from selling products