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We are doing the exact same thing with political messages that we label "extremist" or dangerous. (for example: political messages of radical Islamists) And le

We are doing the exact same thing with political messages that we label "extremist" or dangerous. (for example: political messages of radical Islamists) And lets be serious: the US and EU would never accept or allow that a Chinese social network is as successful in the US/EU as Facebook is right now, with all the private data potentially getting into the hands of the Chinese government. If something like that happened, I'm pretty sure we'd just block those websites. Just look at the US paranoia that Huawei had to deal with. The US senate (and UK/Australia) restricted their business and subjected them to additional oversight. Also, they warned South Korea to prevent a deal between Huawei and a South Korean telecommunication company. They didn't even show any evidence for their suspicion of backdoors, it's sufficient that it could be possible.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago
WeChat is not blocked in the USA. Nothing is blocked in the USA actually, they don't have the infrastructure for it and the lines out aren't routed through central points as in china. If you think US censorship is even in the same league as Chinese censorship, you need to come visit for a few weeks.
- c1sc0 12y ago
  WeChat works perfectly fine from the EU as well. I'm using it everyday to chat with my inlaws because that's the network they are on.
- DominikR 12y ago
  I didn't say that it's in the same league, I just mentioned that we do have censorship for opinions that the government thinks are dangerous. That is _exactly_ the same way China justifies its censorship. It doesn't matter that the US censors less, since once the laws are in place to censor opinions, the government can always expand censorship activities later. I stand by my opinion, that Chinese social networks would be censored here, if they were as widely used as Facebook. Just imagine the NSA being unable to reach all your private data while China can. This wouldn't be tolerated.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    The threat of censorship is quite different than actual censorship. I have to live with most websites being blocked, search engines not working, wondering from day to day what will work, or if the VPN will, actually work or not. Now you talking about what the states could or would do, even though they haven't done it yet. Actions are much stronger than paranoia.
frozenport 12y ago
>>the US and EU would never accept or allow that a Chinese social network Half the stuff coming into the US is made in China, so its hard to speak about protectionist economics. Social networks from any country do not threaten the political order, but are rather used by politicians and interest groups to gather supporters. In China social media is used to highlight broken promises between unelected government officials and those who they supposedly serve. In the US you could elect different politician, but in China the only remedy for a lack of accountability is revolution. To state the obvious, social media is a vehicle for democracy, and this has left the Chinese government terrified.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

WeChat is not blocked in the USA. Nothing is blocked in the USA actually, they don't have the infrastructure for it and the lines out aren't routed through central points as in china. If you think US censorship is even in the same league as Chinese censorship, you need to come visit for a few weeks.

c1sc0 12y ago
WeChat works perfectly fine from the EU as well. I'm using it everyday to chat with my inlaws because that's the network they are on.
DominikR 12y ago
I didn't say that it's in the same league, I just mentioned that we do have censorship for opinions that the government thinks are dangerous. That is _exactly_ the same way China justifies its censorship. It doesn't matter that the US censors less, since once the laws are in place to censor opinions, the government can always expand censorship activities later. I stand by my opinion, that Chinese social networks would be censored here, if they were as widely used as Facebook. Just imagine the NSA being unable to reach all your private data while China can. This wouldn't be tolerated.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  The threat of censorship is quite different than actual censorship. I have to live with most websites being blocked, search engines not working, wondering from day to day what will work, or if the VPN will, actually work or not. Now you talking about what the states could or would do, even though they haven't done it yet. Actions are much stronger than paranoia.

frozenport 12y ago

>>the US and EU would never accept or allow that a Chinese social network Half the stuff coming into the US is made in China, so its hard to speak about protectionist economics. Social networks from any country do not threaten the political order, but are rather used by politicians and interest groups to gather supporters. In China social media is used to highlight broken promises between unelected government officials and those who they supposedly serve. In the US you could elect different politician, but in China the only remedy for a lack of accountability is revolution. To state the obvious, social media is a vehicle for democracy, and this has left the Chinese government terrified.