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The Chinese government never never really care about counter terrorism, all they care about is keeping their power. To keep their power they need to control the

The Chinese government never never really care about counter terrorism, all they care about is keeping their power. To keep their power they need to control their people's mind, to control people's mind they need to control the internet. That's it. It's not about privacy, it's about free speech. Please do not confuse this with the debate (about privacy) happening in the western countries.

jchrome 12y ago
Inevitably when you take away privacy you hamper freedom of speech. There have already been polls of journalists who are concerned with reporting on important items because of a lack of privacy.
task_queue 12y ago
Same parallels can be drawn for western powers. Counterterrorism is the raison du jour for expanding and securing power. See what we've done and continue to do to the free press when it concerns our military affairs or national security. See the firewalls western countries are building that rival the Great Firewall.
dragonwriter 12y ago
The debate about online privacy vs. the government in the West is largely about free speech vs. governments exercising total control to maintain power, so I'm not sure what distinction you are trying to make. I'm not saying that there isn't a very large difference in the current state of China vs. the West in this area, but the subject is the same.
- gonvaled 12y ago
  Well, you should be saying that there isn't a very large difference. Or maybe there is, but in the opposite way that you are suggesting. The US has the same motivation (proven by the leaks and media reports) of spying on people. More, they are willing to spy on the whole world population (as much as they can get), which the Chinese have little interest in doing it seems. And they have, much more than the Chinese: - the technical capabilities to implement those policies - the global presence to interfere in all communications worldwide - the political influence to force it in lots of places - the money to implement those policies Of all that, the Chinese can only dream. The only thing the Chinese have is a huge market that western companies want to tap, and that is what the Chinese government wants to use to get a foothold into your routers. But, in comparison to what the US wants and can do, this is peanuts.
- kailuowang 12y ago
  In China the control over internet is simply control over people, there is absolutely no benefit for the people - if you keep speaking against the government without hiding your identity, you are in trouble. So, there is no debate over whether more control from the government is good or bad. In the West there is at least still a debate between privacy (potential impact to free speech) and safety against terrorism.

jchrome 12y ago

Inevitably when you take away privacy you hamper freedom of speech. There have already been polls of journalists who are concerned with reporting on important items because of a lack of privacy.

task_queue 12y ago

Same parallels can be drawn for western powers. Counterterrorism is the raison du jour for expanding and securing power. See what we've done and continue to do to the free press when it concerns our military affairs or national security. See the firewalls western countries are building that rival the Great Firewall.

dragonwriter 12y ago

The debate about online privacy vs. the government in the West is largely about free speech vs. governments exercising total control to maintain power, so I'm not sure what distinction you are trying to make. I'm not saying that there isn't a very large difference in the current state of China vs. the West in this area, but the subject is the same.

gonvaled 12y ago
Well, you should be saying that there isn't a very large difference. Or maybe there is, but in the opposite way that you are suggesting. The US has the same motivation (proven by the leaks and media reports) of spying on people. More, they are willing to spy on the whole world population (as much as they can get), which the Chinese have little interest in doing it seems. And they have, much more than the Chinese: - the technical capabilities to implement those policies - the global presence to interfere in all communications worldwide - the political influence to force it in lots of places - the money to implement those policies Of all that, the Chinese can only dream. The only thing the Chinese have is a huge market that western companies want to tap, and that is what the Chinese government wants to use to get a foothold into your routers. But, in comparison to what the US wants and can do, this is peanuts.
kailuowang 12y ago
In China the control over internet is simply control over people, there is absolutely no benefit for the people - if you keep speaking against the government without hiding your identity, you are in trouble. So, there is no debate over whether more control from the government is good or bad. In the West there is at least still a debate between privacy (potential impact to free speech) and safety against terrorism.