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Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

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Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#151
post #76
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I would been unable to give an accurate answer, I would certainly forget something I used in the past 5 years.

Well another question was much worse than that one: 1. Your complete travel history over the last 15 years, including source of funding for travel, in chronological order. I don't know anyone who would be able to answer that one accurately.

If I didn't know better, I'd think you were quoting a darkly humorous dystopian novel. Only the top few percent of obsessively organized people and the bottom few percent of infrequent travelers will ever be able to answer that question truthfully. What a farce.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#152
> This is yet another example of why the surveillance regime in Xinjiang is one of the most unlawful

This is hyperbolic. It's potentially reprehensible and almost certainly oppressive. But it's not unlawful in a state without the rule of law.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US ... This style of argument is deflection, and it gets us nowhere. It's very effective in redirecting the focus away from one bad actor and onto another bad actor, though.

Call it what it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Can you explain what's wrong with whataboutism?

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#154
post #144
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the lawyer mentioned LinkedIn as one. She didn't mention dating websites specifically that I recall, but I agree with you it sounds like they would be covered from the definition.

Dating sites would not be covered.

You have a public profile on which you can post status updates and photos. Sounds like it’s covered, to me.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#156
post #82

Given China's expansive attitude to industrial espionage (all foreign companies are fair game), if I were in charge of security for a large multinational, what's my security policy going to be for my employees who travel to China for meetings? Does this change anything? or is behaviour like this from China or indeed anyone else, already priced in?

Others can chime in, but I believe that most serious companies doing business with China have a burner-device policy for employees travelling to China. Your devices will all be hacked with industrial espionage malware, and just in case you don't have anything on those devices, you will be given devices as "gifts"—like flash drives and WiFi-equipped smart home devices--that will exploit any devices you didn't bring wi…

Microsoft did not have such a policy, but we also had huge development resources already based in China.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#157
post #6

The US is forcing its tourists to give away a list of all their social media accounts and all their email accounts. If you're a foreign journalist writing pseudonymously for your safety, you must now share that information with the US government to enter the country. This isn't quite on the level of forcing people to install malware on their phone yet, but give it a couple years.

I assume you're referring to this form: https://www.axistravel.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ONL... Regarding email address, it's under "contact information" same as "home address". What's the problem? Regarding social media, it says "optional", so...?

This is the form for ESTA, the travel authorization one must obtain if entering the US under the visa waiver program by air or sea. On the visa application forms, the social media questions are not optional, though still limited to a particular list of social media sites. The visa form is used people from countries who are not in the visa waiver program as well as who are not entering under the VWP (for example workers, students, journalists, tourists/business travelers staying longer than 90 days, and immigrants).

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rest of China is captured by wechat anyways. This is only really useful for foreign reporters travelling in XinJiang. China could technically just ban foreigners from travelling there but somehow thinks the optics of this is better.

It is weird because there are no travel restrictions for foreigners going to Xinjiang (mostly, some places are off limits), you just buy a plane or train ticket. Going to Tibet is a lot harder for foreigners.

I think Tibet still very much has Western imagination captured whereas Uyghar Muslims... do not. Even more cynical analysis, Xinjiang is fundamentally an exercise in reducing the real problem of Islamic radicalization and the non response from many countries (including Muslim ones) is that they are quietly observing to see if the experiment pays off. The danger of Xinjiang is that surveillance state + "vocational" reintegration camps might actually be a productive model that can be exported elsewhere.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#160
post #29

Urumqi is a quite big transit hub, but I opt to never buy flights through it for the chance of winning a free cavity search. That's another reason to keep away from that place.

I don’t think you would have much problems in Urumqi these days, the problems only start when you leave the big city.

Is Urumqi really an international hub? I can’t imagine anyone flying through that city for any trip that didn’t originate or terminate in China. Chengdu is much more of the hub these days.

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