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Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

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Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#11

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Rainymood wrote: post #9
adamleo wrote: post #8

Users don't do anything because they don't care. Chinese people have the mentality that makes them think, I didn't do anything wrong so what am I afraid of?

Good job on generalizing more than 1 billion people in one fell swoop, i.e. thrice the population of the US.

It's obviously a generalization. Of course there's edge cases where it doesn't apply and groups who it applies to less. That's part of the nature of generalizations. They're not meant to be comprehensive. Complaining that it ignores the nuance is like complaining a knife makes a bad spoon.

Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#13

Post by yorwba »

hyayz wrote: post #5
jonplackett wrote: post #4

Still not clear how users are 'helping' exactly? Seems like they just have their chats filtered. What am I missing? This is a frustrating article to read. Every sentence and paragraph from the start to about 3/4 down just repeats the same information as is in the headline over and over again in a different format.

SCMP. An anti-China rag.

The more common accusation is that they're too "pro-Beijing": https://hn.algolia.com/?query=SCMP%20pro-Beijing&type=commen...

Seems like they're doing something right with their reporting if both "pro-China" and "anti-China" camps believe them to be allied with the enemy.

Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#14

Post by heraclius »

yorwba wrote: post #13
hyayz wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SCMP. An anti-China rag.

The more common accusation is that they're too "pro-Beijing": https://hn.algolia.com/?query=SCMP%20pro-Beijing&type=commen... Seems like they're doing something right with their reporting if both "pro-China" and "anti-China" camps believe them to be allied with the enemy.

I don’t think that there is much evidence of being excessively against China; I remember one incident suggesting the opposite.¹ There are certainly more establishment voices in the opinion pages than elsewhere, but they are on the liberal side of the establishment camp; the editor, for example, has attacked the government’s intransigence in the handling of the extradition bill, but is generally pro-establishment.

1. http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&tas...

Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#15

Post by maxheadroom »

adrianN wrote: post #12
adamleo wrote: post #8

Users don't do anything because they don't care. Chinese people have the mentality that makes them think, I didn't do anything wrong so what am I afraid of?

The same mentality can be seen in the West too.

>The same mentality can be seen in the West too.

Most demonstrated, IMPE, by the phrase, "You have nothing to fear, if you have nothing hide."

Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#16

Post by yorwba »

heraclius wrote: post #14
yorwba wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more common accusation is that they're too "pro-Beijing": https://hn.algolia.com/?query=SCMP%20pro-Beijing&type=commen... Seems like they're doing something right with their reporting if both "pro-China" and "anti-China" camps believe them to be allied with the enemy.

I don’t think that there is much evidence of being excessively against China; I remember one incident suggesting the opposite.¹ There are certainly more establishment voices in the opinion pages than elsewhere, but they are on the liberal side of the establishment camp; the editor, for example, has attacked the government’s intransigence in the handling of the extradition bill, but is generally pro-establishment. 1.…

Your link doesn't seem to point to a specific article. I get a page that looks exactly the same as the AsiaSentinel home page.

Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#17

Post by crusty »

acqq wrote: post #3

After reading the article it seems to me that, contrary to the title, the users don't do anything to actively "aid" the built-in blacklisting in the app?

If the image classification for censorship is applied to all images sent worldwide, but only China-based accounts get censored, then just by using the app among non-China-registered accounts to share images that would be sensitive in China, uncensored users are unwittingly helping to build the censored image database before users in China ever try to share the material.

Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#18

Post by acqq »

crusty wrote: post #17
acqq wrote: post #3

After reading the article it seems to me that, contrary to the title, the users don't do anything to actively "aid" the built-in blacklisting in the app?

If the image classification for censorship is applied to all images sent worldwide, but only China-based accounts get censored, then just by using the app among non-China-registered accounts to share images that would be sensitive in China, uncensored users are unwittingly helping to build the censored image database before users in China ever try to share the material.

By that logic every internet user everywhere is “helping“ because wechat can train their algorithms on any public picture “before”.

It‘s just a false claim that the “users” are helping.

Re: Unwitting users of WeChat aid the app’s blacklisting of sensitive images

#19

Post by heraclius »

yorwba wrote: post #16
heraclius wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think that there is much evidence of being excessively against China; I remember one incident suggesting the opposite.¹ There are certainly more establishment voices in the opinion pages than elsewhere, but they are on the liberal side of the establishment camp; the editor, for example, has attacked the government’s intransigence in the handling of the extradition bill, but is generally pro-establishment. 1.…

Your link doesn't seem to point to a specific article. I get a page that looks exactly the same as the AsiaSentinel home page.

You’re right—I remember reading something from AsiaSentinel and getting there via the Wikipedia page on media censorship in HK, but it doesn’t link to anything any more. I should have checked. There are lots of stories on Google though so is possible to verify that I am not in fact making things up.
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