Data leak reveals China is tracking almost 2.6m people in Xinjiang • Hacker News Board

Re: Data leak reveals China is tracking almost 2.6m people in Xinjiang

#111

Post by tomhoward » Mon, Feb 18, 2019, 7:01 AM UTC

zug_zug wrote: post #76

bigmonads wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I reject the accusation of "whataboutism". Let's take those in order. "Why have I made 5~6 comments in the thread?" It's an interesting topic that I've spent over 5 years researching. "Why are you talking about the United States in a China thread?" I think this comment captures it well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19185364

Well I'm gonna be one of the people downvoting all the whataboutism I see, if you have 13 comments doing it that's 13 downvotes. Immorality in one region isn't excused by immorality in another. If what you mean to say is "This is absolutely inexcusable in China, and inexcusable in the West too" that's fine, but completely irrelevant to the article at hand, but I don't think that's what you're saying.

It's not about agreeing whether or not something is indeed "inexcusable" in one region or another, but understanding things in their context.

One can't fully comprehend an issue without comparing/contrasting it with other scenarios that may be somewhat comparable.

Re: Data leak reveals China is tracking almost 2.6m people in Xinjiang

#112

Post by gcb0 » Mon, Feb 18, 2019, 12:01 PM UTC

ardy42 wrote: post #108

gcb0 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

likle anyone walks on a sidewalk in california! facebook have everyone around you uploading photos. google and amazon have microphones in your house and houses you visit. considering the social settings on both countries it is the same coverage.

>>> but how is this facial data collection any different than Facebook's? > facebook have everyone around you uploading photos. google and amazon have microphones in your house and houses you visit. considering the social settings on both countries it is the same coverage. The main differences here aren't technical (such as camera coverage per person), but political. China is installing facial recognition cameras to…

most people on FB never signed up for it. they have my phone number and social graph because my acquaintances let the app upload their contact list, and same for photos.

also, can you say that facebook, advertising and thinktanks are not political in the US?

Re: Data leak reveals China is tracking almost 2.6m people in Xinjiang

#113

Post by viivaux » Mon, Feb 18, 2019, 12:59 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #110

viivaux wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a time when your comments here would be discussed and generally agreed with instead of blindly downvoted and removed. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time HN had a good discussion about US censorship and surveillance. Weird.

Would you please stop posting flamewar comments to HN? They only lower the quality of this site even further.

There was no legitimate reason to remove this man's comments. He provided a legitimate perspective, and wasn't flaming anyone or being rude.

Defending him was your job, not mine.

Re: Data leak reveals China is tracking almost 2.6m people in Xinjiang

#114

Post by dang » Mon, Feb 18, 2019, 5:50 PM UTC

viivaux wrote: post #113

dang wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you please stop posting flamewar comments to HN? They only lower the quality of this site even further.

There was no legitimate reason to remove this man's comments. He provided a legitimate perspective, and wasn't flaming anyone or being rude. Defending him was your job, not mine.

Defending someone is no reason to break the site guidelines. If you keep doing that, we will ban you.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19187633 was particularly unacceptable.

Re: Data leak reveals China is tracking almost 2.6m people in Xinjiang

#115

Post by chrischen » Wed, Feb 27, 2019, 8:31 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #32

chrischen wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? Simply because they have it means it's bad, regardless of what they do with it? Seems you've already formulated an opinion.

Well, one thing can be bad in itself. Breach of privacy is bad in itself. Thats not the parent's "formulated opinion", it's something well discussed, with extended arguments, that many people agree on. So it doesn't matter "what they're going to do with it". The same way your spouse going over and tracking your internet searches and mails is bad, no matter if they don't do anything with it. (This of course holds for…

There is no universal "evil" or "band". Everything is context sensitive.

Is killing evil? In some contexts, yes, in others no.

The issue is a lack of context in affairs on the other side of the world, in a culture and the lives one has no knowledge about. To levy moral supremacy over others without an attempt at context is what starts wars and disagreements.

Take this thought experiment on the importance of understanding context: If i walk into a room and levy my supreme morality by shooting you in the face because i Just saw you shoot a man would be a crime, because perhaps I did not witness the context from 5 minutes earlier of that man shooting another man (which is why you shot him in the face, and ultimately why I shot you). Who's right? Who's wrong?