121–130 of 190 posts
As it stands end users are reduced to pawns in the emerging power struggle between governments and multinationals.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue is that Google's mail servers can't communicate with servers within China, so any user of a Chinese mail service will not be able to send mail to Gmail users (and vice versa). If you are within China using a VPN to access Gmail, Google still can't send emails back in to Chinese machines.
Ah. Seems dumb of them. There are millions of Chinese people all around the world that will be trying to email their family back home. Why block just one email provider? Why try to segregate yourself from the world's email network? It isn't even going to work because what every Chinese person will do is get a tunnel to sign up for the non-Chinese email service (maybe even Gmail!) and it will just further push people…
Not surprising considering the tricks they've been pulling of late. What can be said here? The people have chosen an autocratic government and often, without me even provoking them, will tell me how superior is is to western values, the same way Russians will also do. As an international traveler and sometimes international worker, this is fairly typical stuff. I see this kind of thing on VK and Facebook all the time…
I think you understand different values to be important than a Chinese does. A Chinese may not care about open internet as much as you do. (Though even that is for different reasons than you outlined. ie-not so much because of 'decadent values' as much as because the average Chinese believes the West uses the internet and Western news media outlets to 'keep China down'. It's more for nationalistic reasons than for va…
Beijing also prevents information (as well as people) flowing from one part of the country to another, both physically and digitally, to prevent outbreaks (typically against the government).
These are just two examples. Please tell me how Beijing is alleviating oppression.
It's fairly interesting to contrast the reaction here with that whenever Uber is involved. Google violate laws in China, but apparently that's to be encouraged, yet if Uber do the same in a nice supposed liberal democracy they are to be criticised? As it stands end users are reduced to pawns in the emerging power struggle between governments and multinationals.
I also don't think you understand HN very well. What is supported is not supported on grounds of legality but on what is viewed as good for people as a whole. "What is legal is what is right and what is right is what is legal" is the antithesis of how most hackers think.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah. Seems dumb of them. There are millions of Chinese people all around the world that will be trying to email their family back home. Why block just one email provider? Why try to segregate yourself from the world's email network? It isn't even going to work because what every Chinese person will do is get a tunnel to sign up for the non-Chinese email service (maybe even Gmail!) and it will just further push people…
Why block one email provider? Because China isn't a fan of Google. Yes they will be cut off from the world. But if you want to communicate with the Chinese, you will simply use something other than Gmail.
If I worked in Yahoo!'s SOC this'd put me on high alert.
Travelling in China right now. No Google services work but Gmail via SMTP on my iPhone seems fine. I'm not confident all emails go through though. Heading to Hong Kong tonight so not sure if that will be different. Using VPN does open everything but obviously becomes slower. It's not only Google though, all social media. Speaking to locals they don't care. There is an alternative for everything and they are better su…
>>Speaking to locals they don't care Locals don't care that they can't use certain American sites, or don't care that they are intellectually oppressed?
Not surprising considering the tricks they've been pulling of late. What can be said here? The people have chosen an autocratic government and often, without me even provoking them, will tell me how superior is is to western values, the same way Russians will also do. As an international traveler and sometimes international worker, this is fairly typical stuff. I see this kind of thing on VK and Facebook all the time…
There are rational reasons to prefer authoritative government, especially in changing countries, especially without a tradition of democracy. I have no idea why GMail was censored, but I´m assuming it has to do with heightened security protocol. It is likely that some people in China used the service for nefarious purposes (local official corruption is probable) and that the authorities wanted to keep opposable proof…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The people have chosen an autocratic government" - saying so is so unfair to us. Maybe people like me who desire for an unblocked Internet is a minority (when compared to the population in this country), but people who desire for safe milk and food, clean water and fresh air for their babies are not! But on the other hand, I must say that your observations described in your first paragraph are correct. Take the rece…
We in the US complain about our lack of choice in the political system. We have two parties, making our choices rather limited in elections. However, China has a one party system. There is no counter to the Communist Party.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are rational reasons to prefer authoritative government, especially in changing countries, especially without a tradition of democracy. I have no idea why GMail was censored, but I´m assuming it has to do with heightened security protocol. It is likely that some people in China used the service for nefarious purposes (local official corruption is probable) and that the authorities wanted to keep opposable proof…
The claim that democracy and "Western values" would not work well in China due to cultural reasons is weakened by the fact that it seems to be doing fine in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, which have very similar cultural backgrounds.
More importantly, my point was that "claim" is very far from a single, consistent argument about how 'Asia' works (I do not think that 'Asia' is really a consistent entity). It's more a convenient accretion of reaction to local experiences, often negatives. Western values work fine say, on Pacific islands that have had an incredibly different culture.