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China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

nytimes.com

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Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#61

Post by discordance »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #5

Australia is deeply involved in this. China are actively trying to control conversation with Chinese students and immigrants here. The govt has literally bought all Chinese language press and semi regularly run full page 'articles' in the major press. They have been caught out several time pressuring universities and placing disruptive people in lectures that discuss areas they don't want. I believed agents recently…

Yes, Australia has even had politicians resign due to revealed influence China has had over them:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/12/sam-d...

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#62

Post by kazinator »

blfr wrote: post #33

Facebook suspended Mr. Guo’s account. In a statement, the company said the account published the personal information of others without their consent, which violated the platform’s policies. A spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Beijing’s complaints played a role. Chinese authorities have also successfully persuaded Google to pull down content that had been available around the globe. How do they use those sta…

+1 for originality: you don't seem to have cribbed the "standing desks without a spine" from any Googleable source.

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#63

Post by megaman22 »

sehugg wrote: post #53
forapurpose wrote: post #52

China has great influence in Hollywood, where major studios edit their films to meet Chinese censorship demands. When Disney made a film about the Dalai Lama, several years later the CEO of Disney traveled to China and apologized in person, saying it would never happen again. The Chinese government is literally censoring political content in the United States and other Western countries. Here's a cite for the Disney…

There's a bunch: https://screenrant.com/movies-changed-for-china/

The one that really sticks out is the recent Red Dawn remake. I mean, really, North Korea is going to invade the pacific coast? It was clearly written about Communist China, that's the only way the movie could have made the slightest bit of sense, but they kowtowed and turned it into a dumpster fire, and they still didn't procure release rights there.

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#64

Post by anthonyleecook »

zombieprocesses wrote: post #58

Isn't everyone trying to police what people say online now? Least of all the nytimes and the rest of the media? Europe does it. We do it. The media advocates for it. Is it just bad when the chinese do it? 90% of the time everyone here seems to support censorship and control over social media. Then the story is about china and everyone is against it.

There's censorship, and there's kidnapping/threats against citizens in other countries

"After U.S.-Based Reporters Exposed Abuses, China Seized Their Relatives"

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/world/asia/china-xinjiang...

"Chinese Police Are Demanding Personal Information From Uighurs in France. Officials have threatened to detain relatives of those who don’t comply."

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/02/chinese-police-are-secre...

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#65

Post by norikki »

zombieprocesses wrote: post #58

Isn't everyone trying to police what people say online now? Least of all the nytimes and the rest of the media? Europe does it. We do it. The media advocates for it. Is it just bad when the chinese do it? 90% of the time everyone here seems to support censorship and control over social media. Then the story is about china and everyone is against it.

But the people most censored on social media in the West are alt-right. Are you saying that white people wanting their own communities and countries is a legitimate interest on par with the Tibetans wanting their own communities and country?

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#66

Post by UncleEntity »

Slansitartop wrote: post #9
droopybuns wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>1st, 2nd, and 4th amendments I have been befuddled by the behavior of young people on these axis for the last 10 years. This observation you’ve made is super seductive... but I think the more likely reason we are in this mess is that the younger gens are foundationally devoid of skepticism. I applaud your creativity though. It definitely could be a contributing factor.

The grandparent is probably just mocking satire. I don't think any American, not even the most cartoonish millennial activists, wants to repeal the 4th amendment.

Well, unless the unreasonable seizures are being committed against "privileged" groups to guarantee equality of outcome (as opposed to equality of opportunity).

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#67

Post by jcranmer »

mistermann wrote: post #35
adventured wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> now China has passed the US in military technology China hasn't come close to passing the US in military technology in fact. Technologically they're behind the US in: destroyers, submarines, helicopters, drones, laser weapons, satellites, integrated command systems, aircraft carriers, ICBMs and general nuclear weapon technology, tanks, bombers, jet fighters. In several of these categories, China is extremely far be…

I believe this war will be won economically/politically/socially, not militarily, and China holds most of the cards in those areas if you ask me. EDIT: Hey serial downvoter, do you realize you've missed a few?

If there's one thing history shows starkly, it's that trying to fight a war without getting militarily involved does not end well.

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#68

Post by mirimir »

EggsOnToast wrote: post #54

This is just me soapboxing, but I would argue that situations like this illustrate a need for online social platforms run by the state. I realize the obvious vulnerabilities of such a setup, but if we believe free speech to be an essential element of our societies then we need social platforms beholden only to our own laws even if they simply exist in parallel to private platforms. The internet, and social media in t…

Conversely, it's arguable that we need social platforms that are immune to censorship by any state or private party. Such as properly implemented Tor onion services. But readily accessible from the open Internet.

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#69

Post by SubiculumCode »

EggsOnToast wrote: post #54

This is just me soapboxing, but I would argue that situations like this illustrate a need for online social platforms run by the state. I realize the obvious vulnerabilities of such a setup, but if we believe free speech to be an essential element of our societies then we need social platforms beholden only to our own laws even if they simply exist in parallel to private platforms. The internet, and social media in t…

I think there is a serious national security argument to be made against having the U.S. internet connect freely to Russian, Chinese, and other geopolitical adversary's internet.

Re: China is trying to police what people are saying about it around the world

#70

Post by larkeith »

EggsOnToast wrote: post #54

This is just me soapboxing, but I would argue that situations like this illustrate a need for online social platforms run by the state. I realize the obvious vulnerabilities of such a setup, but if we believe free speech to be an essential element of our societies then we need social platforms beholden only to our own laws even if they simply exist in parallel to private platforms. The internet, and social media in t…

Perhaps this is me being overly cynical, but a state-run social media platform seems like a recipe for massive, invisible, unchecked government surveillance and/or censorship. The last several years have made it abundantly clear that many parts of the US government do not consider privacy a right, and while our rights to free speech remain intact, I do not believe it is safe to assume this will remain the case across future administrations. In the worst case, a sufficiently popular administration could abuse state-run social platforms to locate, silence, and/or arrest dissidents, paving the way towards China-esque authoritarianism.

While such an extreme scenario is, needless to say, unlikely, the idea of centralizing the majority of social media under the control of a government that has shown increasing interest in mass surveillance remains something I am exceedingly dubious about.

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