Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
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Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#2Not just Zoom; China has effective means to pressure.
> In 2019, LinkedIn blocked Zhou's account from being visible in China, telling him in a message it was because of "specific content on your profile." LinkedIn restored his account after media attention.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#3> Zoom did not respond to a request for comment.
When you can't say anything that won't get you into deeper trouble, say nothing at all.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#4Aiding in the Chinese media's censorship is not good for China nor the world. When a government destroys the ability for it to be criticized it becomes untethered from consensus reality; megalomaniacs can take the reins and a kind of national hubris forms that can lead to devastating conflict and oppression.
All governments need open dissent and criticism to keep from going down this path. Zoom should not be aiding and abetting the regime in this way.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#5Aiding in the Chinese media's censorship is not good for China nor the world. When a government destroys the ability for it to be criticized it becomes untethered from consensus reality; megalomaniacs can take the reins and a kind of national hubris forms that can lead to devastating conflict and oppression. All governments need open dissent and criticism to keep from going down this path. Zoom should not be aiding a…
Well, this presumes that it's a government acting in good faith. Sure, something like the UK or a EU country should have dissent and criticism to keep democracy healthy. However, countries like China, Russia, and NK, have no interest in fostering a healthy dialogue and it wouldn't be very conducive to their government's interests.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#6Aiding in the Chinese media's censorship is not good for China nor the world. When a government destroys the ability for it to be criticized it becomes untethered from consensus reality; megalomaniacs can take the reins and a kind of national hubris forms that can lead to devastating conflict and oppression. All governments need open dissent and criticism to keep from going down this path. Zoom should not be aiding a…
Well, this presumes that it's a government acting in good faith. Sure, something like the UK or a EU country should have dissent and criticism to keep democracy healthy. However, countries like China, Russia, and NK, have no interest in fostering a healthy dialogue and it wouldn't be very conducive to their government's interests.
> it wouldn't be very conducive to their government's interests.
It depends on your timeline. If you eliminate dissent you may be able to push through short-term aims or develop a facsimile of national unity, but you will naturally eliminate nuance from your geopolitics. Even one or two generations into this experiment, you can wind up with a leader who truly "drinks the koolaid," who assumes the state propaganda to be reality. At that point, the regime is doomed.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#7This kind of thing is the exact reason why I was disturbed by the Keybase.io sale to Zoom and abandoned my account. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23105253)
I've been currently using Zoom during the pandemic because as a product it's still the best (and I signed up for a discounted year of pro), but I won't give them any money again.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#8I feel like the good faith presumption for this company has to have shifted by now. Is there any reason not to assume that the Chinese government is surveilling Zoom calls en masse? Documenting participants (face, voice, language, location, etc.), recording content, etc. We're talking about the data of 200M+ users.
I see people on HN defending Zoom all the time.
>The company has acknowledged that much of its product development has been based in China, and that some Zoom calls were accidentally routed through Chinese servers.
>The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said it found serious concerns over Zoom's security protocols, and said the company's large workforce in China left it "responsive to pressure from Chinese authorities."
>The government of Taiwan banned official use of Zoom due to security concerns, as have New York State schools, the U.S. Senate, and the German ministry of foreign affairs.
>Zoom CEO Eric Yuan said in early June that the company has chosen not to encrypt free calls in order to cooperate with law enforcement.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#9Not just Zoom; China has effective means to pressure. > In 2019, LinkedIn blocked Zhou's account from being visible in China, telling him in a message it was because of "specific content on your profile." LinkedIn restored his account after media attention.
But what this means is that someone from Chinese government gives a call to to MS or LinkedIn management and ask for these things, suggesting that any other option would result in less purchases of their office licenses and etc.
Re: Zoom closes account of U.S.-based Chinese activist after Tiananmen event
#10It is ironic how the western public generally frowns upon the silencing of dissident throught in China, and at the same time welcomes precisely the same behavior for "sensitive topics" back home.