I can’t find it now but a while ago I read a very interesting article about a guy who worked for the Chinese censorship service, tried to blow the whistle on them violating their own laws and eventually fled the country.
I also read about the wallbleed hack that exposed the sort of data China gathers from internet users as well as how their DNS interception system works to stop users from accessing forbidden domain names.
I think there are definitely many in the UK who WANT China’s level of censorship. But even as the situation in the UK is becoming dire, the scale of internet policing, scope of topics that are censored by the government, and the severity of punishment dealt out are still well behind that of China.
(I remember the guy who fled China being at risk of a 15+ year sentence, for example. Worst I have seen in UK is 4 years… Which is still insane enough to start a riot, but not equal to China).
I agree that the punishment for people breaking those laws in China are way beyond anything in the UK, and probably most other countries. The thing is that it’s happening, that is the problem. Free speech, privacy, the right to disagree and be vocal about it, it’s all being removed, at an alarming speed, and it’s only accelerating.
This is from ‘democratic’ countries, countries that love using the word freedom. We have become so hypnotized with the bullshit on the internet and all the comforts in our lives that we lost sight of what is important. Now the rich and powerful, politicians or corporate, have taken advantage of that willful ignorance, and I say willful because we chose to take the breadcrumbs they gave us in exchange of our freedom and dignity, and now, if we don’t do something fast, the only way to regain any fraction of that will be by swimming on rivers of blood.
That is what I’m concerned about. I’m 51 years old, so I certainly already lived over half of my life. However, younger folks, I think 30 or less today, will have to live most of their lives without any real freedom, just going through their lives existing under the oppression of these governments and the mega-rich corporate owners and executives. Having to take whatever they want to give them, and not being able to dissent without certain repercussions, and repercussions that we don’t yet know how hard and bad.
I honestly hope it doesn’t come to that, but go do some research, things all over the world are unhinged right bow, and we’re all living mostly on the decisions of a select few, however they see fit.
It’s grim, but we need to stop trying to cover the sun with one finger and risk being called lunatics when we bring this shit up. I see things happening that I’ve been telling people about for over 10 years, only worse than I thought they would be, and some people are finally starting to see it, however still choose to do nothing about it. Still using windows, Facebook, X, iPhones, buying Samsung phones. It’s wild how we’ve become numb to our own demise.
I’m not trying to trick anyone into anything. I’m just following the facts, and the fact is that the western civilization is not too far from becoming China.
I guess we’re of the same mind. China, barring China, Russia and any other openly authoritarian country, are the worst right now. Now, the ‘democratic’ countries some (most?) of us live in right now are quickly approaching the same levels of constraint and subjection of those same countries we so regularly call out for the exact same behavior of their governments.
Debatable. The UK is already there, followed very closely by Australia, and then the US.
I can’t find it now but a while ago I read a very interesting article about a guy who worked for the Chinese censorship service, tried to blow the whistle on them violating their own laws and eventually fled the country.
I also read about the wallbleed hack that exposed the sort of data China gathers from internet users as well as how their DNS interception system works to stop users from accessing forbidden domain names.
I think there are definitely many in the UK who WANT China’s level of censorship. But even as the situation in the UK is becoming dire, the scale of internet policing, scope of topics that are censored by the government, and the severity of punishment dealt out are still well behind that of China.
(I remember the guy who fled China being at risk of a 15+ year sentence, for example. Worst I have seen in UK is 4 years… Which is still insane enough to start a riot, but not equal to China).
I agree that the punishment for people breaking those laws in China are way beyond anything in the UK, and probably most other countries. The thing is that it’s happening, that is the problem. Free speech, privacy, the right to disagree and be vocal about it, it’s all being removed, at an alarming speed, and it’s only accelerating.
This is from ‘democratic’ countries, countries that love using the word freedom. We have become so hypnotized with the bullshit on the internet and all the comforts in our lives that we lost sight of what is important. Now the rich and powerful, politicians or corporate, have taken advantage of that willful ignorance, and I say willful because we chose to take the breadcrumbs they gave us in exchange of our freedom and dignity, and now, if we don’t do something fast, the only way to regain any fraction of that will be by swimming on rivers of blood.
That is what I’m concerned about. I’m 51 years old, so I certainly already lived over half of my life. However, younger folks, I think 30 or less today, will have to live most of their lives without any real freedom, just going through their lives existing under the oppression of these governments and the mega-rich corporate owners and executives. Having to take whatever they want to give them, and not being able to dissent without certain repercussions, and repercussions that we don’t yet know how hard and bad.
I honestly hope it doesn’t come to that, but go do some research, things all over the world are unhinged right bow, and we’re all living mostly on the decisions of a select few, however they see fit.
It’s grim, but we need to stop trying to cover the sun with one finger and risk being called lunatics when we bring this shit up. I see things happening that I’ve been telling people about for over 10 years, only worse than I thought they would be, and some people are finally starting to see it, however still choose to do nothing about it. Still using windows, Facebook, X, iPhones, buying Samsung phones. It’s wild how we’ve become numb to our own demise.
To keep it short, I agree, I just dont like to see people trying to trick teenagers on here that China isnt worse than the west is right now.
I’m not trying to trick anyone into anything. I’m just following the facts, and the fact is that the western civilization is not too far from becoming China.
I guess we’re of the same mind. China, barring China, Russia and any other openly authoritarian country, are the worst right now. Now, the ‘democratic’ countries some (most?) of us live in right now are quickly approaching the same levels of constraint and subjection of those same countries we so regularly call out for the exact same behavior of their governments.