this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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I tend to lean into accepting that ‘the US government has done some pretty horrific shit too’ camp, but I don’t do it as a way to shill for China, because fuck that authoritarian place. But it is dumb not to recognize massacres like Kent State, Tulsa, or the systematic genocides of First Nations peoples.
Tiananmen Square really isn’t the best example to use as an example of how China isn’t like the US. There’s plenty of much more insidious dystopian shit happening in China every day to use than that.
Yeah exactly my point.
this article isn't about the US. I believe there is a reason so many in so many threads like that do what you're doing and worse. THE TOPIC IS NOT THE US, STOP TRYING TO MAKE IT THAT WAY
Jesus Christ, this thread is cursed.
Circling back to the article: it would be easier to name software that doesn't collect your data and send/sell it to your respective government. The point being made in this thread is that it isn't just a China problem. If you think you're safe from government observation just because you don't live in China, I have bad news for you.
I think you know without doubt that this is something NO ONE ever ever ever said. You know this. And yet still -- you want to make this about the united states. Maybe you can explain a way that this got brought up without China shills infecting the thread?
Because the article is not about the US. It's not.
I didn't mention the US.
The article makes it sound like it's UNUSUAL that a phone app is spying on its users and sending user data to the government. It's not an exception, it's the rule. People pointing this out are doing you a favor, because the article's framing would otherwise lead you to believe this is a China problem and not a tech problem.
no, people who do this are shilling for China and/or tiktok. we all know this.
and yes the raw keyboard data going directly from your fingers to the government is not something that likely happens in the US, so either way this is a false equivalence.
I'm not defending China.
Again, I never mentioned the US.
What does it matter if the data is routed to the government server first or second? Blanket data collection is nefarious no matter who is doing it, but it landing in the hands of any government is dangerous. It isn't somehow less dangerous just because it hits a private server first (although it's harder to tell spying is happening, so in that respect it may be worse)
E2E encryption should be standard across all tech platforms in every country, full stop.
yeah, Snowden probably wouldn't be really into the idea that we shouldn't talk about what China is doing it because "everyone else is too".
Snowden would acknowledge the pervasiveness of the issue.
he's also not a bad-faith actor on an anonymous platform
I'm not the one reducing the issue into a China vs US binary my guy.
but you are defending those who want that to be the whole discussion. blocking you now.
Whatever you need to do to take care of your mental health, no skin off my nose.
I think it's a response to how there are so many CHINA BAD articles. You could take each article as isolated, but there is the idea of manufacturing consent and it's how people develop negative feelings towards particular things after seeing so many negative articles about them.
Well, you can post all the bad shit the US has done.
China IS A BAD ACTOR on the international, national, regional, and Municipal levels. The whole state apparatus is corrupted.
It's a lot more quick for me to point out that it's not unique to China. The way you phrase the second part of your post is as if China is unique in this sort of corruption. The US is just as corrupt, plus it has a lot more influence around the world thanks to the sheer amount of resources it controls.
And it's completely beside the point.
China IS bad. Changing the subject isn't the reaction of an unbiased person.
I’m not trying to change the subject from China to the US, I’m trying to point out that the example of Tiananmen Square is not the best example to use as a distinguishing factor for China vs the US when there are numerous examples of the US commuting similar atrocities throughout its history.
The current and active oppression and genicide of the Uyghurs.
The brutal silencing of political and ideological ‘dissidents’.
The openly dystopian social credit system being developed.
The suppression of free speech and self-expression.
There is a long list of examples to pull from that set China apart from the US.
"China’s Orwellian Social Credit Score Isn’t Real"
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/16/chinas-orwellian-social-credit-score-isnt-real/
"China’s Social Credit System Is Actually Quite Boring – A supposedly Orwellian system is fragmented, localized, and mostly targeted at businesses"
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/15/china-social-credit-system-authoritarian/
It's called Whataboutism. Very common deflection tactic.
yep