WeChat and the Surveillance State

Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by chvid on Saturday June 08, 2019 @01:28PM (#20133703)

I think China take will the path to democracy most other democratic nations have taken including my own: As the middle class eventually grows big enough it will demand and get political influence ultimately creating democratic institutions (formal freedom of speech, parliaments, elections, referendums) as we have it in the west.

It is easy to focus on a single news story and forgetting that China is a much freer society today than it was 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by z3t1 on Saturday June 08, 2019 @01:50PM (#20133888)

As a matter of fact --- what you said used to be a belief shared widely among public intellectuals in China 10-20 years ago. No one believes in it now.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by theseadroid on Saturday June 08, 2019 @02:07PM (#20134002)

As a Chinese, I'm inclined to agree with you. One thing above all is the education level of the population has gone up quite a bit. I personally think that's a cornerstone for any future social reforms.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by idlewords on Saturday June 08, 2019 @01:46PM (#20133853)

By no measure is China a freer society today than it was 10 years ago.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by pishpash on Saturday June 08, 2019 @04:54PM (#20135099)

China is big, so it ebbs and flows depending on who's in power.

Two steps forward one step back. In the last ten years, more people have travelled, studied, or learned about the world than ever before. The people running the show will die one day, that's not representative of what will happen. It's what the people think that determines what will happen. What the younger generations have experienced in their personal lives will translate to what they want for society, and that's my measure: the younger people are much freer in their personal lives than those 10 years ago. They know what they want, and one day they will get it.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by komali2 on Sunday June 09, 2019 @11:23PM (#20143676)

Unless, of course, they are Muslim or falun gong.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by theseadroid on Saturday June 08, 2019 @02:01PM (#20133965)

really? source please?

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by idlewords on Saturday June 08, 2019 @04:01PM (#20134767)

Chosen at random (because I'm not your on-demand research assistant): https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/21...

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by theseadroid on Saturday June 08, 2019 @04:18PM (#20134884)

Thanks. I didn't mean to make you a research assistant. In this age of misinformation, I think it's good manner to back up our claims with some evidence. And as a Chinese I was pretty surprised by the claim itself.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by jimclegg on Saturday June 08, 2019 @02:19PM (#20134083)

The FISA court system, Patriot Act & Freedom Act punch enough holes in the 4th amendment to make it useless.

Pretty clear that less liberty is the outcome for all.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by theseadroid on Saturday June 08, 2019 @02:26PM (#20134132)

Thanks! My reply is to your comment's parent though :)

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by jimclegg on Saturday June 08, 2019 @02:01PM (#20133957)

>By no measure is China a freer society today than it was 10 years ago.

That's debatable but we know for a fact the USA was freer 10 years ago.

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by NicoJuicy on Saturday June 08, 2019 @03:08PM (#20134392)

That is not the subject though

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by eunos on Saturday June 08, 2019 @02:20PM (#20134085)

Having said that is there any way to combine democracy and a single party fully embedded to the Government?

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by AGoodName on Saturday June 08, 2019 @02:28PM (#20134143)

Yeah see Singapore more or less.

>The PAP has been returned to power in every general election and has thus formed the Cabinet since 1959

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Singapore

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Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State by rgbrenner on Saturday June 08, 2019 @09:06PM (#20136291)

Sure.. right now there's a selection process for the National Congress... just make it so anyone can run for that position (and maybe the Central Committee too). Then hold free and fair elections in each province.

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