

Text Messages in China to Be Scanned for ‘Illegal Content’  - wallflower
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/technology/20text.html

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coderdude
This may be an ignorant question, but there are over a billion Chinese people,
so what does it take to get those people to revolt against their hyper-
oppressive government?

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potatolicious
The separation of the Chinese racial identity with that of its government -
most Chinese perceive the government as representative of their ethnicity, and
despite whatever flaws must be protected against malicious foreign interests.

So basically, the more posturing the West does, the more aggressively the
Chinese will side with their government. Suffice to say, current foreign
policy exacerbates this.

No _outside_ force can possibly get the Chinese to revolt - in fact any
outside force is likely to do the exact opposite, and help cement the
Communist regime's power. Most new-generation Chinese are happy to give up
freedoms they've never known how to enjoy, in exchange for the chance to
escape poverty and live a better life.

So, the only way to get the Chinese people to revolt against their government
is for the economy to stagnate, and for people to no longer perceive a worthy
"trade" of their freedoms for economic progress. As soon as the people lose
hope of a better life, support for the regime will crumble quickly.

Speaking as a Chinese, anyhow.

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coderdude
Thanks, that clarifies my question for the most part. So it's like a V for
Vendetta thing, except they all think they're going to live the good life one
day.

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potatolicious
I also need to add that the Chinese government is not as oppressive as some in
the West may think - or at least does not _appear_ to be.

There are some fairly simple unspoken rules (e.g., "don't talk shit about the
government") that everyone knows, and if you follow them, nothing will ever
happen to you. In other words, the Chinese government's oppression is
_consistent_ and _systematic_ \- a far cry from the secret police, death
squads, random people nabbed off the street sort of perception that many
Americans seem to have.

This has probably greatly helped the longevity of the current regime. People
will rebel if they see no effective, guaranteed way to dodge your oppression,
but most will fall in line if you can give them a more or less guaranteed way
to stay out of trouble with minimum tangible sacrifice.

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rms
The rule isn't as as strict as don't talk shit about the government, more like
"you can talk some shit about the government as long as you never question the
ultimate authority of the Communist Party to rule China."

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papersmith
I've been thinking, with the bi-factional government coming in 2012,
legislative reforms, and all the changes happening while the communist party
insisting on its supremacy, perhaps the party will one day be reduced to a
figurehead only, along the lines of a constitutional monarchy (constitutional
politburo?).

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yread
Is it such a big deal? I for one definitely think that messages here are
scanned for illegal content and nobody tells us.

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humbledrone
If you don't think that it's a big deal, would you mind giving me full access
to your private email address? I promise your email will only be read by a
program I wrote. Well, I mean, if my program sees certain words (sorry, I
can't tell you which ones specifically), I will read through your whole email
history personally. That's OK, though; you don't have anything to hide, right?

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og1
I know there are probably cultural differences in what content people send in
their texts in China, but I still have the feeling that they are going to get
overwhelmed with the amount of text messages that alert their system.

