Comments on: The Internet Spying Problem Back Here

By: What’s the Secret to an Eternal Private Life?

What’s the Secret to an Eternal Private Life? — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 13:49:31 +0000

[...] The Internet Spying Problem Back Here (technologizer.com) [...]

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:26:30 +0000

The Chinese government’s number one priority is to maintain social order and stability. The Internet is perceived as a threat to social stability, which is why the government has implemented restrictive measures such as the Great Firewall of China.

The Internet companies most regulated are those that are perceived as possessing the potential to affect social stability. Internet search and Social Networks (SNS) are two such areas – thus negatively impacting foreign sites like Google, Facebook and Twitter. If you are a company that provides access to “sensitive” material or provides a communication platform for netizens to unite on “sensitive” topics, then you will continue to face pressure and restrictions from the Chinese government.

The underlying trend appears to be that in the event that the government is unable to repress Chinese netizens’ needs for a particular service, they will restrict the foreign original and support a more easily regulated domestic alternative. This can be seen both with the Google – Baidu and Facebook – RenRenWang dynamics as well as with the recent emergence of Sina’s Twitter-like micro-blogging service.

By: Kyle Fulton

Kyle Fulton — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:40:30 +0000

Equating Chinese and American privacy intrusions is disingenuous at best. Americans do not have to choose to use either Facebook or Google. Chinese who bypass their great cyber wall are breaking the law and can lose additional freedom.

Chinese censors block subversive sites like this one, IIRC.

By: daemonios

daemonios — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:22:45 +0000

That may be true, but at least in the European Union there are rules protecting personal data – and that includes any data that can be traced to specific individuals. Most collection and treatment of personal data requires express authorization by those individuals. If a data mining company is tracing anonymous data so that in the end they get information that’s traceable to individuals, they’re doing personal data treatment and must have an authorization. Of course, detecting these cases and punishing infractions is a whole different matter. I’m only saying that the difference in principles between the EU and China is important.

I know the US has a different approach to privacy and data protection but I don’t know the policy in detail, so I can’t comment on that part.