The New York Time's lead editorial in today's newspaper is : China's Self-Desctructive Tech Crackdown. It's worth a read; here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/opinion/chinas-self-destructive-tech-crackdown.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0
On a personal note, it makes me a little crazy every time I forget I'm in China and expect my requests for various Internet sites to be answered smoothly, or at all. I have been paying monthly for a VPN (virtual private network) to use Google, and most other American sites the Chinese government has deemed as impure, including my beloved New York Times. Using a VPN slows down the already slow connections we have, because I have to pretend I'm really in Denver, or Los Angeles, or anywhere but China, and the routing has to go through that server and then to me. I've gotten somewhat used to it, use the Internet less, try to download anything at night so it won't take 30 hours, etc. But recently, in the last few weeks, Astrill, the most popular VPN in China is playing a cat and mouse game with the government, and it's currently losing. Astrill has sent messages out to all its users asking for their patience as they try to further encrypt their system so the government techies can't access Astrill and shut it down, but it's going to take time.
This is perhaps the most irritating thing about living in China, to be honest. I just want to use my computer, and I would personally attest to President Xi that the information I get and give has no impact on the national security. I fear that China's international image will suffer, but it is curious to me that the Chinese officials don't seem to care about their image, or are willing to infringe on their citizen's privacy in spite of the downside. I do understand that the Hong Kong protests were pretty much run by social media, and so I get the threat, but sometimes I think the Chinese head honchos suffer from not enough time with the proletariat. Not being able to access my e-mail might make me take to the streets, maybe, if I were a citizen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/opinion/chinas-self-destructive-tech-crackdown.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0
On a personal note, it makes me a little crazy every time I forget I'm in China and expect my requests for various Internet sites to be answered smoothly, or at all. I have been paying monthly for a VPN (virtual private network) to use Google, and most other American sites the Chinese government has deemed as impure, including my beloved New York Times. Using a VPN slows down the already slow connections we have, because I have to pretend I'm really in Denver, or Los Angeles, or anywhere but China, and the routing has to go through that server and then to me. I've gotten somewhat used to it, use the Internet less, try to download anything at night so it won't take 30 hours, etc. But recently, in the last few weeks, Astrill, the most popular VPN in China is playing a cat and mouse game with the government, and it's currently losing. Astrill has sent messages out to all its users asking for their patience as they try to further encrypt their system so the government techies can't access Astrill and shut it down, but it's going to take time.
This is perhaps the most irritating thing about living in China, to be honest. I just want to use my computer, and I would personally attest to President Xi that the information I get and give has no impact on the national security. I fear that China's international image will suffer, but it is curious to me that the Chinese officials don't seem to care about their image, or are willing to infringe on their citizen's privacy in spite of the downside. I do understand that the Hong Kong protests were pretty much run by social media, and so I get the threat, but sometimes I think the Chinese head honchos suffer from not enough time with the proletariat. Not being able to access my e-mail might make me take to the streets, maybe, if I were a citizen.
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