China internet freedom, vpn providers being jailed.

[ggnfs000]

https://themerkle.com/chinese-vpn-vendor-sentenced-to-five-and-a-half-years-in-prison/
It appears that in china, simply providing vpn services is not enough anymore, now need to vpn your vpn services too, if there is a way to do it.

[deanwebb]

It's absolutely a police state there. Not a North Korea, but pretty darn close.

[ggnfs000]

JUST reading this makes me suffocated.

[deanwebb]

This is why I study about authoritarian regimes. If I ever have to live in one, I need to know how to survive.

PROTIP: ballet and approved "national hero" writers and musicians are always a safe entertainment bet. Chess games can kill a lot of time and keep the mind sharp. If you're lucky, the regime permits rock music - just don't get caught listening to a banned group, unless everybody likes them.

[deanwebb]

And, in a timely fashion, we get this:

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/china-shuts-down-13000-websites-for-breaking-internet-laws/d/d-id/1330723

PROTIP: If an engineer is treating a Chinese network deployment the same as a deployment anywhere else, this is your proper reaction:

[icecream-guy]

This is why I study about authoritarian regimes. If I ever have to live in one, I need to know how to survive.

my political commented edited

[deanwebb]

This is why I study about authoritarian regimes. If I ever have to live in one, I need to know how to survive.

my political commented edited

Some regimes would bust you for that, most are cool with the fact that you self-edited and don't rock the boat. Russia is a "don't rock the boat" regime. China and North Korea are more "we'd prefer to fix your brain so that doesn't happen again" regimes.

[icecream-guy]

This is why I study about authoritarian regimes. If I ever have to live in one, I need to know how to survive.

my political commented edited

Some regimes would bust you for that, most are cool with the fact that you self-edited and don't rock the boat. Russia is a "don't rock the boat" regime. China and North Korea are more "we'd prefer to fix your brain so that doesn't happen again" regimes.

it was more for this regime, where political discussions are deemed inappropriate.

[deanwebb]

it was more for this regime, where political discussions are deemed inappropriate.

Well, it's that way on a lot of forums that don't want to explode because not everyone knows how to stay civil.

I honestly think the active members here probably could handle political discussions about 99% of the time, but all it takes is one guy going nuts in the "Should unborn children have a right to bear arms if their moms are using medicinal marijuana?" thread and then the moderator warnings, member bannings, schisms, factions, and all that drama comes next.  It's a shame...

But, I do leave open discussions for policies directly related to networks and networking. We may not discuss much about health care reform, but I think concerns about data privacy, communication laws, and the like are absolutely things we can and should discuss here.

[deanwebb]

I'd even say discussions about whether or not Russian intelligence assets used social media and other methods to interfere with elections and/or political opinions in various nations are valid topics here.

Probably best in another thread, since this one's about China, but I'm green-lighting it. As network engineers, we have to be able to look beyond ideological purity of thought and examine facts at hand.

[mlan]

As network engineers, we have to be able to look beyond ideological purity of thought and examine facts at hand.

Well said, Dean.

[Nerm]

I have to deal with a ton of infrastructure in China and it is the reason I am on blood pressure medication lol.

[deanwebb]

It's also where I've seen stuff not rebooted for the longest of times... the tech support there gets insulated off from the rest of the company pretty quickly.

[Dieselboy]

Screw China.