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Comment by hellofunk | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious, what is the difference between "Facebook was already blocked" and "Don't even think about Facebook", other than 5 years?

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There is no real difference, I kinda wanted to stress that no site ever gets unblocked (AFAIK).

CNN was blocked in 2002 (Tiananmen square was still fresh in people's minds) and isn't blocked today (CNN is a shadow of its former self, not very threatening). Ironically, because CNN was blocked, I started reading New York Times, which today IS blocked.

VPNs probably. They've started to crack down on those lately, too.

Also, a random tweet I saw today apparently with a recording of China's CCTV surveillance system:

https://twitter.com/0XDEDBEEF/status/912026226658652160

No wonder China wants to be #1 in "artificial intelligence". Surveillance and censorship are likely the primary motivators for that.

Wow. That is some Person of Interest-level business right there.

"One of the prominent Chinese VCs, Neil Shen from Sequoia China, was on the Economist's podcast recently talking about AI in China. When the host asked Shen about the Chinese state's use of AI in monitoring the citizens of China, Shen clammed up. It is an amazing bit of audio (starts around minute 8.)

https://www.acast.com/theeconomistasks/theeconomistasks-howd... "

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15017622

Given the political environment he faces at home, it was nearly a bit unfair to put him on the spot like that. The silence speaks volumes, though. Most meaningful silence I've heard (?) in a while.

Wow. This was fascinating, and terrifying both. Thank you for that link. To anyone else, I recommend listening to the whole 16 minutes actually - makes Mr. Shen's silence that much more stark.

I can't read chinese: What kind of data do they have there?

labels on moving objects: vehicle, adult, child, bike, T-shirt, etc.

At what level does china block internet access? Technology wise? It sounds impressive to be honest (in a scary way).

I wonder if the US has similar tech that is ready to be deployed at will.

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