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Comment by mcculley | Hacker News Reader

Wouldn't many potential users in China be limited by the Great Firewall?

Can't find a single person in a Chinese tech company who doesn't know how to bypass GFW.

I am not asking about capability. Aren't there reasons to avoid the scrutiny that might accompany bypassing the Great Firewall? Doesn't this create a chilling effect? Or are you claiming that it has zero effect and citizens of China have zero concerns about using websites and speaking freely?

> Aren't there reasons to avoid the scrutiny that might accompany bypassing the Great Firewall?

One of the reasons to bypass GFW is to avoid scrutiny.

> Doesn't this create a chilling effect?

It doesn't.

> Or are you claiming that it has zero effect and citizens of China have zero concerns about using websites and speaking freely?

Not “zero”, maybe like “0.01”? Better use an anonymous account if you want to criticize on gov.

This has not been my experience working with Chinese citizens. They are mostly very aware that they cannot speak freely.

> They are mostly very aware that they cannot speak freely.

That's correct, and as I said that's one of the reasons Chinese people bypass GFW.

The last paragraph in my previous comment may not have been clear enough. What I meant was that *after bypassing GFW*, you generally have minimal concern, not *before bypassing GFW*

You seem to believe that every potential interlocutor is bypassing the firewall. I know that many are not, because they are afraid of being caught.

I have been on Douyin a lot, there is a lot chat rooms for people to debate politics, so it is a 50/50 divide for opinions (for and against). Many of them will say 'China sucks, and US rules'. People learn a way to speak avoiding keywords, if you are not careful, you get kicked out of the chat. Many of them you can tell are against the government, but these are not ordinary people, they probably don't work, and spending most of their time online talking about politics.

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