Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

The parent comment is quite obviously correct. The US Internet isn't just some large exchanges. It consists of many tens of thousands of services/companies/sites with private data exchanged over TLS. The US Government does not control those services/sites; in China it directly controls all of it, top to bottom and without exception.

Does the US Government control GitHub? Imgur? Do they have monitors implanted at the organizations to control them?

Do you know why there was so much anti-Trump content on services like Imgur, Reddit or Twitter, during those administration years? It's precisely because the US Government does not control such services, and fortunately it's an area of real freedom that the US still largely excels at.

In the US I can set up a file/media hosting service tomorrow morning, with zero oversight by the US Government. I can make it a politically focused service for the left or right as I see fit. I can blast Biden 24/7 via the service, hosting media that is anti his administration, or focus that against Republicans instead.

Or I can set up an encrypted data service, where you can post encrypted files, text notes, whatever. I can do that any time I see fit, the US Government has nothing to do with it. Try that in China and see what happens to you.

Those are intentionally simple examples to make a point. You can do none of that in China, starting from step one of just setting up an open file hosting service that can take in almost any content you want it to (outside of things like CP).

The US Government does not control the US Internet other than with some quite basic regulations. In China, the CCP now directly controls all relevant corporations, all Internet services, anything that matters whatsoever.




The US is a set of entrenched interests that are now working in concert with the government. The government doesn't have to do things directly. They just have the companies do it.

Stop focusing on the government and look at how the whole system works. Post something critical of a government official and it gets censored. It happens on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Hacker News, Nextdoor, YouTube, etc... We aren't talking Trump or antivaxxers either.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: