Comments by "shazmosushi" (@shazmosushi) on "The Great Firewall of China, Explained" video.

  1. An excellent introduction to the operation of the Great Firewall of China, a major component in China's broader internet censorship system called the "Golden Shield Project". Great work! I hope more people signup to your excellent early-access tier on Patreon. I think this channel is going places!
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  2. That's the real power of selective censorship: you can show one side of the story. And without any alternatives you can convince people of anything. Ideological news exists in the West (eg, Fox News for conservatives), but at least people can change the channel to CNN and the other networks with different biases. Also YouTube and Google News automatically recommends many international sources of high quality journalism like the BBC, Germany's DW, and Qatar's Al Jazeera English, and even the low quality international networks like Russia Today and China's CGTN. In China, the only people who regularly scale the Great Firewall are young and computer savvy. The vast majority of people in China accepts the government of China's propaganda and have no hope of ever finding alternative viewpoints.
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  3. Direct link to Asianometry's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry
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  4. At least historically, people in well-connected border regions like Shenzhen could buy Hong Kong sim cards and connect to the unfiltered internet through Hong Kong cell towers just across the border. But with the recent complete breakdown of "One Country Two Systems" I would expect Hong Kong to see its own internet censorship being implemented eventually. It's possible that the new low-earth orbit satellite internet systems like SpaceX's Starlink could have a similar effect as Hong Kong sim cards. Elon Musk has played this down, pointing out China can shoot down his satellites with anti-satellite missiles. While true, the ability remains for satellites to broadcast unfiltered high-speed internet to border regions like Shenzhen and Inner Mongolia without incurring Chinese military escalation. As China continues to close and move towards what financier Kyle Bass has called a "richer version of North Korea" I would expect it will become increasingly dangerous to even own satellite internet dishes or to use computers without the Chinese spyware since the Chinese Communist Party believes it needs absolute control over information to hold on to absolute power indefinitely.
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