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VoIP Now Technically Illegal In China
ironfrost writes "A recent ruling by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has declared that VoIP services are illegal, except for the ones operated by state-owned telecom operators China Telecom and China Unicom. According to the article, 'the decision is expected to make Skype, UUCall and other similar services unavailable in China,' and is widely seen as a way to protect the traditional telecom operators' profits. Here's a more in-depth story in Chinese (Google Translate version)."
Now that's a happy little situation right there. I'm glad the FCC just stated, flat-out, that telco operators wouldn't be able to pull that particular shenanigans with services like skype here.
Though really, it's not all that surprising. China's gone for home-grown 'equivalents' of popular overseas services for quite some time--look at their 'facebook' and their 'google' workalikes, all doubtless with more than enough spyware built into 'em to keep an eye on dissidents.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
And there will be ridiculously over-the-top punishments to make examples of individuals who are "disturbing social order".
http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/11/18/1832240/A-Single-Re-Tweet-Lands-Chinese-Woman-in-Labor-Camp
That's a very capitalistic way of viewing it... My first thought is that it makes it a lot easier for the Chinese government to be able to tap calls. It's easier to tap when you don't allow private infrastructure to exist.
In Communist China,
Competition regulates you!
Our government and corporations stand idly by while China infiltrates our military, government and corporate networks, commits blatant acts of corporate espionage, places unfair regulations on foreign companies operations within their country and now pulls blatant protectionist laws to stifle competition.
But nothing will be done because China is the largest emerging economy on the planet and no one can afford to pass up a piece of that pie.
Back in the day the US and other nations would be slinging trade embargos left and right and playing hard ball. Today, we're so weak and poor we just bend over and take it.
This.
That the article states "and is widely seen as a way to protect the traditional telecom operators' profits" is laughable. This is about China's need to control the lives of their citizens, period.
So even "the commies" are really just tools for the telecom industry.
I presume you are responding to this line in the summary:
is widely seen as a way to protect the traditional telecom operators' profits.
If you believe that bit, I have a bridge to sell you.
The thing is the Chinese government would rather be seen as a tool than to lose control of the population.
Although the encryption in Skype has allegedly been broken (some say the voice encryption portion is still intact) the ability to scan packetized voice (let alone encrypted packetized voice) in real time is probably simply beyond the resources available, especially with things like skype finding their own routes for traffic.
Voip to carriers can at least be watched at the carrier's premises.
This has nothing to do with profits. This is the same government that blocked almost every western news site on the event of a dissident receiving a Nobel prize last month.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
So even "the commies" are really just tools for the telecom industry.
Umm, the telecom industry in China is state owned, so your comment should read: So even the telecom industry is really just a tool for "the commies".
>>>So what do people in China do for fun?
Sex? :-|
I hear those Chinese ladies are, to quote a song, "Ladies in the street but a freak in the bed." You just have to make sure not to get pregnant more than once.
Somebody else wrote:
>>>And despite doing things like this constantly, China is still the darling of all the so-called "free trade" advocates.
Kinda like Fascist Germany, Italy, and Spain were considered marvels by their contemporaries. They were the 1930s boom economies with private corporations under State control. A bit like China today.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Yes, but what way will it go?
There is a large and dedicated movement of young Chinese, ultra nationalist, Han racial supremacists who are so radical and agressive that even the powers that be inside the CPC have had a hard time reigning them in.
China will change, but I would not blindly assume it will be for the better.
Because free trade isn't about free trade so much as it is a tool with which the rich can bludgeon the poor into working for less than their labor is worth.
This is exactly the sort of situation that Marx was concerned by. The Bourgeoisie forcing the Proletariat to compete with each other to suppress wages so that the Bourgeoisie could have more money.
A government-run company eliminates the profit motive, is more efficient overall, and ensures everyone has service including those too poor to pay the phone bill.
I think that's the only thing you've ever said that I agree with. The cheapest mutual fund in the USA is the Social Security Administration (and not by just a little bit, but almost an order of magnitude cheaper than the private choices with similar investments).
Unfortunately, the only thing you've ever said that's correct, you said sarcastically.
Learn to love Alaska
Yes, that is exactly the argument that was used: clearly the "rabble" who did it to themselves and others should not be able to really run the country, democracy be damned. Hence, fascism. Thanks for demonstrating the point so eloquently, while also showing that this thinking is alive and well on the American Right.
On a factual note, the folk who took over in Russia did not do so in a democratic society (it was a monarchy before the February revolution in 1917, and junta before the October revolution). Furthermore, they were not the majority, either - Bolsheviks were primarily the party of proletariat, and most of Russian population were peasants. After the October revolution, a democratically elected Constituent Assembly was convened to define the future of the state and write its constitution; the vast majority in it were peasant-backed socialist esers, not Bolsheviks or other communist parties. When Bolsheviks realized that they're going to be kicked out from power if they abide by the decisions of the Assembly, they dissolved it at gunpoint; so ultimately it was a coup.
Yep, it's exactly like the USA. In the USA, there's two political parties, which hold all the political power in the country. One is named "Democrats", as if they have anything to do with democracy. The other is named "Republicans", even though they have nothing in common with republicanism. Instead, they are both actually fascists, who work for corporate interests and only stop to try to fool the voters now and then into making them think they're working for the people, such as by blaming all their corporate-friendly actions on the other party.
In China, there's only one political party, which holds all the political power in the country. It's named "Communists", though, just like the American parties, they don't have anything at all to do with communism. And again, they're fascists, working for corporate interests. However, unlike in America, their actions are helping much of the population through "trickle-down economics", simply because most of the population was so dirt-poor before than the improvements from the new sorta-free-market system seem like a giant leap ahead for them. In America, we're not at a place where trickle-down economics work (mainly because we don't have a gigantic population of dirt-poor serfs), so instead, we're regressing, and experiencing a fast-growing gap between the rich and the poor, with the middle class rapidly disappearing, making us a bigger Banana Republic than any South or Central American country ever was.
Yes, that is exactly the argument that was used: clearly the "rabble" who did it to themselves and others should not be able to really run the country, democracy be damned. Hence, fascism. Thanks for demonstrating the point so eloquently, while also showing that this thinking is alive and well on the American Right.
You mean the American Left and Right. Just look at the actions of the Democrats since 2007, and of Obama: Not significantly different from when the Republicans were in power, sham healthcare "reform" that was really a give-away to big insurance companies, giant give-aways ("bail-outs") to mismanaged companies with no strings attached, environmental policy just as bad as Bush's under Ken Salazar, no shutdown of Gitmo despite campaign promises, continuing wars costing billions per week just to protect profits of American corporations, I could go on and on.
The idea that there's any difference between the "Left" and the "Right" in this country is folly. They're really the same group of people, they just pander to different sides to keep the voters divided and distracted.
Western countries are not better. Wait a few years and most of the internet restrictions will be implemented here, too. The excuses will be different and of course it will be a total different thing since were are the good by definition.
I did not equate the American Right with fascism. I said that many right-wingers historically supported, and even today support, fascist regimes cracking down on democratic institutions if said institutions lead to dominance of "undesirable" ideologies such as communism. Good example is apologetics of Pinochet and his violent suppression of democratically elected but socialist Aliende. Many right wingers love Pinochet because of his economic policies and opposition to socialism.
Oh, and American Right = small government? You've got to be kidding. This hasn't been true since Reagan at least. Right wingers are perfectly happy to use government to forcibly oppress citizens on social issues (morality and sexuality, marriage, abortion, drugs). They are only liberal when it comes to economic regulation.
Liberrarians generally align more with Right in US, God knowd why, but they do not make Right. Neo-cons do.