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The Internet, Divided Between the US and China, Has Become a Battleground (wsj.com)
The global internet is splitting in two. From a report: One side, championed in China, is a digital landscape where mobile payments have replaced cash. Smartphones are the devices that matter, and users can shop, chat, bank and surf the web with one app. The downsides: The government reigns absolute, and it is watching -- you may have to communicate with friends in code. And don't expect to access Google or Facebook.
On the other side, in much of the world, the internet is open to all. Users can say what they want, mostly, and web developers can roll out pretty much anything. People accustomed to China's version complain this other internet can seem clunky. You must toggle among apps to chat, shop, bank and surf the web. Some websites still don't seem to be designed with smartphones in mind. The two zones are beginning to clash with the advent of the superfast new generation of mobile technology called 5G.
China aims to be the biggest provider of gear underlying the networks, and along with that it is pushing client countries to adopt its approach to the web -- essentially urging some to use versions of the "Great Firewall" that Beijing uses to control its internet and contain the West's influence. Battles are popping up around the world as Chinese tech giants try to use their market power at home to expand abroad, something they've largely failed to do so far. Some Silicon Valley executives worry the divergence risks giving Chinese companies an advantage in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, partly because they face fewer restrictions over privacy and data protection. Further reading: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Predicts the Internet Will Split in Two By 2028 -- and One Part Will Be Led By China.
On the other side, in much of the world, the internet is open to all. Users can say what they want, mostly, and web developers can roll out pretty much anything. People accustomed to China's version complain this other internet can seem clunky. You must toggle among apps to chat, shop, bank and surf the web. Some websites still don't seem to be designed with smartphones in mind. The two zones are beginning to clash with the advent of the superfast new generation of mobile technology called 5G.
China aims to be the biggest provider of gear underlying the networks, and along with that it is pushing client countries to adopt its approach to the web -- essentially urging some to use versions of the "Great Firewall" that Beijing uses to control its internet and contain the West's influence. Battles are popping up around the world as Chinese tech giants try to use their market power at home to expand abroad, something they've largely failed to do so far. Some Silicon Valley executives worry the divergence risks giving Chinese companies an advantage in new technologies such as artificial intelligence, partly because they face fewer restrictions over privacy and data protection. Further reading: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Predicts the Internet Will Split in Two By 2028 -- and One Part Will Be Led By China.
This is just stupid. What does the speed of wireless networks have to do with ANY of the other aspects in the story at all? At 4G I am not bandwidth bound. I can stream video at a far higher resolution than needed for a 4" screen. It has no impact on shopping, messaging, banking, etc. Further, what does the network have to do with the apps that communicate over that network? We tried AOL once. It had everything this story talked about in one unified place and interface. It sucked. It went away because that's how our markets work. People use what they want to use, which is typically based on what gives them what they want and the way they want it.
The fact that China will be producing networking 5G networking gear is... inconsequential. I'm sure there are many, many products created in China that are sold at tremendous volume that the West does not buy nor care to buy. No one here is going to buy 5G hardware with built in Chinese Government Approved and Controlled AI to restrict communication just because they make a lot of them or use them there.
Better known as 318230.
Yea, the powers that be try to wrestle control away from the people and to governments and lobbies.
Russia recently had their "disconnect from the rest of the world" test.
China has its Great Firewall.
The EU soon gets filters and Internet-"light" as to not run afoul of copyrights.
In the US it's more driven by private companies that separate between what they deem acceptable and what not.
We had a good run.
Maybe much of the West is a theocracy, but the U.S. government was explicitly designed with the concept of separation of church and state - we may be unique in that regard.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The Internet, as we know it today, will be a relic in 20 years.
That will obviously be true regardless. However, I think the early internet will resurface and some censorship-free platform, at least in countries that don't just ban all encrypted packets not to a whitelisted endpoint. Perhaps something like a v2 of Freenet, with its technical problems addressed. Something with no servers to take down. Hiding from large governments is hard - impossible if they just effectively ban encryption - but we could at least be free from corporate oversight, on a platform optimized for privacy over business.
For now people are happy with VPNs, but with the rise of corporate censorship and the ever-increasing political power of content distribution corporations, I don't think that's stable.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
All bishops in all churches must be state approved. Vatican is ok with this arrangement it seems
All Buddhist monastery lamas must be state approved. It has disrupted the centuries old tradition of Panchan lama finding the reincarnation of the Dalai lama and Dalai lama finding the reincarnation of Panchan lama. The current Dalai lama is in exile. Old Panchan lama is dead, replaced by government approved lama. They did not permit current Dalai lamas emissaries into China looking for the reincarnate. So Chinese government will identify the next Dalai lama once the current one dies.
Now, internet? Why would anyone think China will accept an international control of the internet?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact