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'Prism, Prism on the Wall, Who is the Most Trustworthy of Them All?' Huawei Hits Back at US Over 5G Security Claims (zdnet.com)
The tension between Huawei and the U.S. government took a new turn Tuesday after the Chinese networking giant's rotating chairman Guo Ping poked fun at the massive surveillance programs maintained by the United States. "Prism, prism on the wall, who's the most trustworthy of them all?" Ping said onstage at Mobile World Congress tradeshow. From a report: Ping first appeared to attempt to make light of the ongoing row -- "There has never been more interest in Huawei, we must be doing something right," he said -- but later took a more direct aim at the US and some of its own issues with cybersecurity and surveillance. "Prism, Prism on the wall, who is the most trustworthy of them all?" he said, referencing the previously secret National Security Agency surveillance project, telling the audience to ask Edward Snowden -- the whistleblower who revealed the activity -- if they didn't understand what he meant. Ping also took aim at the US Cloud Act, arguing that the legislation allows the US government to demand access data held by US companies, even if it is stored in different countries. "The Cloud Act allows them to access data cross-borders. So for best technology and for greater security, please choose Huawei," he said.
The implication is that because NSA does data collection that somehow Huawei isn't an IP thief, fraud, espionage tentacle wholly owned by the Chinese Communist Party, an adversary that seeks military conflict with the US.
As much as I was dismayed by PRISM (12 years ago when I first found out about it right?) I don't see how this addresses Huawei's frauds or thefts or espionage for China ongoing.
https://www.businessinsider.com/second-huawei-employee-arrested-in-poland-on-suspicion-of-china-spying-2019-1
It's also not just the USA that noticed.
I am always assuming that I am being spied upon. However in America the first Amendment prevents me from being put in jail from my viewpoints, just as long as I am not using my speech intentionally hurt people. Also if content was released about me, that has only happened via my own government spying on me, then I have recourse against it. China doesn't have such advantages to its citizens.
I am not saying what America is doing is good, or the right thing to do. But at least I have some power and rights from it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
There's more to criticize about the US' prison system!?
The bottom line is that an American is four times more likely to be incarcerated than a Chinese citizen.
If you are rotting in prison, the fact that America's system is transparently unjust, so everyone knows about the high false conviction rate, and the defects of our plea bargain based courts, doesn't really mean much, so long as people don't care about the injustice.
So who doesn't care? Apparently you, since you would prefer to point to the other side of the world than address bigger problems here at home that we have the collective power to fix.
Not only is that false, as someone else pointed out, but even the nugget of truth there is misleading. The US doesn't incarcerate more people per capita because of government corruption or the silencing of dissidents. It is mostly because of dumb drug laws, harsh sentencing of actual criminals (arguably also dumb), lack of effort around rehabilitation, and income inequality / segregation.
Total number of people in prison, or per capita figures, don't paint an accurate picture when comparing the US and Chinese governments. It is like comparing a poor starving person with someone on a diet. They may both be hungry but for very different reasons.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
There are well over 1 million ethnic Uighurs being detained for no actual crime in China.
Most estimates are that there are less than a million detained in the Xinjiang camps.
This is not correct. There are some estimates that are less than one million. Most are at least one million. Several are several million. But, of course, these estimates don't really matter. Would attitudes or policy change if the real number were 950,000 instead of 2 million?
America incarcerates over 2 million people, roughly four times as many as China per capita. Many are in pre-trial confinement, having been convicted of nothing. Many others are in prison based on plea bargains rather than evidence. America has one of the world's highest false conviction rates.
There is plenty to criticize about China's prison system. There is much more to criticize about America's.
Comparing the American justice system to the Chinese system is really hard, mainly due to the extreme opacity of the Chinese system. Yes, some of the per capita numbers for China are somewhat lower due to the big denominator. However, there are several significant factors that would favor facing the US system instead of the Chinese system:
(1) Many laws in China would be considered to be unacceptable by most Americans. For example, texting or posting offensive words like Tibet, Taiwan, or Winne the Pooh. Criticizing the president, his party, and existing laws. Possessing a beard or a Koran at home. Arguing certain viewpoints on Slashdot. The concept of "law" in China is very different in China, and most Americans would find it unacceptable.
(2) The judicial system in China does not protect the rights of the accused. Extra-judicial punishments, no effective right of appeal or even representation, no due process, no limits on cruel and unusual punishments.
On paper, China is the world's largest democracy and an exemplary protector of the rights of the people. In reality, the application of law in China is far inferior to the US system. This is not to say that the US system is great, good, or even satisfactory. It's only to show how truly bad the China system is.
Americans can banter about the philosophical differences between US and Chinese surveillance and law because they have the first-world problem of stating whatever they want within the insulating cocoon of American rights. Where are the corresponding Chinese discussions of Chinese surveillance and law? I'll give you a hint. It's not because the Chinese system is so perfect that there's nothing to criticize.
I feel like the bottom line is that in this country we have guaranteed rights.
Rights that are guaranteed in theory but ignored in practice don't mean much.
Americans have a "right" to a speedy jury trial, and a fair hearing of the evidence. In practice, they are presented with a choice between copping a plea, or facing trumped up charges and a ruinously expensive prosecution that will bankrupt them even if innocent.
they're a hell of a lot better than what a Chinese person has.
Yet the American is four times more likely to end up in prison.
Believe it or not you have guaranteed rights in China too. It's just that like the US, in practice they are abused anyway.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
" In practice, they are presented with a choice between copping a plea, or facing trumped up charges and a ruinously expensive prosecution that will bankrupt them even if innocent."
And yet they are still allowed a trial and legal council provided by the state. Meanwhile in China, if a Chinese person is lucky enough to even get a proper trial it is far less likely to be what anyone would call "fair". It's widely known that the verdict in high profile court cases in China is typically determined prior to trial. The trial is just for show. Likewise, I find it highly unlikely a person made to "disappear", like all of those Uighers, get anything close to the rights an American gets prior to sentencing.
You keep going on about the flaws in our system but how are any of them worse than being made to disappear by your government? Your family and friends have no idea where you are or if you're even alive. And good luck getting any kind of proper legal council as they've already decided you're guilty, that's why you've been made to disappear.
In the US, we have dysfunctional rights. In China, they are at the continued mercy of the state
"Yet the American is four times more likely to end up in prison."
Yet we have rights. Yet everyone is entitled to a trial no matter how dysfunctional that system is. Yet we legally can't be detained in this country with out proper cause and we actually have a proper means of combating illegal imprisonment.
I mean, where's the Chinese ACLU to help all those people who get disappeared? Probably all in prison...
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