Congressman Stunned by China Surveillance
The CEO of China Mobile Communications Corporation, Wang Jianzhou, shocked naive U.S. Congressman Ed Markey at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he bragged that he could use the private information of customers, including location, to serve up contextual advertising. When pressed about customer privacy, Wang said they would never share private information -- unless the GOVERNMENT ASKED FOR IT. Markey is chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on telecommunications, and apparently just assumed that a private company in a one-party authoritarian state would somehow protect the privacy of its customers. What a rube.
8:12 PM * PERMALINK * 10 comments
Comments:
Congressman Markey is no rube. I am shocked that anyone would think that he is shocked about a totalitarian regime invading privacy. What is your source for this assertion?
Click on the link.
Mike Elgan
He must act surprised, Mike. He needs to hide from us how easily our own government spys on us. Self righteous indignation does not play well on men at his level. Depressing.
You know the author of this article sounds naive. Even the "democratic" US govt. spies on its citizens.
Mike,
I clicked on the article. Nowhere does it say he was shocked by the invasion of privacy. It says he found it bone-chilling. He is talking about the pervasiveness of the practice in Chinas and implying what its potential might be if used wrongly by any government (such as the current administration).
<sarcasm>Oh my! Good thing this sort of thing does not happen in the USA.</sarcasm>
"I have my eyebrows arched so high they're hitting the ceiling"
Sounds like an expression of surprise to me.
And thanks, edo, for so succinctly pointing out why this doesn't happen in the US - because we've got a system of checks and balances, free press and public access to knowledge so that when abuse occurs it's reported on and stopped. "Spying" only happens with due process and obtaining a warrant as the norm, abuse is the exception. In China there is no abuse because there are no rights, so maybe they've got it better...
It's like intellectual property theft and Western countries, only an idiot thinks it doesn't happen but when it does there's recourse in the West. In China state run media and state run business means that there is no system of checks and balances.
President billy let China have all our Satellite guidence secrets and he wasn't surprised.
"President billy let China have all our Satellite guidence secrets and he wasn't surprised."
If you can't prove your zombie wingnut lies, don't repeat them. At least give us a reputable source, and that doesn't include some chain email that's been floating around since the 90's.
The phone companies in our own country give the same information to our government when asked. I believe, about 2 years ago there was a "scandal" involving Bell/AT&T giving large amounts of information about all of their clients to our government, but this was soon forgotten and remained unresolved. Also the "Protect America Act" which is up for renewal this year, contains provisions for unlimitted government wiretapping without warrants. To believe that anyone in government can be shocked that the Chinese government is involved in similar actions is just rediculous.
Tell your local representatives to vote No on the renewal of the "Protect America Act".
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