[liberationtech] WeChat

[Sarah Lai Stirland]

Thanks. This is the kind of discussion and back and forth I was looking for
... I kind of figured this was the case, although I don't know of any
actual examples of any of this happening. I know a lot of Chinese people
use it, and I think it's interesting why it's so popular with the Chinese,
and not so much in the US. When I say the American, I mean something made
by a U.S. company. I'd heard that VONAGE is offering something a version of
WeChat, but haven't heard anyone talk about it.

It seems incredibly intrusive to me from a workflow perspective. I don't
want someone barking at me on my screen whenever they feel like it.


On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 2:35 PM, Nathan of Guardian <
nathan at guardianproject.info> wrote:

>
>
> Sarah Lai Stirland <sarah at personaldemocracy.com> wrote:
>
> >Hi everyone -- I'm curious as to whether anyone on here has used
> >WeChat,
> >what they think of it, how they use it, and what it provides that other
> >communications tools don't.
>
> It provides a really nice backup system for all of your messages, address
> book, photos and audio located in Shanghai. Unfortunately only the Chinese
> authorities have access to it.
>
> It also ensures you don't accidentally send messages about unharmonious
> topics, like corruption, graft and human rights.
>
> It also does away with pesky security features like HTTPS and the need for
> backdoors, since as we have learned in the case of the NSA, no one should
> have anything to hide, unless they are up to no good.
>
> Finally, it provides an excellent means for diaspora dissident groups like
> the Tibetans and Uyghurs to have their social graphs mapped, and
> geolocation tracked.
>
> In short, it is a smashing success for the CCP and the PSB, and has
> already resulted in the arrests of a number of splittists, who just thought
> it was a great way to send "free" international messages.
>
> >
> >Is there is an American version of this that anyone uses?
>
> The American version is the same as the Chinese version, and same as what
> is popular throughout SEA. It is China's version of PRISM just wrapped up
> in a shiny app package. Brilliant!
>
> +n8fr8
>
>


-- 
Sarah Lai Stirland
Senior Writer
techPresident
Tel: 415-859 9749
Twitter:@LaiStirland

http://techpresident.com/blog/76848
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