YouTube Blocks Access to Protest Anthem in Hong Kong (www.nytimes.com)
from Hirom@beehaw.org to technology@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 04:39
https://beehaw.org/post/13809384

#technology

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 15 May 2024 04:40 next collapse

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YouTube said on Tuesday that it would comply with a court order to block users in Hong Kong from viewing a popular democracy anthem, raising concerns about free speech and highlighting the increasing fraught environment for tech companies operating in the Chinese territory. “We are disappointed by the court’s decision but are complying with its removal order by blocking access to the listed videos for viewers in Hong Kong,” the representative said. Like most tech companies, Google has a policy of removing or restricting access to material that is deemed illegal by a court in certain countries or places. Links to the videos would also stop showing up on Google search results for users in Hong Kong after they become unavailable on YouTube to viewers in the region, according to the company representative. Beijing has asserted greater control over the former British colony in recent years by imposing a national security law that has crushed nearly all forms of dissent. In March, the Hong Kong government enacted new security legislation that criminalized offenses like “external interference” and the theft of state secrets, creating potential risks for multinational companies operating in the Asian financial center. — Saved 40% of original text.

onlinepersona@programming.dev on 15 May 2024 05:13 next collapse

Use peertube?

Anti Commercial-AI license

Hirom@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 06:33 collapse

I wonder if that’d work, or if the Great Firewall of China already blocks it in Hong Kong

princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 15 May 2024 07:51 next collapse

With Invidious, it would have to block every single accessible instance for that to work. You can proxy the video through the instance to avoid censorship.

onlinepersona@programming.dev on 15 May 2024 08:44 next collapse

tbh, I know little about the capabilities of the Great Firewall. Maybe it already is possible to circumvent it with a VPN or an anonymity network like I2P or TOR. Also don’t know if they block per IP or in blocks. Possibly hosting the peertube instance on public cloud infra would make it difficult to block if the IP changed at certain intervals.

Hosting peertube could however provide dissenters with more options than youtube.

Anti Commercial-AI license

drwho@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 16:11 collapse

Anybody have a VPN link into HK? It’d be easy to find out.

Hirom@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 17:51 collapse

There are 42 RIPE Atlas probes online in Hong Kong.

Someone part of the Atlas network could check this against various probes.

atlas.ripe.net/probes/public?sort=-id&toggle=…

PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de on 15 May 2024 06:33 next collapse

Don’t be evil

drwho@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 16:10 collapse

It still strikes me as odd that anybody ever trusted a mega.

Norgur@kbin.social on 15 May 2024 06:54 collapse

I don't get the premise of posts like that. We scold Google and other corps for not following the laws they are supposed to follow (data protection for example).and then we scold them for daring to follow lawmakers, when we don't like the laws they follow. Which is it?

Jayjader@jlai.lu on 15 May 2024 07:10 next collapse

I think the point is to scold Google for the harm they cause or fail to prevent. When the law is written so as to genuinely prevent harm (data protection, for ex) then I will scold those who don’t follow it. When the law is written so as to be ineffective at best and harmful at worst, I will scold those who do follow it.

The point isn’t to be consistent with regards to the law, as the law itself is not always either consistent nor “good”.

… unless it is me that isn’t understanding your own comment?

Norgur@kbin.social on 15 May 2024 07:35 collapse

So we want Google and such to ignore laws when we think they should be ignored? Who decides which is which then?

jlh@lemmy.jlh.name on 15 May 2024 08:38 next collapse

The people? Democracy really isn’t that hard.

DosDude@retrolemmy.com on 15 May 2024 10:38 next collapse

Maybe we need a law to know which laws to follow.

thingsiplay@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 11:51 collapse

Human Rights are higher than any law. Just because its law in China, does not mean it is correct to follow the law. It is not we decide which laws to follow, but it is universally in entire world the right thing to support Human Rights, regardless of any law.

520@kbin.social on 15 May 2024 07:12 next collapse

It is literally either follow this law or cease operations here. Both would end in the song being blocked anyway.

Mind you, I wish we were that level of strict when it came to our data privacy laws.

AeroLemming@lemm.ee on 15 May 2024 08:44 next collapse

As it is now, only people who read about it or live there and try to find the song will ever even know about the block. If Google refused and was kicked out of Hong Kong, just about every single citizen would notice and the government would have to explain precisely why they decided to ban all Google services over a song about freedom. I don’t think the people in charge would last long if that happened, considering how integral Google’s services are to many people’s lives.

520@kbin.social on 15 May 2024 09:37 next collapse

and the government would have to explain precisely why they decided to ban all Google services over a song about freedom.

They wouldn't explain shit. This is an authoritarian government we're talking about; they have near total control of what information gets to their populace.

More likely they'd just accuse Google of supporting terrorism, and make a show of raiding their offices and jailing their local executives.

I don’t think the people in charge would last long if that happened, considering how integral Google’s services are to many people’s lives.

This is China we're talking about. Chinese equivalents to nearly every big tech service are more than present and accounted for, even often preferred by the local populace. Hong Kong is a little different, but the CCP still exerts near total control there.

jlh@lemmy.jlh.name on 15 May 2024 10:02 next collapse

It would accelerate the ongoing brain drain in Hong Kong at least, and encourage the stragglers to finally leave for more democratic countries. Banning Google in Hong Kong would be a shitshow for the CCP, but Google doesn’t have any sort of spine or ethics.

Norgur@kbin.social on 15 May 2024 10:39 next collapse

Or Trump up some wild charges about tax fraud or something

AeroLemming@lemm.ee on 15 May 2024 10:44 collapse

Oh ok :(

thingsiplay@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 11:56 collapse

This would probably make the entire world talk about it and it would be worse in China, because this would only anger people and fighting against the country. We won’t see that, because Google wouldn’t dare. The money is more precious than any Human Right, regardless of law.

thingsiplay@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 11:53 collapse

It is literally either follow this law or cease operations here. Both would end in the song being blocked anyway.

Which does not change the fact that Google does it. So the reason why Google supports China and their anti Human Rights laws is, because of money. That’s what we criticize.

Hirom@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 07:53 next collapse

They had a choice between complying to censorship, or refusing to play along and if necessary stop doing business in Hong Kong.

In the past, Google Search got out of China for the same reason.

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de on 15 May 2024 08:25 next collapse

If the nazis are in power and the law says you have to obey the nazis, is it morally right to obey the nazis?

[deleted] on 15 May 2024 15:09 collapse

.

technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 15 May 2024 15:12 next collapse

It doesn’t make sense to expect any kind of morality from an evil system. Google is just a mindless legal entity seeking rents/profits while the profiteers try to avoid state violence. It’s like getting mad at a leech for being a leech.

Kissaki@beehaw.org on 15 May 2024 16:28 next collapse

The post title and teaser text make a neutral statement.

dean@beehaw.org on 17 May 2024 07:37 collapse

I think the reason people are mad is less about “google please follow the law” and more about “google please do the right thing”