> Eventually they’ll outlaw VPNs too and by then you’ll have little recourse.
Even China doesn't quite manage to enforce that.
Even China doesn't quite manage to enforce that.
Bypassing internet restrictions in mainland China is a normal part of life for people who want to access the western internet. China is able to censor the Internet effectively because Chinese people are most comfortable using apps that cater directly to Chinese people, through language and culture. The Chinese government has a lot of control over these companies because they’re based are located in China.
The English speaking west is so dependent on the U.S. internet that it is impossible to copy the Chinese model.
It’s only techies who think “if I can get around it, it’s not that big of a deal”. As long as you live in a society, how other people behave affects what you can do too.
Even those who are happy to break laws, don't generally do so perfectly.
Even nation states' pulling James Bond stunts don't do it perfectly.
Imperfect enforcement used to be the default even for petty crimes, before CCTV and finger prints and DNA tests and all the other forensics got cheap. The legal systems don't care if the methods are imperfect… and worse, they don't understand why we do, making it hard to explain to them the consequences of this kind of thing in our domain.