What about cleaning all yards? This ‘the West bad, China bad okay’ stance is dehumanising and ignorant. [Edit typo.]
I posted this elsewhere already, but it also fits here goven many of the posts in this thread: It is not just about data/privacy concerns (which are underestimated imo, as China pursues an own agenda with collecting your data through Chinese tech) and ‘unfair’ subsidies, but about gross human rights violations.
In short, some parts of the cheap Chinese cars are made in concentration camps where people are forced to work under catastrophic conditions.
I posted this elsewhere already, but it also fits here goven many of the posts in this thread: It is not just about data/privacy concerns (which are underestimated imo, as China pursues an own agenda with collecting your data through Chinese tech) and ‘unfair’ subsidies, but about gross human rights violations.
In short, some parts of the cheap Chinese cars are made in concentration camps where people are forced to work under catastrophic conditions.
Chinese orgs love signing MOUs
The CCP - or, better, the China Scholarship Council (CSC) under the rule of the CCP - forces Chinese students and researchers to sign ‘loyalty pleadges’ before giong abroad saying they “shall consciously safeguard the honor of the motherland, (and) obey the guidance and management of embassies (consulates) abroad.” The restrictive scholarship contract requires them to report back to the Chinese embassy on a regular basis, and anyone who violates these conditions is subject to disciplinary action.
In one investigation,
Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow working on China at the German Marshall Fund, sees the CSC contract as a demonstration of the Chinese Communist Party’s “mania for control.”
“People are actively encouraged to intervene if anything happens that might not be in the country’s interest,” Ohlberg said.
Harming China’s interests is in fact considered the worst possible breach of the contract.
“It’s even listed ahead of possible involvement in crimes, so effectively even ahead of murder,” she noted. “China is making its priorities very clear here.”
[…] Kai Gehring, the chair of German parliament’s Committee for Education and Research, says the CSC contracts are “not compatible” with Germany’s Basic Law, which guarantees academic freedom.
In Sweden, for example, universities have already cancelled the collaboration with the CSC over this practice.
There is ample evidence that China uses scientific collaboration with private companies as well as universities and research organizations for spying. You’ll find many independent reports on that as well as of the CCP’s intimidation practices of Chinese students who don’t comply with the party line, e.g., in Australia and elsewhere. It’s easy to find reliable sources on the (Western) web.
Yes. We need human responsibility for everything what AI does. It’s not the technology that harms but human beings and those who profit from it.
Forced labour in Chinese prisons isn’t limited to Xinjiang, nor to the car industry. A lot products we use in Europe and North America and elsewhere around the globe are made by Chinese prisoners forced to work under catastrophic conditions.
There is strong evidence for this provided by many independent sources, among them a documentary by Arte (a French-German media outlet). If interested:
Forced Labour - SOS from a Chinese Prisoner – (documentary, 95 min.)
A desperate cry for help written in Chinese was discovered in a pregnancy test sold in France and made in a Chinese factory. It revealed a hidden world of Chinese prison-companies where prisoners are forced to work for 15 hour days manufacturing products for export. This documentary tries to find out who wrote the letter.
(And, yes, prison labour exists also in the U.S., and it is as evil, but this doesn’t make the autocratic Chinese government any better.)
This is maybe a good idea. What would an emoji analysis tell us about a network? 😃
Yeah, it would be interesting to know why the Guardian did it.
“People are ultimately breaking into our country” isn’t used in the article.
The Guardian must have changed that. I copied and pasted the phrase from the article. (They also say now that Downing Street ‘denied this’ instead of ‘categorically denied this’, a minor edit).
I changed the title now.
As the 7-year old’s father is a construction worker according to the article, this is on topic:
Construction Skills Shortage Threatens Infrastructure Projects
A dire shortage of construction skills and persistent planning delays pose significant threats to infrastructure projects, despite heightened interest from pension funds to invest in the sector.
Sunak’s disability benefit plans are familiar culture war fodder
Rishi Sunak’s big speech on reforming disability benefits was intended to show that the government had a grip on the economic and health challenges of the UK’s rising levels of long-term sickness. Instead, it came over as an administration running out of ideas, high on strident rhetoric, and desperate to cut welfare bills at all costs.
Yes, we have seen similar ‘strategies’ by China regarding its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), for example. In the end Beijing tries to influence not only a foreign country’s economy but also its public administration. (For example, the port of Sri Lanka, one of China’s BRI ‘partners’, now belongs to China, meaning that the small island has lost control of its allegedly most important asset.)
From Chinese students in Germany, a technology promise to the motherland - (2014)
Illustrating the grip the Communist party and government try to maintain on overseas Chinese students, researchers and business people, an exchange of letters between President Xi Jinping and Chinese students in Germany has produced passionate promises from the students to serve the motherland - and deliver advanced technology backed to China, the state news media reported.
[…]
To at least one Western intelligence official, the exchange was a textbook exercise in ensuring a steady flow of science and technology back to China from educational institutions and companies in the West.
[Edit typo.]
There is a video on the issue (4 min)
There is a good article offering additional insights into the matter:
Chinese Hacking Contractor iSoon Leaks Internal Documents
An apparent leak of internal documents from a Chinese hacking contractor paints a picture of a disaffected, poorly paid workforce that nonetheless penetrated multiple regional governments and possibly NATO.
From starving students to emaciated pets: why are hunger and poverty the UK’s new normal? — (Opinion)
The Conservatives have taken pragmatic, everyday charity and kindness and used it to shore up the cruel state they have created
Tables without food, bedrooms without beds. Grinding child poverty in Britain calls for anger – and a plan (Opinion by Gordon Brown)
Even if the government issued newspaper editors with D-notices banning any public mention of the word “poverty”, it could hardly do more to create a wall of silence around Britain’s biggest social crisis. By eliminating any ministerial admission of our deepening poverty epidemic from public discourse, it has left Britain with a hidden emergency whose forgotten and voiceless victims are the hundreds of thousands of children behind closed doors, in bedrooms without beds, homes without heating and kitchen tables without food, and whose suffering is worsening by the day.
Data Leak at Anthropic Due to Contractor Error
TL;DR - Anthropic had a data leak due to a contractor’s mistake, but says no sensitive info was exposed. It wasn’t a system breach, and there’s no sign of malicious intent.
Do you say that to Europe, to China, or both?
It’s obvious you’re addressing only Europe. Why?
This is what I meant with ‘The West bad, China bad okay’. It’s hypocritical. It’s double-standards. It’s ignorant and disgusting.