[tlb]

What sort of research do you want to do that you're afraid might result in punishment?

Or put another way, what do you think a government agency might see as misconduct that you see as legitimate?

[analog31]

I would be concerned about ideologically incorrect research, innocent mistakes, non-research-related activism, working for a disfavored person, being part of a disfavored ethnic group, etc.

[marcosdumay]

> what do you think a government agency might see as misconduct that you see as legitimate?

I'm not the GP, but that one is easy:

- Discovering that some drug is ineffective (or worse) when the manufacturer has made party contributions;

- Discovering that some public policy does not benefit the population while it benefits some politician;

- Any research on a propaganda line with results that are not aligned with the official truths.

[paganel]

This is similar to how privacy-conscious people are told that “if you don’t have anything to hide then why are you so concerned about actually hiding things?”.

[jtd514]

You are saying that as if the government is immune to corruption and abuse of power.

[dgzl]

This is my thought Everytime someone defends increasing government power and authority. They always assume the government is going to act in good faith and never use the power in a harmful way. Almost as if they've never read a history book.

[RockmanX]

you probably never heard of the so called "political flighting" among university professors in China