[ilaksh]

I believe that it is much worse than that. Much of the same capabilities are available to the US government now. And unfortunately some aspects of western governments (i.e. intelligence) are just as interested in and subscribed to total surveillance as China. And also unfortunately many Americans have accepted this surveillance under the belief that it is there for their own protection against "terrorists". The government has access to Facebook and Google.

[Cacti]

The US, despite all its flaws, still has legal and political structures to prevent the worst abuses. Not all, and not for everyone, but in general people do have actual, real rights. Say what you will about the US political process, but if push comes to shove and millions of people hit the streets, changes _will_ happen.

Someday that may not be true. It's very likely the US eventually devolves into a real surveillance-police state of the type we are talking about here, but it is still quite a ways off. And, frankly, there is not much incentive for the US government to really push the envelope so long as the country is stable and rich. If that situation changes, then yeah, the US could devour itself from within in order to prop itself up, but again, that is quite a ways off.

For the Chinese government, none of these barriers exist. Hell, there is barely the concept of individuals rights in the first place.