Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by trompetenaccoun 1280 days ago
You may have misunderstood. There is no way to anonymously access Weixin from China unless you have hacked credentials. You need a phone number. Note that local Weixin and foreign Wechat are not the same. Last time my Mainland friend bought a SIM card the vendor had a government app on his phone, snapped a picture of my friend's face, scanned the ID (身份证) and had him take a fingerprint with a reader he also had connected to his phone. All this data gets uploaded directly to the Chinese government.

There isn't a country in the world which does this. But the details are also not the main point, it's how extremely restricted and controlled simple access to information or forums of free expression is for people in China. Tencent has party officials working within the company. This isn't a regular business as Westerners might imagine it, it's an extended part of the CCP just like any other large corporation under Xi.

Again, people are saying it's no big deal but why would GitHub help them at all? It's not a good cause.
3 comments
anaganisk 1279 days ago
Github here isn't supporting China govt, they're partnering with companies that want to provide a regex to their credentials. And I dont know where you hail from but, Im from India and I have a govt issued mandatory id card that has multiple biometrics and my photo associated to it. And to get a sim card I need to provide that ID and authenticate with my fingeprints. Also tell me which US companies isn't drooling over China contracts, and to an extension orther local hostile activites. There is literally a recent story where using facial recognition Madison square garden denied entry to an attorney, who was related to a company that is in litigation with its parent company. Buy yeah China Bad.
link
snehk 1279 days ago
> There isn't a country in the world which does this.

My government requires me to have ID, which contains a photo and finger prints and you cannot get a SIM without ID. That's Germany and it's true for many, many countries.

link
pontilanda 1280 days ago
> There isn't a country in the world which does this

Does what? The thing extra is the fingerprint but literally every modern country requires ID registration and more. My government also knows this IP belongs exactly to me. Stop spouting nonsense.

Plus this is completely unrelated.

link