[Fuxy]

They were never moving towards democracy they were always moving towards "democracy with Chinese characteristics".

All they ever wanted was to get all the benefits of democracy while staying a communist dictatorship which given the results so far they have succeeded in brilliantly.

In many ways they are now out competing other countries because they have way more power and leverage on where Chinese companies move or what they do based on they outcome of their political negotiations with other countries.

Not to mention they will never allow foreign companies to make money in China and instead they will favour the local "home grown" alternative or if there isn't one they will just steal it. There is a reason every foreign company is required to have local to be a part of the operations for them to be able to operate in China.

Some of the time the corporate investment doesn't even need to be profitable financially for the company just as long as it is profitable politically for China.

It's amazing how well China plays the game and frankly other Countries just can't compare at the moment. As an evil super villain I have to give kudos to how well they strip every freedom of their citizens even though I don't like any of it.

How do you even go about defending yourself from such mass surveillance beside giving up technology and when necessary encrypting and deleting everything you do while wearing a mask every time you leave the house?

[gonehome]

Wearing a mask isn't enough because they're also working on gait recognition, you'd have to change up how you walk every time you leave too.

[felix_nagaand]

Pebbles in one or both shoes, plus a thick insole, and some sort of tourniquet on a leg just loose to allow blood to flow will be sufficient to trick these for sometime so long as one can carefully conceal any other uniquely identifying factors.

[panarky]

gait