So half of the students were randomly given a free VPN connection. They were informed that their browsing activities through the VPN would be monitored for the study. This seems a poor study to draw conclusions about the demand for uncensored information.
The censorship regime must have a hugely chilling effect. No-one wants to get sent to a re-education camp or have their social credit score crater. Why would a rational person run the risk of those consequences?
And if they were to learn the extent of their government's manipulation of their reality, what are they supposed to do with that information? The study says there were low rates of the participant's roommate learning censored information. If I'd been peeking at information I knew could harm my career and freedom, why on earth would I tell people about it?
To me, what this study is really saying is that internet censorship is not just a technological process, it's also a social process.
The censorship regime must have a hugely chilling effect. No-one wants to get sent to a re-education camp or have their social credit score crater. Why would a rational person run the risk of those consequences?
And if they were to learn the extent of their government's manipulation of their reality, what are they supposed to do with that information? The study says there were low rates of the participant's roommate learning censored information. If I'd been peeking at information I knew could harm my career and freedom, why on earth would I tell people about it?
To me, what this study is really saying is that internet censorship is not just a technological process, it's also a social process.