2y ago

EXCLUSIVE: Naomi Wu and the Silence That Speaks Volumes

www.hackingbutlegal.com EXCLUSIVE: Naomi Wu and the Silence That Speaks Volumes

When China's prodigious tech influencer, Naomi Wu, found herself silenced, it wasn't just the machinery of a surveillance state at play. Instead, it was...

Apparently, the Chinese government brought the hammer down on Naomi for pointing out how they spy on Signal used via a third-party keyboard on phones

#Tech #Infosec #security #China

41 comments

After 8 years of daily tweeting one of the loudest, most candid voices coming out of China has been deplatformed- absolutely no one gives a shit. I could be dead in a ditch- but we aren’t actually people, we’re just signs for people like you in the West to wave at each other in their ideological war. –Naomi Wu
Sadly this is what I've been feeling nowadays.
- She has a large social media presence. Her followers should be the one raising the flag, making noise. And that echo chamber should magnify so the media can't ignore it. Expecting the media to pick it up without her fans doing so first is weird. We should be able to point to the discussion forums the Twitter storms the Reddit threads etc where people are getting up in arms over their favorite creator disappearing. But we're not. This this news article doesn't cite it.
  So something's missing.
  
  Yup, I only posted it on the off chance that there is some truth here or someone knowns more I've wondered why the Chinese Government didn't shut her down long ago It would be hard for them to not know she's getting around their measures and what she's posting or if she is/was an agent of government propaganda promoting Chinese tech Also ties in with the LMG drama as she has accused Linus of sexual harassment and propositioning her on a trip to China
- It's not like we don't have our own problems over here that take up our time.
  Also one of the increasingly problematic issues is getting news out of China
- So what? Chinese government is cracking down on her and what is the West supposed to do? Declare war? Send Seal team 6?
  
  At least talk about.
  That's what she's criticizing her western followers and the western media for not doing.
  The thought that all the western world can do is to either declare war or sit on our hands is plain wrong.
- She's absolutely right.

“The Chinese government cracked down on me but it’s the big bad westerners who aren’t listening to me that’s the problem”
Sympathy lost for this attention seeker.
- WTF, that's your takeaway? She was one of the few voices warning us about security risks from the inside. Her point is that social media has one weapon: the streisand effect... But when instead there is silence then it is known there will be no accountability. The government will be emboldened by this. It wasn't a metaphor, she thinks they will really kill her now if she tweets more, and less people like her will be willing to post in the future.
  
  But you don't understand, she's an attractive woman and therefore must be an attention seeker and nothing more.
  /S
- Imagine being this fucking arrogant and blinded by privilege
- Sounds like you're just proving her point.
  
  Her point is that I should care about abuse against citizens number 200,000,000 by China because she personally is affected?
  I already know China sucks, listening to an attention seeker doesn’t change that.
  
  I already know China sucks, listening to an attention seeker doesn’t change that.
  She’ll complain about the people already on her side but not the oppressive government causing her issue? She was an attention seeker back on reddit, she hasn’t changed now and I don’t care.
- Well, I find that really sad.
  Whatever mistake they make, I think people living with constant fear of the threat posed by a totalitarian regime known for its violence against its own people deserve our sympathy.
- Doing the CCPs work for them, I see
- At some point in the past she said not to trust anything she says because she would flip and say whatever she had to to protect her family. So yeah, grain of salt with anything like that.
- I'm not sure what the importance is of her being an Attention Seeker. Could you explain how that matters?

Sounds like that “bug” was actually a feature and Naomi just pissed off some government surveillance spooks by breaking their toys. God help her.
By the way, her girlfriend is part of an ethnic group that the Chinese government is currently genociding.
And you thought the USA was a bad place to live…
- And you thought the USA was a bad place.
  I can think that both are bad places to different degrees for different reasons. Particularly when some would like for the US to become more like that.
  
  Indeed, and as a citizen of the US, that terrifies me.

I never heard of Naomi Wu before.
All of the sudden, articles like this one are all over the place showing a woman with red hair in provocative outfits claiming to be a tech activist being silenced.
Would anyone care to give me a two line summary of who she is and what her deal is?
- She’s a techie just like a lot of folks. Likes to indulge in 3D printing, hardware modding, things like that. Just happens to also be a woman who likes to dress provocatively. Each to their own, of course. Been a while since I watched anything of hers, but what stuck with me is her emphasis on the fact that women can be engineers just as well as men can. She’s decently well-known in the modding community, I’d say.
- Big celebrity of the "maker" space. Often showed signs of protest against the CPP, while living in China. Often controversial due to appearance.
  
  What is "maker space"? What is the CPP besides a C++ file? A Chinese agency?
- She’s a tech activist who’s being silenced, just like you said
- hardware / software hacker living in china (shenzen) has a great youtube channel and lots of other socials that advocate for open source hardware, builds cool shit, breaks shit in cool ways. just as willing to hack at her own body for fun and personal interest. uses her look to both be disarming / educate folks; her motto is "if I can do it, anyone can do it"
  some extras: from being a subscriber to her youtube channel and a fan for many years now, she is indeed hyper capable / knowledgable, has some views that wouldnt be considered conventional by various western queer types but come from an honest experience living as a queer person in non western systems. she has also been more bitter about treatment by western media and other folks who assume their preconceptions are more valid than her lived experience, something I am personally familiar with being from a slightly controvercial country myself.
  
  I'm curious what queer Eastern values are unconventional to queer Western values? I assume her views are common to queer Chinese.

"Naomi Wu and the Silence That Speaks Volumes" sounds like a harry potter book title. More seriously, this is a damn shame. Always been a big fan.

41 comments