How are the two not equivalent? If anything, for anyone living in the west it's probably less of an issue to have China spy on them than a western government. Sure, at a state security level it's not but for regular individuals I sure would rather have China spy on me since they can't do anything to me directly.
> You have at least some civil rights in those countries
I'm sure the lads that spent decades in Guantanamo with no charges brought against them after being kidnapped based on their watch model will be very glad to hear they have civil rights.
26000 people's internet history was looked with a fine tooth comb in order to find that one IP which had viewed tom and jerry on youtube. youtube wouldnt give information but ISPs are by law or otherwise willing to "help" the police because its a "my way or highway" rule with the government.
so my point is, did i consent to this snooping? i am "supposed" to have laws but "think of the children". next time it is political opponents or dissidents as has been the case.
this isn't just in india or china or usa but everywhere.
I mean, sure yeah don't go to China. That's a pretty solid advice. But again, that's irrelevant for the average western user. Even with civil rights, the potential to get hurt by a western government while living in the west is orders of magnitude more probable than getting anything from the CCP or China. But yeah don't do layovers in China if you are a dissident, though I don't think that's an especially common scenario
