path: root/note/wechat.html



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		<title>The Problem with WeChat, et al.</title>
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		<h1>The Problem with WeChat, et al.</h1>
		<p>
		WeChat is not a preferred way of contacting me.  <a href="/contact.html">Use these instead</a>.
		</p>

		<p>
		WeChat is a instant messaging program by the Chinese technology giant Tencent.  It is insanely popular in Mainland China.
		</p>

		<p>
		I do not use WeChat when applicable for the following reasons.
		</p>

		<ul>
			<li>
				WeChat's client program is <a href="https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html">nonfree software</a>.
			</li>
			<li>
				Many of WeChat's features are <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html">Service as a Software Substitute</a>.
			</li>
			<li>
				WeChat's servers are nonfree; the service is centralized.
			</li>
			<li>
				Tencent suspends WeChat accounts for sending "politically sensitive chats".
			</li>
			<li>
				Information collected by WeChat is given to the police of the PRC without court warrants.
			</li>
		</ul>

		<p>This list is incomplete.  I can't think of more now, tell me if you know some more.</p>
		<p>Similar problems are present in other popular Instant Messaging services such as <a href="https://stallman.org/whatsapp.html">WhatsApp</a>, <a href="https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/discord.html">Discord</a>, Tencent QQ, etc.</p>

		<a href="/contact.html">Here are some ways to contact me.</a>

		<div id="footer">
			<hr />
			<p><a href="/">Runxi Yu's Website</a></p>
			<p>Unless otherwise specified with the "<span class="copyright">copyright</span>" HTML/CSS class, works hosted on this subdomain (<code>www.andrewyu.org</code>) served with the HTTP(S) protocol is available under <a href="https://www.andrewyu.org/note/pubdom.html">Runxi Yu's Public Domain Dedication</a>.</p>
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</html>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
	<head>
		<title>The Problem with WeChat, et al.</title>
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css" />
		<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
		<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
	</head>
	<body>
		<h1>The Problem with WeChat, et al.</h1>
		<p>
		WeChat is not a preferred way of contacting me.  <a href="/contact.html">Use these instead</a>.
		</p>

		<p>
		WeChat is a instant messaging program by the Chinese technology giant Tencent.  It is insanely popular in Mainland China.
		</p>

		<p>
		I do not use WeChat when applicable for the following reasons.
		</p>

		<ul>
			<li>
				WeChat's client program is <a href="https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html">nonfree software</a>.
			</li>
			<li>
				Many of WeChat's features are <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html">Service as a Software Substitute</a>.
			</li>
			<li>
				WeChat's servers are nonfree; the service is centralized.
			</li>
			<li>
				Tencent suspends WeChat accounts for sending "politically sensitive chats".
			</li>
			<li>
				Information collected by WeChat is given to the police of the PRC without court warrants.
			</li>
		</ul>

		<p>This list is incomplete.  I can't think of more now, tell me if you know some more.</p>
		<p>Similar problems are present in other popular Instant Messaging services such as <a href="https://stallman.org/whatsapp.html">WhatsApp</a>, <a href="https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/discord.html">Discord</a>, Tencent QQ, etc.</p>

		<a href="/contact.html">Here are some ways to contact me.</a>

		<div id="footer">
			<hr />
			<p><a href="/">Runxi Yu's Website</a></p>
			<p>Unless otherwise specified with the "<span class="copyright">copyright</span>" HTML/CSS class, works hosted on this subdomain (<code>www.andrewyu.org</code>) served with the HTTP(S) protocol is available under <a href="https://www.andrewyu.org/note/pubdom.html">Runxi Yu's Public Domain Dedication</a>.</p>
		</div>
	</body>
</html>