I happened upon a podcast interview over at Thomas Crampton’s blog of Duncan Hewitt, veteran China correspondent and best-selling author of Getting Rich First, who thinks that money and angry people will play a growing role in the battle against China’s Great Firewall. Though I agree with his commentary, I think the biggest thing he neglects to mention is how technology could really change the outcome of Chinese Internet censorship (USBs are already a favorite in Cuba to spread information). First watch the interview below and then read further into what I think is missing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-k2MXgwrOM

So, what’s missing? Global Satellite Internet. I’m seeing it already on BART, on TV for commercials, and it’s been tested to work all the way in Africa.

Imagine a world where any foreign nation’s corporation can sell their satellite Internet to any person around the world for an affordable price with basic to no set-up required on the consumer’s end. Get a new computer, acquire the bootleg software (that’ll get the government to really crackdown on bootleg VCDs, EVDs, etc.), and suddenly you have 1 billion Chinese online with no government censorship, no government watchers, and no website around the world being blocked.

Sure, the government could try to prevent its distribution, force computer makers to make their computers incompatible with satellite Internet, but with the ingenuity of Chinese bootlegging and IPR violations, I’d be loathed to side with the government’s ability to really control new technological advances such as these.