HN user
Indeed. The point of the GFW is to prevent political unrest. MNC's workers are unlikely to be fermenting dissent at work. Deploying the GFW on their connections doesn't really aid the government as a whole in terms of staying in power, but it does mean that MNCs will get pissed off and may reduce their presence in China.
Is this a joke?
So do those poor Americans... so do all of the world, in fact. Although I will admit that having Marie Le Pen being one of the few to speak out for civil liberties in France is indicative of particular idiocy.
The 'universal right of ... free expression' that you mention is not quite universal. One does not simply have the right to declare that all members of [insert group] should be [insert unpleasant fate's verb's past participle]: there happen to be hate speech laws... similar situation for slander. That's all very well, but then one finds that anti-Iraq War activists have those same provisions used upon them. What's to stop governments from extending this further and further until we find that we are in an Iran or China like situation? It's not particularly likely but it is still possible, given the situation. Not implying that situation in Iran or China or any other similar countries is comparable to that of much of Europe, though. Just suggesting that there are limits and that the question is how far these limits go, not whether these 'rights' exist at all. In Iran/China everyone is free to support the government, hence very limited free speech.
In the first few years, people always spawned at 0 0. This was a large box, sometimes full of withers, which was difficult to escape. I believe that after some people completely covered 0 0 in cobblestone, rendering escape de facto impossible, the random spawn point system was introduced, in order to make it more difficult to cover all spawn points.
As a 2b2t player, I would say that whilst it initially appears to be rather difficult to exit said 'cube', it is in fact rather easy to escape. One must simply be willing to try a few times and meet new people. Why go near people who are potentially hostile? There is no loss: one simply restarts with the same amount as before (0), but one could make a friend which will provide one with food etc. in order to facilitate easier arrival at 2b2t Immigration. 2b2t Immigration's officers are rather ... variable. Some will kill on sight (KoS), whilst others will give render assistance. However, the main factor which has lead to 2b2t spawn becoming easier is the road system. There are roads every multiple of 400 blocks up until the 1200 orbital, for the most part, thanks to the efforts of several players. The roads lead to portals, which in theory allow you to get to over 100k overworld by walking along nether paths. Within the 1200 radius there are a multitude of farms, and within the latter radius there are far more indeed. After about 1k the landscape appears to be vaguely naturally generated, and after 5k all destruction of spawn like intensity ceases to be.