I would imagine it wouldn’t matter how many barnacles and stuff are on it. That’s the outside. Everything important is inside, I’m assuming the intake water will be screened or filtered in some way.
More like 3 tons. Even smaller SUV’s are 4000+ pounds.
I’m very skeptical that the Chinese government having your data as an American is worse than the American government and corporations (you know, the people with applicable jurisdiction) having it. Seems more likely to me that American interests just weren’t happy about a huge platform of Americans not being under their umbrella of control and censorship. Sure, you could argue that China of course has their own, but the two wouldn’t completely overlap, so there were windows where things could be freely and organically discussed and organized by Americans, without American government and corporate interference. Obviously that couldn’t be allowed to stand.
*8 years later