Thread

Two-tier encryption in the UK

512 points · 472 comments · ReturnoftheHack

failbuffer · 1790256694 · focus · HN ↗
No need to speculate that the UK government "might" one day become the bad guys: they already arrest over 30 people a day for speech that offends the prevailing political orthodoxy.
[1] <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2025/09/09/people-are-being-thrown-in-uk-prisons-over-what-theyve-said-online-can-free-speech-be-saved/" rel="nofollow">https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2025/09/09/people-a...
1. cjrp · 1790257222 · focus · HN ↗
  How many of those 30 are unarguably "bad" posts though? Threats of violence and so forth.
  1. erkt · 1790257552 · focus · HN ↗
    250 years ago some people made some bad posts about throwing some tea into the harbor. Calling for revolution isn't a bad post.
    monkey_monkey · 1790258007 · focus · HN ↗
    Big fucking difference between saying you want to throw some tea into a harbor vs inciting that hotels containing asylum seekers should be burnt down.
    enedil · 1790258606 · focus · HN ↗
    That's charitable to say that nobody was saying anything except for "let's drown that tea".
    monkey_monkey · 1790259065 · focus · HN ↗
    Weird that you think it was legal for people to say "kill the king" back then.
    UpsideDownRide · 1790260076 · focus · HN ↗
    Diffrence being state did not have control to stop disgruntled people from organizing. And it might be that preventing such formations is actually detrimental long run.
    someonebaggy · 1790263342 · focus · HN ↗
    The state did everything they could to prevent it back then, just as they do right now.
    cucumber3732842 · 1790265563 · focus · HN ↗
    Everything they could was a lot less back before the fruits of industrial productivity allowed people to have their basic needs met while giving a huge fraction of their surplus to the state to do what it pleases with.
    iamnothere · 1790273990 · focus · HN ↗
    Using this line of argumentation, you might as well start enslaving (sorry, “impressing”) people into your navy again.
    stavros · 1790289622 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, and perfect law enforcement is much worse than society than spotty law enforcement, because spotty law enforcement is how all societal progress got made.
    Imagine if we jailed every gay person the moment they had a gay thought. How legal do you think being gay would be now?

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