Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are some theories in the UK that are close to conspiracy theory. Many leading brexit proponents are rich people who made their money from the collapse of the soviet union and have assets largely outside the UK. One conspiracy theory is that they are attempting to crash the UK economy in order to buy the dip, make money from shorts and the sell off of state assets. Another conspiracy theory is that brexit has an…
There was no grand conspiracy and no master architects of chaos. It was simply a meme that got out of hand. It started out as a sentiment, a set of ideas that I would call liberal chauvinism. Then anti-immigration got on board. Then the Tories tried to win the anti-immigration folk back, but instead got swallowed by the BREXIT movement, along with a big chunk of Labour.
UK to depart from GDPR
261–270 of 659 posts
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it was fitting, considering how UK joined the EU in the first place (look up Maastricht Treaty if you don't remember it).
No it's not fitting. You don't make trillion pound economic, social and political decisions based on the whim of a popular vote. At least not unless you have powerful allies in the media and a personal interest to gain. Which is the real crux of the referendum was about. It was never about us regular folk and entirely about the self interests of those in charge. We were just pawns in a much larger game of power. Let'…
The referendum was advisory, so it would have been possible for parliament to vote not to enact article 50. But parliament voted for it.
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that's a stacked decision. There's no way to specify exactly what each of two options will entail. (If you don't believe me, take a look at a California ballot pamphlet.) Of course Leave was gonna be more uncertain - but normally such uncertainty plays against you in referendums, where the status quo tends to win. If Remain didn't pin Leave down, then that's the fault of their campaigning, not the setup…
Playing on this uncertainty was a conscious decision by the pro remain Conservative government of the time. People would ask 'what will happen after we vote brexit?' the natural reply: 'nobody knows' - well why not? It was clearly reckless to hold a vote on something without a plan on how it was actually to be implemented or even what it might look like; and there were calls for the government to do some investigatio…
So no plan. Genius.
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
From my experience, unless I'm missing something, they're annoying because they're not that well implemented, maybe even on purpose? Sites where I have granted access keep asking me to re-grant no matter what. Sites where I have denied do the same (although here I would expect it, not that I agree, since I already clicked "no"). And actually it's cool, sometimes you go to some docs and there's 33 "essential" cookies…
I think you're absolutely right. But I also think it was predictable. If we trusted the companies to do the right thing, we could have done that without GDPR. So OK, they live off advertising, they want to track, so now they just use dark patterns. What's next? Yet more regulations about exactly how to show this fundamentally annoying consent question? I just want to browse the internet!!! Sometimes people talk about…
For me this is a question of privacy, I'm ok with ads, but you don't need this to show me ads. It's not a problem that FB has a face recognition pipeline capable of linking me to any image posted in their platform and that a state sponsored agency could use, and track me throughout internet while logging me around, and which emails I open, and my location individually, and then my chats and probably WhatsApp too now, and instagram likes.
The problem is when you connect all these systems, with everything else and suddenly you can derive almost a 24/7 coverage of the life of an individual. If you and another person meet and both are carrying their phones then it's easy to sort of connect the remaining dots, specially in light of all other data points captured, security surveillance (public and covert), etc. And this is not problematic by itself, it's problematic when it becomes a system that is available to be used by whatever powers that sit in a position to use them. Today it might not be nefarious but you don't know if tomorrow is the same, but once there it might be difficult to revert the situation.
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm 24 and voted for brexit. In fact I campaigned for it and would do so again. It's really a very poor form to resort to the "dumb old racists voted for brexit hurr".
OK, so the problem is that I find it basically impossible to understand how a well-informed and rational person could come to the conclusions you've come to. The EU isn't perfect, but you'll struggle to argue that it hasn't expanded peace, prosperity and human rights across the continent. This is motherhood-and-apple-pie stuff. Arguments in favour of Brexit thus tend to boil down to immigration and 'sovereignty'. The…
The UK is actually the exception to the growing hate and nationalism in Europe!
The benefit of UK in Europe was that it helped curtail the exscesses of the continent. I worry for the EU now as it seems more toxic after Brexit than before.
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
The difference is that the referendum was stacked against leave in every conceivable way. For example, the remain campaign had £6m more to work with. On top of this the government spent £9m on pro remain leaflets and social media advertising. Add onto this the fact that the government wheeled out every 'expert' it could find to constantly cry about how bad brexit would be - most of them were lying (Mark Carney, Georg…
I already wrote a lengthy reply to one of your other comments. I don't have the time or energy to write a detailed rebuttal to this one, and I'm beginning to wonder whether you're arguing in good faith. But on your WW2 point, I did think about it for a minute. Britain fought WW2 for 6 years, 1939 – 1945. Brexit has no known endpoint. Imagine that even 10% of the trade impacts we've seen since the end of the transitio…
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#267Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that's a stacked decision. There's no way to specify exactly what each of two options will entail. (If you don't believe me, take a look at a California ballot pamphlet.) Of course Leave was gonna be more uncertain - but normally such uncertainty plays against you in referendums, where the status quo tends to win. If Remain didn't pin Leave down, then that's the fault of their campaigning, not the setup…
Playing on this uncertainty was a conscious decision by the pro remain Conservative government of the time. People would ask 'what will happen after we vote brexit?' the natural reply: 'nobody knows' - well why not? It was clearly reckless to hold a vote on something without a plan on how it was actually to be implemented or even what it might look like; and there were calls for the government to do some investigatio…
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Having now lived in the UK and Netherlands for over 10 years, I feel this would never happen here. It wouldn't happen in the UK because jaywalking is not a crime in UK. Quiet Australians accept authority moreso than UK folk.
> Quiet Australians accept authority moreso than UK folk. This is so far from my stereotype of Aussies that I feel sure it must be a troll, designed to bring out a legion of shirtless, shrimp-barbecuing cobbers, turning the air blue with their feelings about authority.
It's definitely true. Australia loves the smack of firm government and is quietly very, very authoritarian.
There's an Aussie term "Wowsers" [0] which is fascinating, as there is no British equivalent term. It often feels like the Wowsers and the Larrikins [1] are fighting an endless battle for Australia's soul. The Wowsers always win.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wowser [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrikin
Re: UK to depart from GDPR
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK, so the problem is that I find it basically impossible to understand how a well-informed and rational person could come to the conclusions you've come to. The EU isn't perfect, but you'll struggle to argue that it hasn't expanded peace, prosperity and human rights across the continent. This is motherhood-and-apple-pie stuff. Arguments in favour of Brexit thus tend to boil down to immigration and 'sovereignty'. The…
> OK, so the problem is that I find it basically impossible to understand how a well-informed and rational person could come to the conclusions you've come to. That is indeed a problem, but it is your problem. If 48% of people support anything , there must be some reasons for it. You're right about the consensus among economists. At the same time, 10 years ago there was a consensus about the virtues of free trade. Th…
Sure, and I think the most palatable conclusion is that a very large number of people are not well informed. If you look at UK news outlets — what they choose to report, how they choose to report it, and the interests of the people who own them — this doesn't stretch credibility very much.
> Also, economics isn't immune to bias. Are papers showing a link from immigration to low wages, or crime, or reduced trust, likely to get a fair hearing?
Yes, I believe they are. I am wary here of Michael Gove's quasi-fascist rhetoric of having "had enough of experts".
> it is an aging, sclerotic continent that can only make money by imposing fines on US tech companies
The big tech companies are too large and too powerful to be safe for democracy (or indeed for healthy forms of capitalism involving genuine competition). I would like to see more action taken against them everywhere. The EU is large enough to stand up to large corporations of this sort. The UK outside the EU is not.