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Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

mullvad.net

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Re: Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

#51
post #43
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder who is behind the astroturfing I noticed the same thing, but this really is a strange one since there isn't an obvious single party which would desire this legislation (from my limited view). External state-actors (e.g. China for proxy-policing), or non-democratic internal politicians/leaders (EU/EEA neo-facists?), is the only thing I can imagine.

More likely, TBH, in this case: Just one random person with a strong conviction and sub-par execution. There is a meta-effect going on here: Your complaining about the now vastly downvoted comments is now filling the top of this topic.

You're probably right, seems like there hasn't been any new ones since the original influx.

EDIT: never mind since posting this there have been a few more.

Re: Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

#52
post #38
post #24

There are an unusual number of comments from new accounts making disingenuous arguments on this post. I wonder who is behind the astroturfing. The answer to "what else should we do about bad people doing bad things?" is, of course how we usually catch people doing bad things: old-fashioned detective work. It involves taking reports of suspicious or illegal acts, interviewing witnesses and associates, requesting court…

> I wonder who is behind the astroturfing I noticed the same thing, but this really is a strange one since there isn't an obvious single party which would desire this legislation (from my limited view). External state-actors (e.g. China for proxy-policing), or non-democratic internal politicians/leaders (EU/EEA neo-facists?), is the only thing I can imagine.

The parties that want this are government agencies that want more power. Perhaps the companies that plan to support the government agencies in this work.

There is a lot of money and political power that wants these laws. But they don't seem likely to be running any campaigns as obvious as astroturfing. Isn't it more likely that the new commenters are people who want to remain anonymous?

Re: Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

#53
post #4

To be honest I'm not very hopeful. The average Joe really is gullible - just drop some terrorism, children and nowadays some "preventing misinformation" bs (which of course has never and will never be twisted to fit government's needs at the time) to the mix and people will accept it. Nevertheless I support these campaigns since I'm more than happy to be proven wrong.

[flagged]

Re: Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

#54

The problem is there are no reports on what counter terrorism units achieved, how many potential attacks they thwarted because it would jepoardize their work, at least that's the mantra. So it's a you have to believe us that these measures is a must situation. The problem is, that the silicon we use in everyday hardware is a black box. Same applies to online services. We do not even know how Youtube's and other big s…

Yeah I agree. I'm starting to wonder about that mantra. If disclosing your successes endangers the work so much then maybe it's not such great work. The whole "there will always be bad actors" who want to "destroy our democracy" starts to wear thin when such high levels of secrecy are also eroding democracy.

If governments opened up more about what they're doing they might lose a few more of their secret battles (and people will die) but maybe it would be worth it when you look at the overall preservation of democratic thought. That's the ramblings of a wannabe patriot though, and not a lawyer, and lawyers are deciding all this.

Re: Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

#56
post #24

There are an unusual number of comments from new accounts making disingenuous arguments on this post. I wonder who is behind the astroturfing. The answer to "what else should we do about bad people doing bad things?" is, of course how we usually catch people doing bad things: old-fashioned detective work. It involves taking reports of suspicious or illegal acts, interviewing witnesses and associates, requesting court…

His name is Sir Humphrey Appleby, aka the Deep State, aka the bureaucrats. Seriously watch the show Yes Minister, there has never been a show that does a better job at showing the ridiculousness that leads to these apparently horrible ideas that no one seems to like but seem to continue marching forward.

Re: Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

#58

I am really worried about this. I feel completely helpless though, I am almost a 100% convinced this legislation will make it through. It will be the worst day in the history of the EU. Great to see this campaign though.

[flagged]

weak encryption is weak for everyone.

Re: Mullvad's campaign against EU chat control

#59
post #30

Ha! I probably should get a mullvad account just to support them (even if I use my own VPN). Something that is not discussed much in Sweden is surveillance via the bank system. Banks have access to customers' transaction information and use it for two purposes: the "useful" feature of telling their customer how many of their purchases were e.g. food vs entertainment or house rent, and--of course--for advertising thei…

[flagged]
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