Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police • Hacker News Board

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#381

Post by wqaatwt » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:14 PM UTC

Gareth321 wrote: post #161

monegator wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He goes way too far though that's what activist have to do to shake people

I have heard this claim before but I find it unconvincing. I have given up support of movements for which activists have acted cruelly or otherwise immorally. Obviously one person doesn't represent a movement, but if I only ever see immoral people leading a movement, that will form a basis for my opinion of the movement. My observation of these activists is usually that they seek attention at any cost. They will hurt…

You do have a valid point but mildly “hurting” (or rather inconveniencing) the justice minister of Denmark out of all places seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. I mean he’s hellbent on using 1984 as a guidebook and forcing it on everyone in the EU.

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#382

Post by wqaatwt » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:21 PM UTC

pepperoni_pizza wrote: post #290

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> difference between terrorists and freedom fighters is a matter of which side of the fence Oft repeated but untrue. Terrorism, empirically, doesn’t work. Non-violent protest, and armed insurrection (aimed at the state, not its population) do. Sometimes freedom fighters can benefit from terrorism. But they are distinct strategies with separate targets.

Terrorism very much does work. The Basque and the Northern Irish terrorists / freedom fighters have gotten a so many of their demands for autonomy met that they disbanded (in one case formally, in the other almost) because they weren't needed anymore. Taliban also got the US out from Afghanistan pretty handily with mostly terrorism.

> The Basque and the Northern Irish terrorists / freedom fighters have gotten a so many of their demands for autonomy met that they disbanded

That’s certainly not how it works.

They just became highly unpopular amongst the populations they were trying to liberate (which generally preferred more peaceful solutions) and lost their support base and had to disband.

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#383

Post by kakacik » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:24 PM UTC

close04 wrote: post #200

kakacik wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacking families is firmly across the line and looks like crazy man's personal vendetta. Who can vouch he won't go further and ie won't kidnap a kid to achieve his goals. No wonder he gets raided, at one point it becomes a topic about protecting one's family, left or right, moral or crook doesn't matter anymore. Its not activist anymore in any meaningful sense, just a fanatic .

> crazy man's personal vendetta. Who can vouch he won't go further and ie won't kidnap a kid to achieve his goals. You just committed exactly the kind of escalation that you condemn when it's about him. So what if someone can vouch for him? What's that worth? "Vouching" is worthless in any circumstance I can think of, and nobody can give you guarantees about anything. I can't vouch that you won't do exactly the same,…

Jeez, you grabbed a single word from an expression that even non-native speakers like me know very well how to interpret and went a bit too deep into your self-made projections and on-purpose incorrect interpretations.

Just to be clear - there is no actual vouching, there never was, nor any plans for that. Fanatics are unpredictable, it doesn't matter in which area, their decisions are primarily emotional. He certainly behaved as one. Rest are details.

Or do you consider family stalking as a correct sane approach that actually achieves the goal effectively?

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#384

Post by Jensson » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:25 PM UTC

b40d-48b2-979e wrote: post #357

Mainan_Tagonist wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And freedom fighters are supposed to actually care about "freedom" while terrorists generally do not. I fail to see what great advancements in freedom for anyone involved have come out of the terror attacks performed over the past 25 years.

25 years? Why stop there? How about the US terror attacks on other countries civilians since at least the 1960s?

When did USA bomb a civilian house that wasn't a part of a larger operation? Terrorist attacks only target civilians, I have never seen such an attack by USA. They always try to target military or leaders.

The last time I know USA did a terror attack was japan in ww2, but everyone did terror bombing during that war, and the first world stopped doing terror bombings since then. If USA still ran that doctrine you would have Tehran and the rest of major Iranian cities leveled to the ground now, that is what it looks like when the strongest military in the world perform terror attacks.

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#385

Post by wqaatwt » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:27 PM UTC

yorwba wrote: post #148

pembrook wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you and I disagree. I don’t think Jesper is focused on the right issues. Big tech (private companies who largely just care about profits) and foreign governments (the Americans for example), are way lower on my “things Europe should be worried” about list. They’re there of course, but lower. Private companies don’t have the ability to ruin your life in the same way your own government does. They just want you…

If you think that Jesper isn't attacking the right issues, but Lars does, then you should definitely hope that Lars switches to Jesper's more popular approach. Unless you think there can never be a democratic consensus in favor of privacy, therefore the only way is for a small vanguard of privacy activists to impose their will on the hostile majority and establish a totalitarian privacy dictatorship. Then it wouldn't…

You can not “democratically” decide to abolish certain inalienable personal liberties and still pretend you are a democracy. That’s just mob rule or worse.

> totalitarian privacy dictatorship

That’s an illogical concept. What does that even mean?

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#386

Post by wqaatwt » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:30 PM UTC

gpvos wrote: post #206

bondarchuk wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about why do governments want to ban encryption? Because they want to know everything about you all the time. Collecting information on someone such as their location is of the same order.

It may be of the same order, but it is a different thing. No one, not even techies like here on HN, are going to see his actions as valid.

It’s not fundamentally different than indiscriminately scanning everyone’s private communication (what the Danish government is trying to accomplish on the EU level)

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#387

Post by Jensson » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:31 PM UTC

klibertp wrote: post #323

Mainan_Tagonist wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yet you fail to account for the fact that said people wouldn't wouldn't be in power did terrorism not have occurred in the first place. How many bad leaders in the west resulting directly or indirectly from terror attacks?

About as many as bad terrorist groups that began due to catastrophically bad decisions of leaders in the West. I'm sorry to break it to you - the plural you - but all the terrorists that are not traditionally domestic (local leftist/rightist extremists are everywhere, after all) - and the fact they are against the West - is simply a consequence of Western politics. Imperialism and neocollonialism are real, actual pol…

> I'm sorry to break it to you - the plural you - but all the terrorists that are not traditionally domestic (local leftist/rightist extremists are everywhere, after all) - and the fact they are against the West - is simply a consequence of Western politics.

Then why doesn't south America perform a lot of terrorist attacks? If that was the reason then you would see sub saharan africa perform way more terrorist attacks than the middle east.

No, the elephant in the room is religious zealots, they perform terrorist attacks, most other groups do not perform a lot of terrorism. A history of oppression just makes you happy the oppressors left, it doesn't make you a terrorist that go and try to make the oppressors come back like the middle east does.

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#388

Post by wqaatwt » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:31 PM UTC

bazoom42 wrote: post #309

ceejayoz wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the point that those politicians want to do precisely that to others?

Stalk their children? What policy are you referring to?

Chat Control? The Denmark is the primary supporter of universal stalking across the EU.

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#389

Post by wqaatwt » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:36 PM UTC

noir_lord wrote: post #271

nxm wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not the real world. Criminals will always find a way to get guns no matter the amount of gun control you impose, so I’d rather have law abiding citizens be armed as well

It’s not your real world, lots of other countries have so little gun violence that a shooting makes the national news when it happens and thats maybe once or twice a year.

There are countries in the EU which have pretty lax gun laws and firefighters are fairly accessible they still have fairly low levels of gun crime. Just having access to weapons doesn’t mean that people will start killing each other for no reason, there are many other more important factors.

Re: Danish privacy activist Lars Andersen raided by police

#390

Post by bawolff » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 7:43 PM UTC

wqaatwt wrote: post #374

bawolff wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically all of history. Terrorist is a term people use for people who use violence and intimidation to attempt to cause political change. Freedom fighter is a term used for people who use violence and intimidation to attempt to cause political change that you are sympathetic to. Both words have identical meanings, the only difference is if you happen to agree with the people commiting the violent acts or not.

No, not at all. Methods and targets/victims also matter. Using violence to achieve specific military objectives or as a response to violence is not the same as indiscriminate murder and terrorism.

> as a response to violence

Literally every terrorist group ever claims they are responding to some sort of violence or oppression.