I am not convinced they do, they keep voting to give away their privacy every year.
Every political party in the UK supports things like the Digital Rights Act. So what is a person to do?
Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
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Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Per another comment here: "Generally speaking the more important an issue is, the less it is allowed to be affected by democratic processes." The trick is to have a two party system and agree on all the important points. There aren't any major parties willing to reduce espionage or ease up on Gaza. If elections are coming up, they stick to gender theory, school sports or Lake Ontario. "Vote blue no matter what" doesn…
> The trick is to have a two party system and agree on all the important points. This is the exact characteristic about US politics that Americans wish were removed so their government was better for them. It favors a two party system, so no one is actually represented and have to choose between two parties they likely only agree with on few points, unless they are subscribed to that party's propogandic kool-aid.
The UK has the same system with the same problems.
It always converges to a two-party system eventually, the US just speedran the process.
Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#83A long time ago I walked into a public library to get a library card, already my ID in hand. Staff looked at me aghast "why would we need an ID for a card, that'd be ridiculous!". I feel Brits take privacy quite seriously.
And yet, they voted for the governments that killed privacy and established surveillance in public, because they love privacy so much.
As other people have said, when all parties agree on the same thing around digital privacy, what choice do the voters have?
Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#84In theory yes, in practice no.
In theory everybody supports healthy eating, in practice most people are overweight or obese.
In theory everybody thinks exercising, energy conservation, caring for the environment is good, in practice almost no one does it.
In theory everybody thinks studying and reading good books is a good thing, in practice most people just want to switch off their brains in front of the television or social media.
Most people lie mostly to themselves. Politicians and marketers know this, that's why they only tell people the lies they want to hear.
Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#85Only Brits?
Privacy shouldnt be privilege or for tech-savvy only.
Freedom of speech cant be regulated without being lost.
Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is conspiracism-adjacent, IMO. Plenty of consequential decisions have been put to referendums, if only because the political class may not want to take responsibility for them. And the outcome of a referendum is never certain. The more interesting difference is surely in how the elite responds to unexpected referendum results. Plenty of mainland Europeans assumed that Brexit would somehow be canceled (which was…
> British political culture sacralizes majorities. I'm genuinely curious what you would offer as an alternative? Democracy should ignore the majority if it disagrees with the controlling cabal who hold the correct opinions?
Perhaps a misunderstanding. In this case "majority" (or "majoritarianism") really means plurality. British (and US) democracy fetishizes winners, i.e. whoever comes first, whether or not they represent a majority of the electorate. In Britain you get all the power with 30% of the vote. Some might call that undemocratic.
Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absurd to suggest that anyone voting for Brexit knew what they were voting for - by design of the pro-Brexit shysters.
Not sure that's an argument that shines good light on brexit voters.
It’s not supposed to. There is no light that can present anybody who voted for Brexit as anything other than a fuckwit.
Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#88In the US we have tech companies complying with sketchy DHS subpoenas that don’t require warrants. We have DoJ targeting political enemies. We have FISA mass surveillance. It’s naive to think politically motivated surveillance can’t happen in the UK and elsewhere. Or to assume that only the “right people” will be the ones able to break encryption.
People with the "wrong" political opinion have been surveilled for decades. It just took more work.
Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#89Re: Brits would quite like their private messages to stay private
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure that's an argument that shines good light on brexit voters.
To be fair (a) I don't think he was trying to do that, and (b) I'm struggling to think of an argument that would shine good light on brexit voters ? Perhaps that they're wonderfully trusting people who believe whatever politicians that Gary down the pub thinks are the best ?
To take my mother as an example she hadn't thought about it properly at all. She was surprised that her daughter (my sister) had voted Remain because apparently my mother who knows about the EU funding which enabled what my sister did, hadn't connected "EU funding" to the EU she was voting to Leave. "Oh" was basically all she had to say about that.
In the broader scheme of things you could also see this in the response of Brexiteers who were stunned that, as non members they now weren't able to travel freely across borders.
Voters aren't very bright because they're people, you've met people. I used to think that FPTP was a good idea because it's so simple that "The candidate who had more votes won" means the idiots won't be confused by the outcome. We saw that they're confused anyway, so, fine, since apparently simplicity wasn't achievable we should use a more complicated voting system with better outcomes.