Mullvad's focus on privacy has been fantastic so far. But this ad made me reconsider: I want a VPN service that silently does its job in the background, not one that screams "look at me" with silly stunts and attempts at becoming viral.
Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
131–140 of 194 posts
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
What troubles me about using the word “lie” is it becomes up to a body of bureaucrats to determine what is true. Instead, fight misinformation with superior information.
>it becomes up to a body of bureaucrats to determine what is true. I think we have a ministry for that.
the ministry of silly walks? ;-)
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#133> Mullvad was rejected by Clearcast, the organization responsible for approving all TV ads in the UK and ensuring they comply with the rules set by the authorities > “The overall concept lacks clarity.” “It is unclear why certain examples are included, who the ‘speaker’ represents, and the role of individuals depicted in the car.” > "Referencing topics such as: Paedophiles, Rapists, Murderers, Enemies of the state, J…
Are you kidding me? In the US, you are not even allowed to say the word fuck or display female top nudity.
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are being pedantic. > Step 1: cryptically warn people that their rights are under attack. They are, UK is heavy surveillance, there is an article on Wikipedia dedicated just to this subject. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance_in_the_Unite... > Step 2: tell people that you have been banned from saying any more. They said their ad is "banned from TV" because they offer a way to circumvent internet surv…
Here's a wikipedia article about mass surveillance in the United States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance_in_the_Unite... . It's longer.
This is whataboutism. It doesn't address any of the points made above.
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
When will the UK citizens stand up against the regime?
Mass surveillance and living in a police state is an ingrained part of British culture. It is no wonder to me that police procedurals are the most popular genre of TV shows in UK by quite a margin. They really are high-quality, but it does really feel like thinly-veiled propaganda (often commissioned by the BBC) portraying the State and police as the good guys in their endless quest against the baddies. Thank god the…
Have you lived in the UK? I have, and it doesn't feel like a police state.
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#136Sadly, it's Mullvad VPN itself which may be banned in the UK. VPNs will require identify verification. Not a problem for companies which require credit cards for payment, but Mullvad famously allows anonymous cash payments through the post.
When will the UK citizens stand up against the regime?
It’s illegal to protest in a way that has any real effect now
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#137> Mullvad was rejected by Clearcast, the organization responsible for approving all TV ads in the UK and ensuring they comply with the rules set by the authorities > “The overall concept lacks clarity.” “It is unclear why certain examples are included, who the ‘speaker’ represents, and the role of individuals depicted in the car.” > "Referencing topics such as: Paedophiles, Rapists, Murderers, Enemies of the state, J…
My British perspective: I don’t want advertisers free to lie as much as they want. I’ve had ads taken off the TV for being clearly misleading (anyone can raise a complaint to the ASA - the Advertising Standards Agency).
But that has nothing to do with pre-approved.
In America there's definitely things you're not allowed to put on TV. Obviously you can't just put hardcore porn on, but you also aren't allowed to directly lie. Though I'm sure what the standards are for lying are different. There's laws against false advertising, libel, and so on.
But pre-approved is very different. And honestly, if you're making calls to get misleading ads taken off TV then is the pre-approved system even working? How do you know they're not just filtering out things they don't like? It's a pretty difficult type of restriction on speech.
As an example, are they preventing ads running talking about the UK's relationship to Epstein? Or calls to release their files? Every country has files, not just the US. Given the response to Mullvad I'd assume you couldn't place those types of ads on TV.
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#138Mullvad's focus on privacy has been fantastic so far. But this ad made me reconsider: I want a VPN service that silently does its job in the background, not one that screams "look at me" with silly stunts and attempts at becoming viral.
What if they can’t protect your privacy, if they do not create a successful and sustainable business?
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
What troubles me about using the word “lie” is it becomes up to a body of bureaucrats to determine what is true. Instead, fight misinformation with superior information.
>it becomes up to a body of bureaucrats to determine what is true. I think we have a ministry for that.
I always forget, what year was that created in? 1984?
Re: Mullvad VPN: Banned TV Ad in the Streets of London [video]
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's literally censorship though. If you get fined for saying a thing, you are being censored.
Go to a theatre and start shouting "fire" Free speech isn't about saying whatever you want without consequence. And this is a bloody ad on the TV.
You can shout fire in a theater all you want.
What you can't do is shout it in a way that makes people believe there is legitimate danger AND your actions cause subsequent panic.
The crime isn't so much about the speech as it is about the damage that that speech causes.
It's a subtle distinction, but an important one.