Canada approves national standard for age verification, estimation • Hacker News Board

Re: Canada approves national standard for age verification, estimation

#21

Post by dismalaf » Sat, Aug 09, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

briga wrote: post #4

SilverElfin wrote: post #2

Canada has not been the greatest for individual freedoms in the last 20 years. This is another step in the authoritarian direction, and will be used to punish people for speech ultimately.

Certainly we are not perfect, but I think overall Canada has done more for the world to uphold human rights and freedoms than otherwise. When the government does act against "individual freedom", it is usually for the good of larger society. For instance because of firearm restrictions Canadian citizens are (or used to be?) free from getting shot with firearms on the streets. Is it a perfectly free society? No, but f…

Our murder rate is several times higher than European nations with less restrictive gun laws...

Re: Canada approves national standard for age verification, estimation

#22

Post by briga » Sat, Aug 09, 2025, 10:33 PM UTC

dismalaf wrote: post #21

briga wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly we are not perfect, but I think overall Canada has done more for the world to uphold human rights and freedoms than otherwise. When the government does act against "individual freedom", it is usually for the good of larger society. For instance because of firearm restrictions Canadian citizens are (or used to be?) free from getting shot with firearms on the streets. Is it a perfectly free society? No, but f…

Our murder rate is several times higher than European nations with less restrictive gun laws...

And we also share an extremely long land border with the US, go figure

Re: Canada approves national standard for age verification, estimation

#23

Post by sellmesoap » Mon, Aug 11, 2025, 8:50 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #12

SilverElfin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America has constitutional protections for freedom of speech, that are greater than any other country. I mean that literally. The government official was not sacked for “publishing government stats” - that is, it’s not their speech as an individual that led to their firing. And I have no idea what you mean by “TACO state”.

Sorry, Americas constitutional protections are effectively a myth. There is nothing to enforce or even defend them. They are theory at best, easy to be twisted any time powerful enough person wants.

You should try watching some auditors on the tube of your choice. They make good money suing when their rights are violated. I wish individuals had that protection in Canada.

Re: Canada approves national standard for age verification, estimation

#24

Post by ygjb » Tue, Aug 12, 2025, 5:11 PM UTC

SilverElfin wrote: post #17

briga wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that line of thinking, Canada is just one country you can choose to live in. Certainly people here have the choice to move to other countries that they think has more freedom. I have a hard time thinking of any other countries that entirely fit that criteria at the moment.

You are arguing in bad faith. People as individuals, including Canadians, deserve freedom of speech, without threat of fines or jail time. Most people can’t just move to another country. They can however move to another website as an alternative to HN.

Canadians have Freedom of Expression, which is a stronger protection than Freedom of Speech, but the Canadian legal interpretation of that freedom allows for constraints based on hate, obscenity, and a few legal constraints that are common across most "Free Speech" jurisdictions (libel, defamation, etc).

There are cases where people have been charged, fined, and even jailed for "expression", but those are largely limited to cases where folks are promoting violence against specific groups (including hate speech, for example, teaching holocaust denialism, promoting anti-semitism or pro-racist ideologies calling for violence).

There are certainly cases where there has been government over-reach, but that is why we have courts, and in general, the courts in Canada tend towards a more broad interpretation of Freedom of Expression. Are there specific cases in Canada that you can cite where people haven't enjoyed Freedom of Expression (including freedom of speech, which is protected under the broader umbrella of Expression).