211–220 of 418 posts
I'm in the USA - can't I just wipe my ass with this thing just like I would from a lawsuit from Zimbabwe?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Preston talks about this in an earlier blog post. It's a matter of UK law and, I'd bet, many countries, that they have the sovereign right to legislate about matters in and outside their borders. "If Parliament says smoking in Paris is illegal, it is illegal." What's different today than when that doctrine was conceived of is: data goes everywhere, communications are decentralized, international cooperation around es…
> It's a matter of UK law and, I'd bet, many countries, that they have the sovereign right to legislate about matters in and outside their borders. Basically all countries take that position legally. But there are norms and customs about how often you exercise it (as well as practical questions of power). Extraterritorial regulation of Web sites is unfortunately in the process of being established as normal, but it's…
I do not give a single solitary fuck what any Briton thinks of any American exercising their constitutional rights
If the American is lawfully exercising their rights, and the Briton has a reason to censor them, the American is right and the Briton is wrong
No exceptions
This probably sounds "cool" and correct to his supporters but this gung-ho black-and-white approach is hiding an important nuance:
The framing above (UK undermining US law) can immediately be reversed. The UK has laws (that we may disagree with) that are being undermined by US actors.
That's the nature of the internet, and the reason this is a complicated issue to resolve, not helped by showboating lawyers.
The absolute confidence Ofcom has in its ability to impose laws on US citizens is kind of strange. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe in 2028 we get a president who is willing to let US citizens be extradited based on laws like this.
You shouldn't even be expected to geoblock. If I'm operating a Web site in country A, I should not have to care about country B's laws unless I am taking specific action intended to attract users in country B in particular . That's doesn't mean just to target the whole world, either. If you don't want your citizens to access something in another country, take it up with your citizens. It was obvious from the minute t…
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So would I, but freedom of speech doesn't have an exception for bad people, no matter how bad they are. Remember the Skokie affair, where a Jewish lawyer defended the Nazi Party's right to free speech? That's what really believing in free speech looks like.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If country B doesn’t like it, block the site in question. You’re not going to extradite US site operators, period. Find another approach.
Then no country should have legal authority over companies operating in the country but based internationally. You could earn a lot of money by selling unregistered firearms, pipe bombs or drugs over the internet and sending it over the border. "If country B doesn’t like it, block the mail in question". Saying only the country of origin can regulate activity done in another country creates a legal worm-bucket with va…
But this is the real issue. To what extent is a company "operating in" a country where it has no staff and no physical presence?
The principle that someone should become subject to the laws of a country they've never visited and where they have no assets just because they communicated with someone else who does live in that country seems questionable. Even if money is sent by the person living in that country to someone based elsewhere it still seems questionable.
Taken to their logical conclusion these kinds of arguments would kill off a lot of the value of the modern Internet (assuming they could be practically enforced). Can you even write a blog post any more if it might be controversial in any country in the world? Do you have to pay if you show ads next to that blog post and someone from the Sovereign Republic Of East Nowhere visits - but the Sovereign Republic Of East Nowhere has a law prohibiting online advertising as a social harm and imposing a fine of 1000% of global revenues generated through ads? What happens when the laws of two different countries are in direct conflict and one requires you to include an official warning of some kind alongside certain information on your blog but the other one prohibits such statements unless you're formally qualified to give advice in the field?
If you want to interfere with international trade or international communications at all then it makes far more sense practically - and arguably both morally and legally as well - to legislate so that your own people in your own country who are subject to your own laws are the ones who must or must not act in a certain way. If there's some kind of regulation on physical goods then make the person importing those goods responsible for compliance. If you want to tax international transactions then make the person in your country who is participating in those transactions responsible for declaring and paying the tax. But realistically this leads to a lot of non-compliance because your citizens don't have to be experts in international tax law so you can collect your $1.53 when they bought a new T-shirt from some online store based in another country and had it shipped.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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No the US doesn't do that. We had to make special international treaties which involved getting other governments to sign up for that (in exchange for other concessions). Stop inventing things that never happened just to excuse your politicians bad behavior. PS Arresting foreigners for things that happened outside of your territory is an act of war.
You shouldn't even be expected to geoblock. If I'm operating a Web site in country A, I should not have to care about country B's laws unless I am taking specific action intended to attract users in country B in particular . That's doesn't mean just to target the whole world, either. If you don't want your citizens to access something in another country, take it up with your citizens. It was obvious from the minute t…
If you operate a website outside UK and that's it, you may not care. But if you offer paid servies, collect money from UK citizens, you must have a business representation in the UK, which is bound by UK laws, can be fined, dragged to a court, etc. If you have this vulnerability, or you don't but your holding company has other web properties that do, the UK government has a way to make you listen and comply.