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How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

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Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#381
post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have also blocked many websites not directly associated to the government. Heck, even the OP mentions the Gateway.ipfs.io HTTP2IPFS gateway being blocked. There are other examples such as: Assemblea.cat (Assemblea nacional Catalana - Independentist association) cridaperlademocracia.cat (Website protesting for actions perceived as political repression) Empaperem.cat (Crowdsourced advertising campaign for the refe…

What do the court orders argue for blocking those three websites?

I haven’t been able to find the court orders for any of the website blocks (only newspapers talking about it) but it’s all related to an order of the Constitutional Court that prohibits basically anything that promotes the referendum since it’s against the Constitution.

E.g. http://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2017/09/23/59c69496468aeb8c7f... https://www.elindependiente.com/politica/2017/09/25/la-guard...

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#382
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We have a Spain-wide constitution. The Catalan government decided it has a democratic mandate by the people of its region to not abide by it. The NORMAL reaction by the state is to apply it, and stop the Catalan government from breaking it. It's only oppresive insofar laws and the judicial system are opressive. Of course, the American Revolution was also illegal by the laws of the British. It's also oppressive in th…

> If you try to let people choose, but the other side says no, what's there left to do? Not much really. I think its really stupid of the Spanish Govt. to try to stick to formal constitutional means when there is a genuine, popular mandate for independence. What they seem to be saying is that a referendum is not allowed by current laws so it is illegal to have it. And their ham handed response is only agitating the r…

> there is a genuine, popular mandate for independence

That remains to be seen. There are still less than 50% proponents of independence, according to what I read. The recent Spanish actions may have increased that number though.

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#384
post #20

It seems shocking that Spain a member of the EU is resorting to these tactics. Can you discuss some of their justifications for doing so?

The spanish constituion explicitly states that Spain is an indivisible country. Hence, the Constituional Court (that is elected by the parliament) has ruled out that any referendum about independence is illegal. At this point, the government says that both them and the judiciary powers are just defending the democratic rules, and Catalonia's government is the one at fault for all this hassle. The problem is that it i…

Constitutional rules are not written in stone though. If there is political will to change them, it usually can be done (often there are speed limits for how fast this can be done).

This is altogether a political issue, that the ruling party doesn't want the rules to be changed, but points to the constitution instead of taking responsibility for their stance.

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#385

"In the where to vote? page, you are prompted to enter some of your details: DNI (national id), Birth date, Zip code" Wait a second, can someone from the area explain this? Why on earth do they need your ID number just to tell you where to vote? In my country (UK) 99% of the time all you need is a postcode and you can be told your voting place. (I say 99% because there are a few postcodes that are split across differ…

Replying to my own Q to explain why I'm going on about this. It seems to me the OP set out to answer the question "Where do I vote?". And they did this by releasing a whole bunch of personal information on every citizen online. That, no matter how good the encryption or how slight the P.I. is, strikes me as a bad idea. Who's to say that in 6 months a flaw isn't revealed in the encryption method that leaves it all ope…

Hah! Just read https://www.thespainreport.com/articles/1166-170929190146-go...

"The app, available on Google Play until just before 7 p.m. on Friday, helps people to find their polling station via their address"

I downloaded and checked the app (I'm in the UK and I can).

I don't speak the language, but with a few google translate checks it seems clear that it asks for an address and gives you a polling station. No Id, no DOB needed.

So was it really necessary to release a DB of voters personal information?

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#386
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the US has precedent on banning speech that will "incite imminent lawless action". And compared to countries like the UK or Germany they are a bastion of free speech. I agree free speech laws in pretty much every country are unethical because they are arrayed in a way to ban speech that might risk the dissolution of the nation, but every single country has those laws because its governments trying to protect the…

"And compared to countries like the UK or Germany they are a bastion of free speech." Care to elucidate me on what basis that statement lies? I am a UKoGBnNI citizen who has also lived in DE for a few years in the West Germany part in the 70's and 80's and have friends who are native to DE. In the UK we have laws banning inflammatory speech of various types that are clearly categorised and so does Deutschland. Both c…

In US, it is broadly legal to say anything that starts with "I believe that ...".

In those other countries, not so much. For example, uttering "I believe that there was no Holocaust" in public.

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#387
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Crown of Aragon, which controlled the territories of modern-day Catalonia, was an independent state in all ways aside from military and foreign policy. The union of Castile and Aragon was a dynastic union, with very few shared institutions until the Kingdom of Spain was established in 1716. Aragon itself was a fairly decentralized state with constituent principalities having their own Corts and legal systems (rig…

> was an independent state in all ways aside from military and foreign policy It was still an absolute monarchy with the same monarch; it's not like the Aragonese were free to choose their own destiny. Still, the Constitutions Charles promised them to uphold must have given them something , I just don't know what it was. That's why I'd like to know how they compare to the current rights granted by the autonomía.

It was not an absolute monarchy, that's the point. There was a balance of power between the king, the church and the nobility. A comparison with the current statute autonomy seems difficult since it was an entirely different form of government.

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#388
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with independence of small groups? The more governments - the more competition. Why are we against big monopolies in every area, except the state services?

> What's wrong with independence of small groups? The extinction Being smaller is stupid when you need to compete with much bigger countries in the rest of the world. It doesn't work in the practise.

That's something for people to decide for themselves, though.

I mean, by the same argument, why not let someone annex Spain? If bigger is better...

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#389
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with independence of small groups? The more governments - the more competition. Why are we against big monopolies in every area, except the state services?

> What's wrong with independence of small groups? The extinction Being smaller is stupid when you need to compete with much bigger countries in the rest of the world. It doesn't work in the practise.

In that case, ideally you could still be as united as you need to be under the umbrella of the European Union.

Re: How the Catalan government uses IPFS to sidestep Spain's legal block

#390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% of us speak Spanish and actually it's very common to use both languages in a conversation when more than two persons are involved :) it's just natural for most of us. Actually I learned Catalan when I was 18 so I usually speak in Spanish and it is not a problem at all... And I'm very proud of being bilingual. In any case I would love to be able to express better myself in English :)

(anecdote) That precisely describes my personal experience of people in BCN and BDN, at least as a foreigner that keeps coming back as a tourist. I also have a friend who has been teaching English as a Foreign Language in BCN for at least a decade now, and he and his wife tell a similar story. "In any case I would love to be able to express better myself in English" - you already have a fluent grasp of English. You s…

Small aside: its/it's and similar mistakes are more common for native English speakers.
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