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UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

bsky.app

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Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#61

Without passing judgment on the act, this is incredibly misleading. I found the source of the original quotes[0], and they are taken quite out of context. From the article: >First, we are told, the relevant secretary of state (Michelle Donelan) expressed “concern” that the legislation might whack sites such as Amazon instead of Pornhub. In response, officials explained that the regulation in question was “not primari…

There oddly seems to be a concerted effort online to paint the UK as some kind of failing police state recently. This narrative seems to have really taken off with some Americans, who now seem completely convinced that the UK government is some kind of totalitarian oppressor who are snatching people off the streets. Meanwhile, Brits just look on at this narrative wondering what the hell they're talking about. Look, I…

What is happening in Britain is people are being actually arrested for “offensive” speech, which is of course subjective, subject to abuse, and open to totalitarian oppression. This is why the First Amendment in the US constitution is so important

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#63
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the rest of Europe has much stronger reaction to unpopular political decisions

EU wants to scan every private message you send. Are there protests in the streets? "The EU could be scanning your chats by October 2025 – here's everything we know" ( https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/the-eu-co... ) "Chat Control is back & we've got two months to stop the EU CSAM scanning plans" ( https://tuta.com/blog/chat-control-criticism )

Chat control is being actively campaigned against, and is not yet law. Civil disobedience, demonstrations and other more disruptive forms of protest come after the democratic options have been exhausted. Is this really news to you?

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#64
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There oddly seems to be a concerted effort online to paint the UK as some kind of failing police state recently. This narrative seems to have really taken off with some Americans, who now seem completely convinced that the UK government is some kind of totalitarian oppressor who are snatching people off the streets. Meanwhile, Brits just look on at this narrative wondering what the hell they're talking about. Look, I…

What is happening in Britain is people are being actually arrested for “offensive” speech, which is of course subjective, subject to abuse, and open to totalitarian oppression. This is why the First Amendment in the US constitution is so important

The US constitution is only valuable if enforced, which is clearly not the case at the moment.

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#65
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My local knows exactly who I am, that I'm over 18, where I live, who my kids are, how old they are, what I like to drink etc.

Do you really think those things are comparable?

The claim was a pub doesn't track your identity. I think I proved mine did.

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#66
post #59
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the rest of Europe has much stronger reaction to unpopular political decisions

I believe the point being made is that you are saying England when it is the entire UK under discussion. You are missing out three of the four nations of the U.K.

Don’t they have their own governments of sorts? Also, I would never accuse Irish or Scott’s of being passive in their response to political changes…

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#67
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think those things are comparable?

The claim was a pub doesn't track your identity. I think I proved mine did.

I used the word track, as we were discussing mass surveillance and not pubs, but sure, good job

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#68
post #9

What’s with england and its complete lack of response to this kind of power grabs?

I've lived in the UK for 15 years now and the complete political apathy is probably what bothers me the most about this country. Few years back when they made it so that every ISP had to log your entire browsing history and keep it for a year and 17 different government agencies(including DEFRA, the agriculture ministry!) can access it without a warrant, barely anyone cared. Wasn't really mentioned in public media, o…

For the most part I'd agree, but the Iraq war had a million people (1/60th of the country) who made the effort to protest in London (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2765041.stm), and similarly every month supporting Palestine (150K-800K).

The legal mechanisms in place don't appear to be adequate as when that number of activists are ignored. Certainly in parallel with the online regulation, the legal right to protest has been restricted by the previous Tory government, and this current one.

What's also concerning is the lack of oversight with MPs, they follow guidelines, which seem to let them off from regular laws (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68503255 using taxpayers money in a private dispute- fraud) (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68841840 reads like fiction).

Why MPs are not FCA regulated is beyond me, corruption should be stamped out.

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#69
post #18

For the Americans looking at this act, you're maybe putting it in the context of American politics and thinking who cares if the porn sites have my face or id. But in the UK you can be arrested and jailed for saying something online that offends someone else.

Please cite examples of someone being jailed for offending someone (that doesn't include incitement to violence).

Re: UK government states that 'safety' act is about influence over public discourse

#70
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There oddly seems to be a concerted effort online to paint the UK as some kind of failing police state recently. This narrative seems to have really taken off with some Americans, who now seem completely convinced that the UK government is some kind of totalitarian oppressor who are snatching people off the streets. Meanwhile, Brits just look on at this narrative wondering what the hell they're talking about. Look, I…

What is happening in Britain is people are being actually arrested for “offensive” speech, which is of course subjective, subject to abuse, and open to totalitarian oppression. This is why the First Amendment in the US constitution is so important

There are very significant concerns about the actions of the Westminster government recently no doubt – this is stupid legislation, and it compounds with other stupid legislation (see the recent arrests for supporting proscribed groups). Everyone should be protesting this nonsense.

That said, there is equally a clear and obvious effort to distort what is happening. And I don't think anybody should really be taking lessons about "totalitarian oppression" when current US government policy is to send gangs of masked thugs to round up brown people.

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