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> Most people just buy their phones without thinking, > and would find this encryption debate a little > technical. They probably also think that they w

> Most people just buy their phones without thinking, > and would find this encryption debate a little > technical. They probably also think that they won't > be personally inconvenienced I don't believe this. Everyone understands they have secrets (affairs, medical conditions, getting high on the side, their xvideos search history). Getting the messaging right is not so hard. Take the UK "Draft Communications Data Bill". Once it had attracted the nickname "The Snoopers Charter", and you get the gutter press talking about how meddling officials in the local councils will use it check up on if you've been researching council tax banding, public opinion can be made to turn against it very very quickly. The replacement bill they're currently debating is far from perfect, but a lot lot better. It's our duty, who do understand the technical aspects, to bring them to life for our friends and family. I've mentioned it before, but images like this[0] presented the exceptionally dull topic of net neutrality in a way that normal internet users cared about. Extrapolate what this will mean in practice, and make stories from it. You get pulled over on a traffic stop, and a cop decides to copy the data off your phone, and finds your messages about buying your 20-year-old son beer. You lose your phone, it gets handed in to the police, and some jobsworthy sergeant decides to flick through, and find saucy photos of your ex-gf and sends them to his buddies. People may not understand encryption, but everyone understands privacy. [0] http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2010-12-15-net_neutrality_loses_whatif.jpg http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2010-12-15-net_neutrality_l...

threatofrain 11y ago
I don't know about what's common in UK politics, but striking down the Draft Communications Data Bill is just going to mean it's going to come back under the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bill as a subsection for the USA. You stop SOPA and it's coming back under the general defense funding bill. You vote against that bill and your opponents are going to mention that you obstructed the funding of the armed forces -- and you did. It's just that there was nuance to the event, nuance that always gets lost when the varying disseminators of information go out to organize votes. That's because you haven't stopped the factors behind the bill. There's a natural bureaucratic motive to being able to control citizens. There are police unions lobbying for this kind of stuff, unions who will make note that you voted against their favor. Reddit got tired of SOPA and CISPA-esque stuff. They probably couldn't convert the PR injury into actual votes that mattered in the states that matter, so it's just noise anyway.
- peteretep 11y ago
  Rules about Bill titles are meant to (and generally do) prevent riders for the UK Parliament.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    Having a parliamentary system (where coalition-building is up front in the formation of a governing majority) rather than a US-style system where coalition-building is more ad hoc around particular bills makes riders less relevant, in the first place.

threatofrain 11y ago

I don't know about what's common in UK politics, but striking down the Draft Communications Data Bill is just going to mean it's going to come back under the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bill as a subsection for the USA. You stop SOPA and it's coming back under the general defense funding bill. You vote against that bill and your opponents are going to mention that you obstructed the funding of the armed forces -- and you did. It's just that there was nuance to the event, nuance that always gets lost when the varying disseminators of information go out to organize votes. That's because you haven't stopped the factors behind the bill. There's a natural bureaucratic motive to being able to control citizens. There are police unions lobbying for this kind of stuff, unions who will make note that you voted against their favor. Reddit got tired of SOPA and CISPA-esque stuff. They probably couldn't convert the PR injury into actual votes that mattered in the states that matter, so it's just noise anyway.

peteretep 11y ago
Rules about Bill titles are meant to (and generally do) prevent riders for the UK Parliament.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  Having a parliamentary system (where coalition-building is up front in the formation of a governing majority) rather than a US-style system where coalition-building is more ad hoc around particular bills makes riders less relevant, in the first place.