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I'll add a counter point and say that I like the name. Politicians have a history of inverting meanings, e.g. Patriot Act, Affordable Health Care Act, etc. -- t

I'll add a counter point and say that I like the name. Politicians have a history of inverting meanings, e.g. Patriot Act, Affordable Health Care Act, etc. -- the public is almost conditioned to invert logic to understand things at this point. Personally, I find the terms above to be patronizing and even suspicious in the political context. The mental operation of inverting the word felony is kind of interesting and thought provoking, IMO.

ryanSrich 10y ago
It's almost satirical, which I'm fine with.
mysterypie 10y ago
> the public is almost conditioned to invert logic Only a Hacker News type of person will invert the logic. The general public won't. Ask your neighbor to guess the purpose of the Banking Secrecy Act [1]. Does it protect your money and your financial privacy, or does it make banks snitch on you and strip away financial privacy? Even I was surprised that the name of the law and the actual text are exact opposites. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act
mildavw 10y ago
I hear ya. And I'm sure most HN readers understand and share your cynicism. But I think naming it something satirical and anti-double-speak ultimately increases your odds of being misunderstood. The OP is honestly interested in furthering the right to privacy. State it plainly and simply. (It doesn't inoculate the app from being painted as a terrorist abetter, but it's the best you can do.)
rwallace 10y ago
If you're going to invert meanings, you need to be careful about the polarity. The way politicians (and corporations) do it is, as you observe, to take something bad (that they want to support) and put a good label on it; for obvious reasons, this is a winning move. What's going on here is taking something good and putting a bad label on it; for reasons which should be equally obvious, this is a losing move.
api 10y ago
That's not ironic inversion of meaning. That's straight up deception.

ryanSrich 10y ago

It's almost satirical, which I'm fine with.

mysterypie 10y ago

> the public is almost conditioned to invert logic Only a Hacker News type of person will invert the logic. The general public won't. Ask your neighbor to guess the purpose of the Banking Secrecy Act [1]. Does it protect your money and your financial privacy, or does it make banks snitch on you and strip away financial privacy? Even I was surprised that the name of the law and the actual text are exact opposites. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act

mildavw 10y ago

I hear ya. And I'm sure most HN readers understand and share your cynicism. But I think naming it something satirical and anti-double-speak ultimately increases your odds of being misunderstood. The OP is honestly interested in furthering the right to privacy. State it plainly and simply. (It doesn't inoculate the app from being painted as a terrorist abetter, but it's the best you can do.)

rwallace 10y ago

If you're going to invert meanings, you need to be careful about the polarity. The way politicians (and corporations) do it is, as you observe, to take something bad (that they want to support) and put a good label on it; for obvious reasons, this is a winning move. What's going on here is taking something good and putting a bad label on it; for reasons which should be equally obvious, this is a losing move.

api 10y ago

That's not ironic inversion of meaning. That's straight up deception.