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Censorship is never something to get excited about. It is a slippery slope towards the event in Spain last year when the government misused censorship allowanc

Censorship is never something to get excited about. It is a slippery slope towards the event in Spain last year when the government misused censorship allowances to silence political opposition[1]. [1]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/no-justification-spanish-internet-censorship-during-catalonian-referendum https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/no-justification-spani...

userbinator 9y ago
If you don't want things like this to continue to happen, refuse to work for companies who develop such technology --- and advocate for others to do the same. "Stop making the nooses on which to hang yourselves," as the saying goes.
anvandare 9y ago
"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master." — Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
- baud147258 9y ago
  I've always found that SMAC is an example of an horror game, with just the tech descriptions.
  - pvdebbe 9y ago
    SMAC is just wonderful for all lovers of technoporn
- mosselman 9y ago
  Very cool quote and this really hits the spot: "Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
mtgx 9y ago
It's worrisome especially since UK has started classifying "serious crimes" as crimes that would normally be punishable by 6 months in prison. This greatly expands the ability to "legally" spy on everyone. The fact that the police has almost the same level of access to the mass surveillance tools as the GCHQ does is also extremely worrying, and it's something that should never be allowed in any country that portrays itself as a "democracy." The courts have recently said they can't allow the cops this much power, but May has already pre-empted this with some purposefully half-baked "improvements" to the law, so that it looks like they're changing the law according to the ruling, but in really they're not. Then they'll have to be sued again, which will take a few more years. And then they'll pass some new half-baked improvements, and so on. It's a game they seem more than happy to play and drag out real reforms as much as possible. May for instance knew the EU Court would ban that type of surveillance (the court's top advisor tends to signal how the ruling will go many months ahead), so she rushed IPA through Parliament like a month before the EU Court's decision. It's just goes to show how mischievous these guys are.
- pjc50 9y ago
  A conspiracy-ish idea of mine is that the security services are quietly pro-Brexit because they've long been unhappy with being made to obey human rights law.
  - ionised 9y ago
    That much has always seemed obvious to me.

userbinator 9y ago

If you don't want things like this to continue to happen, refuse to work for companies who develop such technology --- and advocate for others to do the same. "Stop making the nooses on which to hang yourselves," as the saying goes.

anvandare 9y ago

"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master." — Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

baud147258 9y ago
I've always found that SMAC is an example of an horror game, with just the tech descriptions.
- pvdebbe 9y ago
  SMAC is just wonderful for all lovers of technoporn
mosselman 9y ago
Very cool quote and this really hits the spot: "Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."

mtgx 9y ago

It's worrisome especially since UK has started classifying "serious crimes" as crimes that would normally be punishable by 6 months in prison. This greatly expands the ability to "legally" spy on everyone. The fact that the police has almost the same level of access to the mass surveillance tools as the GCHQ does is also extremely worrying, and it's something that should never be allowed in any country that portrays itself as a "democracy." The courts have recently said they can't allow the cops this much power, but May has already pre-empted this with some purposefully half-baked "improvements" to the law, so that it looks like they're changing the law according to the ruling, but in really they're not. Then they'll have to be sued again, which will take a few more years. And then they'll pass some new half-baked improvements, and so on. It's a game they seem more than happy to play and drag out real reforms as much as possible. May for instance knew the EU Court would ban that type of surveillance (the court's top advisor tends to signal how the ruling will go many months ahead), so she rushed IPA through Parliament like a month before the EU Court's decision. It's just goes to show how mischievous these guys are.

pjc50 9y ago
A conspiracy-ish idea of mine is that the security services are quietly pro-Brexit because they've long been unhappy with being made to obey human rights law.
- ionised 9y ago
  That much has always seemed obvious to me.