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Historically in the UK inconvenience-inducing online laws like the Online Safety Bill have fallen either shortly after passage or shortly before passage as the
by permo-w 4y ago
Historically in the UK inconvenience-inducing online laws like the Online Safety Bill have fallen either shortly after passage or shortly before passage as the people who pass them realise that they too have to follow their own rules.
This was certainly the case for that nationwide opt-out porn block that they brought in a decade ago, then quickly slipped under the rug when it became clear that they too would have to either learn to use a VPN or call up their service providers expressing their desire to watch porn
- toyg 4y agoSome of it lingers, though. Like the invisible DNS filtering that all consumer ISPs are effectively forced to implement, blocking URLs coming from an unaccountable third party organization. Or: > that nationwide opt-out porn block That's still there; ISPs just made it very easy to switch off the block from apps and websites. Tories ask for 100, bag 20, then ask for 200 and bag 80 - result: they get 100. And there is no recourse now, because those pesky supranational voices of reason have been jettisoned.
- permo-w 4y agoBoris Johnson is the only hope, in my opinion. Yeah he's a slimy, entitled, lying, racist, upper-class con-artist, but he's a populist at heart and has no principles beyond what he thinks will make the public like him. Yeah that's disgusting, and yeah it's the best of the worst, but it's still better than Cameronism, which simply doesn't care what you think. If an uproar comes, which it hopefully will, at least our fearless leader will listen, if only out of self-interest
- toyg 4y agoI hope that was satire...? Johnson is the one who keeps pushing these crazy schemes just to keep people riled up against the "bureaucracy-mad EU" he invented so many years ago. He will stop at nothing to stay in power, and will happily sacrifice all your freedoms to that effect - he doesn't respect the law anyway, so anything put on the book is just for you and me to be beaten down, not for him and his mates. > it's still better than Cameronism That's a false dichotomy. There is life outside the Tory ideological landscape. > If an uproar comes, which it hopefully will If the uproar comes from the "wrong" sector of the electorate, the Tories will just double down on it.
- permo-w 4y agoyou're not really following the hn guide on commenting etiquette, and if you continue I won't reply any further. >That's a false dichotomy right now the options are Boris or a Cameronesque Tory. Sure in 2 years better options will be available, but that's in 2 years time. it is not a false dichotomy. besides, the longer Boris stays in power, the more he damages the Tories as a whole >If the uproar comes from the "wrong" sector of the electorate, the Tories will just double down on it this is an exaggeration, especially under the populism of Boris. yes they largely listen to their base, but they don't seek to actively antagonise others. they're a centre-right party that seeks a wide base without a high degree of polarisation. they're not the GOP or UKIP. given your comment, I suspect you may assert that they are more like the GOP or UKIP than I think. if so, I will agree to disagree on that it seems like you have a lot of emotion and anger about this, and that's fine, but I don't think it's helping your objectivity about actual outcomes and intentions. I also don't like him or his party, but in the short-term he's better than a right-wing ideologue that doesn't care what you think
- toyg 4y agoI mean, you started with "Boris Johnson is our only hope", so I assumed HN etiquette was out of the window at that point. > 2 years better options will be available, but that's in 2 years time You assume the Tories can produce a majority after the current "Brexit coalition", held together by Johnson, collapses. That's not a given. It's also not a given that whichever cabinet a new PM could produce, will be strong enough to enact big policies. > but they don't seek to actively antagonise others. Policies like Rwanda deportations and the return of imperial measures are absolutely designed to produce outrage, and I challenge you to prove otherwise. The basic Johnson strategies are directly copied from the US playbook: they deliberately provoke the left in order to consolidate the right by defensive reaction, playing the victim and distracting from failures and scandals. And it works, for a while at least. Is the entire party like that? No, but the people who are, are currently running the show. > they're a centre-right party that seeks a wide base They were. They stopped being that when absolute power went to the likes of Reese-Mogg. They attracted radical Northern votes by acting extremist on issues where the Labour party refuses to do. This is not your dad's Tory party.
- TechBro8615 4y agoIf you think that’s bad, you should see the software running on millions of home routers in the UK.