4 ms·
> This website has not received or acted on any government orders to disclose or modify or remove material. Never understood why gag orders don't just say "You
by alkonaut 2y ago
> This website has not received or acted on any government orders to disclose or modify or remove material.
Never understood why gag orders don't just say "You can't say you received this order. Oh and by the way if we find you removed a canary, we'll just write that up as you having said you received this order".
Because the point of a canary is for it to be known beforehand. So the government surely knows about any canary too.
There must be some backwards definition of "speech" here which doesn't include all conveying of information (such as by removing previously published information), which makes it work, at least in the US (?)
- pcl 2y agoThe typical canary contains a signed timestamp. Generally, the US does differentiate between forbidding an action (“do not remove your canary”) and compelling an action (“update your canary with a new timestamp” or “disclose the pass phrase for the signing key”). I’m no expert, and I’m sure there are nuances, but the broad strokes behind the design of these canaries are that it’s harder for the government to compel an action than to forbid one.
- adammarples 2y agoThe whole point of a canary is that it's passive, and for exactly that reason. All you do is stop updating the date.