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There is absolutely nothing untowards or abnormal about their claim, nor are they threatening the "public", which overwhelmingly doesn't operate black market si

by personZ 12y ago

There is absolutely nothing untowards or abnormal about their claim, nor are they threatening the "public", which overwhelmingly doesn't operate black market sites. Law enforcement absolutely includes an element of making examples, and deterring crime. That is one of the major purposes why organizations like the FBI exist. Not quite sure what this has to do with democracy.

creaoticx 12y ago
You have to look at it not from the perspective of a black market site, but from the perspective of anonymity. Sites operated on the TOR network are supposed to be anonymous which is a valuable contribution to the existence of free speech. The freedom of a country that outlaws acts between consenting adults can be debated, but there are many countries that are undeniably oppressive. If the US government can track down an anonymous site, then it is likely these countries can too. Arguably anonymous sites can harbor truly dangerous crimes like murder for hire, pedophiles, and terrorists. However, they can also protect political activists and whistle blowers. So while this isn't necessarily a cut and dry issue, it is much more complex than just saying these are black market sites so who cares.
300bps 12y ago
There is absolutely nothing untowards or abnormal about their claim, nor are they threatening the "public", which overwhelmingly doesn't operate black market sites. Sure, most people don't operate black market sites. But the problem is that if the government is able to use technology to have near-perfect knowledge of what everyone is up to then bad things happen when you get a bad person in charge of the government. Possible case in point just happened: http://goo.gl/yndbdS http://goo.gl/yndbdS The bottom line is that there should be a way for people to be anonymous behind their keyboard. That's what prevents people from dying for expressing opinions that are counter to the government. Just picture a radical Prolife president who feels justified in murdering people who advocate for Prochoice policies. Don't focus on the one example - there are all kinds of bad things that a bad person in power could do. Enforcing laws is not a justification for absolute power.
- personZ 12y ago
  The government is saying that they will pursue people who break the law through any means possible. In this case, they apparently socially engineered their way in. And? How is this possibly a problem? Is it really an attack on potential legitimate uses of anonymity? Is it really useful to conjure up a murderous prolife president? To all of those the answers is of course no.
the_ancient 12y ago
>>Law enforcement absolutely includes an element of making examples, and deterring crime. It is very sad that you believe that... Sad indeed. >>Not quite sure what this has to do with democracy. It has everything to do with "democracy" which is mob rule, the FBI is the attack dog of the mob (aka the people) which has deemed running an unapproved website results in a life time of sadistic treatment in a human filled zoo where humans are locked in a small cages and emotionally tortured, we call them "prisons"

by personZ 12y ago

creaoticx 12y ago

You have to look at it not from the perspective of a black market site, but from the perspective of anonymity. Sites operated on the TOR network are supposed to be anonymous which is a valuable contribution to the existence of free speech. The freedom of a country that outlaws acts between consenting adults can be debated, but there are many countries that are undeniably oppressive. If the US government can track down an anonymous site, then it is likely these countries can too. Arguably anonymous sites can harbor truly dangerous crimes like murder for hire, pedophiles, and terrorists. However, they can also protect political activists and whistle blowers. So while this isn't necessarily a cut and dry issue, it is much more complex than just saying these are black market sites so who cares.

300bps 12y ago

There is absolutely nothing untowards or abnormal about their claim, nor are they threatening the "public", which overwhelmingly doesn't operate black market sites. Sure, most people don't operate black market sites. But the problem is that if the government is able to use technology to have near-perfect knowledge of what everyone is up to then bad things happen when you get a bad person in charge of the government. Possible case in point just happened: http://goo.gl/yndbdS http://goo.gl/yndbdS The bottom line is that there should be a way for people to be anonymous behind their keyboard. That's what prevents people from dying for expressing opinions that are counter to the government. Just picture a radical Prolife president who feels justified in murdering people who advocate for Prochoice policies. Don't focus on the one example - there are all kinds of bad things that a bad person in power could do. Enforcing laws is not a justification for absolute power.

personZ 12y ago
The government is saying that they will pursue people who break the law through any means possible. In this case, they apparently socially engineered their way in. And? How is this possibly a problem? Is it really an attack on potential legitimate uses of anonymity? Is it really useful to conjure up a murderous prolife president? To all of those the answers is of course no.

the_ancient 12y ago

>>Law enforcement absolutely includes an element of making examples, and deterring crime. It is very sad that you believe that... Sad indeed. >>Not quite sure what this has to do with democracy. It has everything to do with "democracy" which is mob rule, the FBI is the attack dog of the mob (aka the people) which has deemed running an unapproved website results in a life time of sadistic treatment in a human filled zoo where humans are locked in a small cages and emotionally tortured, we call them "prisons"