News Government pledges new online safety laws

So this is how liberty dies ... with thunderous applause!

 

More new laws to make stuff that's likely already illegal even more illegal to disguise from the fact that they didn't enforce the existing laws and probably don't have the will or the resources to enforce any new ones.

See also: knives and acid.


Something must be done!
...but what? who? how?
*shrug* I dunno... but something must be done!

 

It's always vague, no doubt intentionally. Thing is those powers and laws that are put into to 'protect' us are I feel often used to stifle free speech and shut down alternate view points.

Now I know even talking about this will be controverisal to some but take the dankula incident for example, vulgar as the Nazi pug joke was and undoubtedly offensive to some, the fact that the Scottish court were able to decide his intent should make anyone nervous about the extent of the power available to the government to punish views expressed on-line.
Do I agree with what dankula did? No.
Would I do it myself? No.
But should he have been dragged through the court system for a complaint the police themselves prosecuted on behalf of society?

Thought crime anyone?

If past experiance is anything to go by, I have little faith in both the motivation and intended outcome of these newly proposed online saftys laws.

Also does the recently proposed 'porn licence' form part of these new proposals? If so, might be a good time to invest in VPN shares...

 

He was a very easy target for the government to make itself be seen as doing something, especially at a time when the only political opposition is involved in some anti-Semitism controversy and due to that can't criticize the vague laws used to convict him.

As for dark / inappropriate / offensive humour, that stuff has always been part of UK culture, hell a few years ago we had stuff like Little Britain on tv.

 

Think of the children!

I live in a democracy that gives me the right to be offended. I don't feel that gives me the right not to be offended.

As for making it safe for kids, are parents happy absolving all responsibility and handing it over to the government?

Half the time it's "stop meddling you nanny state you!", the other half it's "protect us and our children from things we don't like because we can barely tie our own shoelaces. Save us!".

Sick. Of. It.

 

Convenient political correctness and bullsh*t administered by a so called blue blood society (likely interbred at some point) and pedigree incompetence, ineptitude and idiocy - Do as we say, not what we do attitude, totally out of touch with the real world and those (allegedly) they represent.

Yup, welcome to Great Britain aka the clusterf*ck of Europe.

 

To be fair a lot of that is down to millions of people in full time employment not earning enough to house and feed a family on one income and with it forcing both parents to work instead of one of the parents being around at all times which of course has the inevitable result of child neglect on a staggering scale.

But instead of addressing any actual cause the government just pumps out batshit crazy proposal after batshit crazy proposal full of unworkable and unenforceable ideas that violate more and more rights whenever parts of those proposals make it into laws.

Luckily for the government however they are perceived as so inept that none of it gets attributed to malice, so they keep getting away with it instead of having to face mobs with pitchforks and torches in the street.

 

1984 is coming, it's just a bit late.

 

I predict they will outlaw voice chat in games, because they see no way to stop people from being insulted.
Then they come back and outlaw text chat.
Soon all interaction online is reduced to a handful of predefined responses, because we can't be trusted with words.

 

Nah, even emotes are "problematic" according to some people...

https://javadocmd.com/blog/the-problem-with-emotes/

 

Honesty i don't think the majority of people would even consider something like this, or any of the other attempts by government to regulate the internet, to be malicious.

Most people either don't understand how all this stuff works and just want someone to protect them from the unknown and of those who do know the number who believe ceding such power to a higher authority is dangerous is even smaller.

Being three decades late is pretty good going for a government IT project.

 

Exactly, but it also stops the government suffering the consequences of their stupidity.

Edit:

From Farage at the facebook grilling in the EU Parliament today:

Probably the first time I've found myself agreeing with that smug bast**d (well almost, restricting it to just social media rather than the internet in general is flat out silly).

 

Protecting children on the internet seems to mainly be a case of "ERMAHGERD! NIPPLES!" rather than anything to do with bullying and harassment.

 

We passed that point 18 years ago with RIPA, Orwell was an optimist.