i guess this thread is a great example of how different the HN crowd is to the rest of the population. i keep seeing the same type of comments for every article where encryption is threatened.
to me it looks like the direction of policy in the world when it comes to the internet is pretty clear: the internet needs to be brought to heel. it needs to respect local laws, it can’t be a black box, we can’t rely on foreign/american companies to moderate.
this direction is coming mainly from voters. they feel disenfranchised from the big internet companies, they feel threatened, the internet still feels like a dangerous place. and to be fair, there are so many crimes enabled by the internet, some of them violent.
and so the public and the NGO’s make enough noise so that politicians take stock and start doing something about it.
this law is not the first law in the world to force internet companies to better moderate their content. and it won’t be the last.
but if HN folk want to change people’s view around this issue then they need to step out of this bubble and engage with people’s concerns.
because this direction of travel has been set for a while now. and it won’t change anytime soon.
what’s going to happen with this law? nothing special. it will be adopted, and there will be no consequences. just like all the other countries that did the same.
disclaimer: i’ve been on the internet since there were ~10 websites. that wild west stuff was amazing when growing up. but the cat is now out of the bag.
There was even pushback on HN to Apple's communication safety feature which would warn kids about nude photos. No big brother, not even CSAM matching. Just locally run nudity detection in a reasonable, even minimal effort to address some harm to kids.
Comments wailed about the invasion of privacy, thin end of the wedge/normalisation of scanning etc. without any mention of the problem this tries to address.
Personally I still think the risk of encryption to children is outweighed by the risk of permanent, incontestable authoritarian regimes (in which kids aren't safe either). But effectively arguing this requires acknowledgement of the other side's concerns.
As you say, most people prioritise child safety over privacy, so these bills are going to keep happening until the rest of us make our case, acknowledge the problem and help find solutions.
But I disagree there will be no domestic consequences for this law. The UK is the home of the coverup and this places even more power in the hands of a barely accountable old boys club. It should still be opposed, but privacy activists need to better make the case why.
to me it looks like the direction of policy in the world when it comes to the internet is pretty clear: the internet needs to be brought to heel. it needs to respect local laws, it can’t be a black box, we can’t rely on foreign/american companies to moderate.
this direction is coming mainly from voters. they feel disenfranchised from the big internet companies, they feel threatened, the internet still feels like a dangerous place. and to be fair, there are so many crimes enabled by the internet, some of them violent.
and so the public and the NGO’s make enough noise so that politicians take stock and start doing something about it.
this law is not the first law in the world to force internet companies to better moderate their content. and it won’t be the last.
but if HN folk want to change people’s view around this issue then they need to step out of this bubble and engage with people’s concerns.
because this direction of travel has been set for a while now. and it won’t change anytime soon.
what’s going to happen with this law? nothing special. it will be adopted, and there will be no consequences. just like all the other countries that did the same.
disclaimer: i’ve been on the internet since there were ~10 websites. that wild west stuff was amazing when growing up. but the cat is now out of the bag.