> I do not live in fear of the police kicking down my door because I voiced an anti-government view online. I do not believe that if I openly start supporting the wrong party I'll "disappear" as happens in other countries. I believe that elections in the UK are free and fair (for the most part) and I also believe that if a party came along that tried to turn the UK into the kind of country where those things were a reality then they would be sharply booted out of office.
I was discussing this with some tech-minded friends on IRC the other day, and they pointed out the "chilling effect" you could get with massive surveillance.
And I have to say I see their point. But after thinking about it some more I've realized that I've not once ever been scared to say something bad about the government (and yes, that's happened a lot).
But I have been scared to discuss these topics with my friends, here on HN, etc. It's only a matter of time before I piss off the wrong hacker, so there is a "chilling effect" going on... it's just not the one all my friends are warning me about. :-/
To me, the fact that you or I aren't scared isn't proof that a chilling effect does not exist. I'm not much of a "influencer" or "trend setter". Thus, even if i say something bad about the government, why would they bother? Things change when you're talking about journalists and political opposition. The fact that big brother is always listening makes a hell of a difference.
> Things change when you're talking about journalists and political opposition.
Sure, but I haven't yet found either American journalists or political opponents who were scared to tear into the U.S. government at any opportunity, or even any pretext for an opportunity.
It's one of the ways by which Americans have maintained freedom of expression in that regard, is to make complaining about the government so commonplace as to be utterly and completely ordinary.
I was discussing this with some tech-minded friends on IRC the other day, and they pointed out the "chilling effect" you could get with massive surveillance.
And I have to say I see their point. But after thinking about it some more I've realized that I've not once ever been scared to say something bad about the government (and yes, that's happened a lot).
But I have been scared to discuss these topics with my friends, here on HN, etc. It's only a matter of time before I piss off the wrong hacker, so there is a "chilling effect" going on... it's just not the one all my friends are warning me about. :-/