Meanwhile, in the UK...

[yoink 321]

The Investigatory Powers Bill has basically been approved to be passed into law...

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/ip-bill-law-details-passed

It's a massively overkill reaction that will force internet companies to keep internet data on everyone for a period of one year. Guilty? Innocent? Doesn't matter - at any point the government will be legally allowed to check up on your internet usage. What you look at, how long you look at it, how you get there etc.

It also requires firms to build weaknesses into technology such as phones and software to allow access from the government, again with no targeting. Everyone is a suspect.

And that's only 2 measures. There are a load of other sweeping powers that are so poorly written that it's almost carte-blanch for the UK government to legally spy on any of its own citizens.


Now I'm sure tthat within 3 or 4 posts someone will dismiss this as 'juts something else from the big-brother UK', but you shouldn't. Despite all the press, in 30 years of living there I never had a problem with the number of CCTV cameras around, or the powers of the police. This one though is ridiculous - and it sets a precedent. If the UK can do it other countries will eventually think they can follow suit - maybe not as blatantly, but to me but this is a serious erosion of personal rights that can only be bad for everyone.

(unless you're a UK member of parliament, because then you're protected because you put in an amendment to the bill that separates you from the rest of the UK population and means that any snooping done on you requires approval directly from the Prime Minister. But normal people? Fuck 'em...)
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/snoopers-charter-only-amendment-politicians-have-submitted-to-controversial-bill-is-to-stop-mps-a6948211.html

[ryoder 1,590]

George Orwell must be spinning in his grave.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[mistercwood 287]

We had the metadata component enacted here last year. I got a VPN the day after it was announced that the law had passed.

The rest of that list though is horrifying.

You are playing chicken with a planet - you can't dodge and planets don't blink. Act accordingly.

[Bolas 5]

mistercwood

We had the metadata component enacted here last year. I got a VPN the day after it was announced that the law had passed.

The rest of that list though is horrifying.

This is why these laws make no sense as there's no way legislation can keep up with technological advances.

Foresee the next advancement in cloud infrastructure will be fully encrypted networking, memory, and storage that the hosts have no access to so even if asked for the data by a government, at most they could give them would be a large encrypted virtual disk file.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[RonD1120 62]

IMO, when BO gave up control of the Internet he gave away the 1st Amendment right of the U.S. If you were ever paranoid about what you post you can be very paranoid now. The UN Thought Police can hunt you down and take you away.

New World Order and One World Government, stand by.

I hope President Elect Donald Trump will address this issue in due time.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[jakee 1,594]

You know that's utter bullshit, right?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

jakee

You know that's utter bullshit, right?

No, he actually believes it.

That's one of the reasons he's hiding out.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[RonD1120 62]

Help me out. Which countries in Europe recognize and honor the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[jakee 1,594]

RonD1120

Help me out. Which countries in Europe recognize and honor the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?

Huh?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[RonD1120 62]

Now that BO gave away control of the Internet our freedom of speech is not protected.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[jakee 1,594]

RonD1120

Now that BO gave away control of the Internet our freedom of speech is not protected.

You know that's utter bullshit, right?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

jakee

***Now that BO gave away control of the Internet our freedom of speech is not protected.

You know that's utter bullshit, right?

No, he actually believes it.

It fits his narrative for the coming "End Times" far too well.

Wow. Deja vu.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[PhreeZone 20]

That is not how any of this works...

If you want to talk at a very technical level I am more than willing to discuss the finer points of this but the extremely basic concept is the same as the post office. As it was before the US government was the keeper of the address book that contained everyone name and address, now that list is being maintained via a private party. Any attempts to edit this list need to be replicated globally so if anything is deemed wrong by any of the receivers they can reject the change.

This never had anything to do with "First Amendment" issues. This is a technology issue.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[yoink 321]

RonD1120

Now that BO gave away control of the Internet our freedom of speech is not protected.

*epic facepalm

1 - You never HAD control of the internet, so you couldn't give it away.
2 - The US stopped taking responsibility for verifying top level domain names - that's all. They are literally not checking a text file.... That's the sum total of their 'control'.
3 - It has absolutely NOTHING to do with either your first amendment rights, the US constitution at all or any sort of speech even.

[DanG 1]

Yeah, but how's anyone supposed to books, bunkers, and MREs by shouting that the US government stopped checking a text file?

- Dan G

[rifleman 70]

An interesting turn of events - over 100,000 people have signed a petition on the UK Parliament petitions site meaning there's a very good chance that the Bill will have to be debated again so plenty of opportunities for people to contact their local MP and push for them to overturn it.

Atheism is a Non-Prophet Organisation

[yoink 321]

This should absolutely happen.

The big problem is what I call 'Brexit demographics' - Younger people have an idea of what bills like this mean, but I tried explaining issues with this bill to my parents who's stance was 'I've got nothing to hide, so why not?'. :(

[rifleman 70]

It should, especially when you couple the snooper's charter with this little piece of legislation that slipped through unnoticed. The BBFC (British Board of Film Censors) has been given powers to block websites that contravene its own taste and decency guidelines ie: If it wouldn't qualify for a R18 rating for DVD release it can be blocked. The problem is that it covers things that are legal for consenting people over the age of 16 to do to each - you just won't be able to watch it. Thin end of the wedge time IMO.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/23/censor-non-conventional-sex-acts-online-internet-pornography?CMP=twt_gu

Atheism is a Non-Prophet Organisation

[yoink 321]

Yeah. This is really bad news.

WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

and

Censor ALL the things! are two memes that immediately come to mind. [/:/]

[yoink 321]

The other thing that pisses me off is the apathy that people have. This is what the government is relying on.

'So they'll know what I search for, so what?'
'So they'll block access to stuff I don't watch anyway? Who cares?'
'It probably won't affect me, really...'

All of this is so much easier than actually doing anything about it. Those were all responses I got when I suggested my friends write a letter to their MPs, because this is a big slide on a slippery slope.

[JerryBaumchen 1,466]

Hi yoink,

Quote

'It probably won't affect me, really...'

'The Nazi's first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.

Rev. Martin Niemoeller'

Jerry Baumchen