UK online safety bill: double edged sword

[Retro]

Making illegal certain harmful activities over the internet is good in some ways, but careful what you wish for since it's the thin end of the wedge when it comes to new powers of routine censorship and intrusive surveillance by the state in order to allegedly protect against these things. Do you really want back doors in encryption, your private WhatsApp messages snooped on and more all in the name of your "protection"? Believe me, you don't.

When viewed against this backdrop, you can see why the government is so keen to get this bill over the line into law. These genuine online harms are simply the pretext for government overreach.

Online safety bill will criminalise ‘downblousing’ and ‘deepfake’ porn

Nonconsensual explicit images to be tackled in bill returning to parliament next month

www.theguardian.com

 

[Crims]

Like every single policy from our government in the last several years, let's see how this is used in reality.

 

[Arantor]

How do you even prove consent in images?

But I’d be worried about this being used as leverage for other things, remember this is the government who is slowly but surely working on making protest illegal in any form.

 

[Crims]

A lot of this has to do with recent things that aren't illegal at all, but providing carte blanche so they can make it illegal at will.

 

[Arantor]

Exactly. And in a way that makes it ever harder for them to be held to account.

 

[Retro]

Yup, that's the thin end of the wedge.

 

[Tiffany]

I'm tired of government over reach. I'd like government to be less relavant and just let me live my life.