undefined | Better HN

0 pointsteekert3y ago0 comments

How are they going to stop me from installing software? Even if they force "app stores" into compliance, I've lived in a world without them. I can always git clone from-ipfs, make, make install. Or you know, install some Flatpack from some secret repo or matrix group. Or find/distribute some software using BitTorrent over TOR. Do Encryption tools/apps now have the same status as botnet control software packages: Only for criminals?

And if I do use encryption, am I a criminal now? Will they come after me, hit me with a $5 wrench [0] to force me to give up my keys? Only to find me telling my wife I love her with that special feeling of nobody else listening in? You know, like from my mouth to her ear. As we can do at home? Will they soon start to listen in on my home to prevent key exchange parties with my friends? I find the (imagined) consequences of enforcing this law insane. I just don't see it happening in this society. And if it does happen, society will be very different.

[0] https://xkcd.com/538/

0 comments

4 comments · 3 top-level

lordnacho3y ago· 1 in thread

That works for your average HN user, who knows what all those words mean. For someone else it means you either live with what the government lets you have, or you pay the cost of learning all those things. People will end up accepting a lower level of privacy.

teekertOP3y ago

But real criminals won't. And I'll be put into a group with them as far as law enforcement is concerned.

guerrilla3y ago

From the OP: "The EU is currently in the process of enacting the chat control law. It has been criticized for creating an EU-wide centralized mass surveillance and censorship system and enabling government eavesdropping on all private communication. But one little talked about consequence of the proposed law is that it makes practically all existing open source operating systems illegal, including all major Linux distributions. It would also effectively ban the F-Droid open source Android app archive."

emphasis mine.

pmlnr3y ago

I'm with you, honestly, and yes, I also know how to circumvent a lot of things.

> And if it does happen, society will be very different.

Indeed, but I barely recognise our society from 20 years ago when having a palmtop made you a weirdo.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse