Uh oh, Suzerain coming to reality

There is a very big difference between having restrictive laws which enable society to operate more freely, laws which have significant protections in place to prevent misuse, and laws which impede freedoms.

As well as the implementation of said laws by governments.

It’s certainly not a new thing, but the status quo has shifted drastically in the past 5 years especially.

For example, the laws which are being used to quell protest have been around for 20 years and longer, it’s just that last year was the first time they have been abused in that way. (As critics of, for example the terror act, suggested it would be)

My point isn’t that it’s the first time the UK has seen authoritarian skews in government. Churchill set the troops on the miners, Thatcher used secret police against the unions. The point is that the paradigm is shifting back to that, and eroding what has been slowly and painfully won.

I’m quite curious on this as well. Lived in Bloem from 2011-2013, everyone loves going on about how bad ZA is (“white genocide”…). Would love to hear from real folk there if it’s all hogwash or if there is some grain of truth

Unfortunately we are living in times where even the most sane countries are getting to the point where completely reasonable things may be seen as illegal, or used against you, in the future.

It’s not unreasonable to imagine that insurance companies/banks may soon (if not already) buy your internet traffic to get a profile of you. If that profile matches some risk factors, higher interest rates or premiums could be a thing.

Even the UK has started flexing authoritarian lately with the Palestine action proscription and suppression of protest. There is certainly a trend in modern politics to try to track people online, and they are starting with pornography to normalise it, using CSAM as an excuse to enact more extreme legislation.

Immigration and border authorities are also beginning to expand digital backgrounds for travellers or immigrants.

It’s not necessarily about what is illegal today, in your current location, but it’s about what might be considered illegal or “bad” in the future and weaponised against you.

Don’t assume that your current situation will always be the case. The right to privacy is not for people to do illegal things, the right to privacy is to protect you against authoritarian governments if/when they may intersect with your life.

So fucking vile I don’t have words. Any officer that listened to that recording and misrepresented it should just be executed.

Abuse of law enforcement should honestly be one of the only crimes that carries the death penalty.