Aral Balkan

May 2015: “…we’re not going to stay in a country where we might be forced to backdoor our products (and possibly not even be allowed to tell anyone about it)”

https://ar.al/notes/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish/

Nov 2022: “Internet services used every day by British consumers would be obligated to scan all public posts and private chats against government-specified criteria … If these services don’t want to do it, they could pack up and leave the UK.“

https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/cybersecurity/2022/11/online-safety-bill-make-life-harder-victims

🤔

#OnlineSafetyBill #SmallTech #SmallWeb

Aral Balkan — So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Nov 23, 2022 at 12:48pmWeb
Show threadSoftwarewolfNov 23, 2022
@aral Just curious, is there a reason France isn't on your list of potential places to move to?
Show threadAlx 🐈Nov 23, 2022
@aral It's amazing how instead of working for building a safe cultural environment that moves towards not harming children either online or anywhere else, the UK chooses the authoritarian policing route, reducing it to a techno-fix instead of a social issue cause by a variety of cultural, economic, and medical factors.
Like the Brexit philosophy they love, a view of reality that extremely simplifies everything, solves nothing, and creates more problems (that will need more techno fixes)
Show threadAral BalkanNov 24, 2022
@alx Yep. And it’s not just the UK. The EU likes to talk a good talk but the same authoritarian tendencies are there with attempts to codify them in law as we speak. Basically, while not everywhere is the same (by a long shot), nowhere is “safe” either is the lesson we’ve learned in the past however many years. Sadly, it would appear that if we want to protect human rights and democracy, we have to be willing to keep fighting for them. It’s not a battle we win and then move on from.
Show threadAlx 🐈Nov 24, 2022
@aral Hard agree. I'm coming to think that democracy is a fight by default. I'm reading and listening more about today's democracy & the need to move from the 'crisis' narrative, as democracy isn't a definite stage. In a podcast I was listening to, a professor defined 'democracy is a never-ending building site', the moment we stop actively working on it, it collapses or becomes an unfinished decadent ruin, which, though still limited, I think is a quite good metaphor.
Show threadLabrador GirlNov 23, 2022
@aral If only some famous British novelists had written to warn us of about authoritarianism.
Show threadDenyerecNov 23, 2022
@aral like so many things connected to our current government, no good will come of this. A decade of home secretaries have idolised China's approach, as they realise totalitarian control is the only way the despised remain in power :(
Show thread0xADADANov 23, 2022
@aral do you still stand by your statement that you three aren't the dolphins in the photo?
Show threadAral BalkanNov 23, 2022
@0xadada Ee Ee Eee Ee Ee
Show threadCélistine || TheRealProcyonNov 23, 2022
@aral this sounds terrible and literally could be used by fashy or TERFy politicians to scan for queer or trans content & people or could be used to scan for other people a party doesn't like
Show threadAndy FNov 23, 2022

@aral ugh! Don't even get me started on the OSB 🤮 Orwellian is a very apt description:

https://reclaimthenet.org/uk-online-safety-bill-explained-summary/

The UK Online Safety Bill explained: A reckless threat to free speech

A carelessly-written bill. Sweeping government censorship powers. Big Tech speech police. And more.

Reclaim The Net
Show threadBobo_PK 🦄Nov 23, 2022
@aral that is horribly close to V for Vendetta and 1984
Show threadrubenwardyNov 23, 2022

@aral

> It's quite possible that all this will backfire spectacularly as England shifts ever further right in its xenophobia and that the British will vote to leave the EU

😬

As a UK citizen, it really sucks. I don't want to move countries. I've been avoiding the news lately as it takes too much of a toll

Show threadjleebikerNov 23, 2022
@aral Well that's not good, but honestly do you expect much from politicians that don't fundamentally understand technology? Secret, but not so secret secret; It's never about the tech.
Show threadRuth NinekeNov 23, 2022
@aral 😳😳
Show threadMackajNov 23, 2022

@aral

The people drafting these policies are so unqualified to be making these decisions.

Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Nov 24, 2022
@aral I didn't see a followup, but it seems from the small-tech.org contact info that you moved to Ireland?
Show threadAral BalkanNov 24, 2022
@clacke First Sweden, then here (Ireland), yes :)
Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Nov 24, 2022
@aral Oh! Cool. Were you in Malmö as you were considering in the post?