Jonah Aragon Jan 28

RE: https://mastodon.thenewoil.org/@thenewoil/115971195227745876

Next up will be a VPN ban. Many tech-y people will see that and think “lol yeah well that’s not going to stop *me* from using a VPN”

A VPN ban isn’t really meant stop you from using one. It means when they catch you doing so, they’ll use the fact you’re using this harmless technology itself as a *pretense* to lock you up without needing to do any “hard work” (i.e. an investigator’s job) like actually confirming whether you committed a real crime.

Don’t think you won’t be impacted just because you know how to outsmart an ISP filter! This is not a plan to protect children or stop you from consuming adult media. It is a ploy to eventually eliminate ALL freedom of expression and free access to information in the UK.

And the same goes for Chat Control and encrypted messengers, btw

#UKpol #VPNban #PornHub #ChatControl #Privacy #FreeSpeech #SocialMedia

Show threadJonah Aragon 

I think some are still missing the point. I’m not saying they’re going to lock up every single person who uses a VPN or watches porn.

Your government’s strategy is to make “crimes” like this as common and easy to commit as possible.

This way, if you ever do something completely legal which they *actually* don’t like, *which can be completely unrelated to VPNs or bypassing age verification,* they can pull up your internet history and easily prosecute you.

Organize a legitimate protest, and the government’s swift response will be to label you a child sex offender because they found you using evil VPN technology.

This is how free speech dies, not from a law that says “free speech is dead now,” but from draconian, authoritarian laws like this that give the government “plausible” reasons to go after anyone, which can’t easily be fought against.

This has always been the playbook to target innocents. In the USA, drug possession laws being created as a pretense for cops to raid and dismantle minority communities, for example. And now this is coming to the digital realm.

Jan 28 at 3:41pmWeb
Show threadJonah Aragon Jan 28
Hey, in less bleak news, it's Data Privacy Day! Spread the good word and make sure you're staying safe this year! https://mastodon.neat.computer/@privacyguides/115974133357241826
Show threadRetJan 28

@jonah

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.

Tacitus

Show threadEm Jan 28
@jonah 
Show threadJesJan 28
@jonah Reminds me of how they have been using the war on drugs
Show threadChancerubbageJan 28

@jonah

And so many businesses rely on VPNs to allow their employees to securely work from home.

It used to drive me batty if using a relatives network to upgrade OS, because bandwidth, then be considered suspect and having TFA thrown at you to prove you and your device is yours.

Show threadBenAvelingJan 28
The aim is to make committing crimes necessary.
Because that makes being in the in-group necessary.
Because that makes submission necessary. @jonah
Show thread🏳️‍⚧️PepperTheVixen🇵🇸Jan 28
@jonah They'll use the law to throw the book at you if they don't like you
Show threadTDayJan 28
@jonah But VPN is supposed to protect your privacy. How do THEY know if your using one ?
Show threadJonah Aragon Jan 28
@TerryDay they know if you're using one, generally, what they don't know is what you're doing with it. That's why they want to make using a VPN illegal all on its own.
Show threadNazaniJan 31
@jonah @TerryDay This is just another way the Trump regime is stepping on the toes of huge corporations. I would not be surprised to see Norton, Chase, etc. work together to sandbag Trump. Tax breaks don't mean much if people can't or won't buy your product.
Show threadLi ~ Crystal SystemJan 28

@jonah smh this has always been and always will be the purpose of state governments and 'laws' in general, to let the state go after and do horrid things to random people, actually ..

and its not 'targeting the innocent' "innocent" is whatever the fuck they say it is; they said their "guilty" as you didnt follow their demands, so its magically okay now and completely fine for them to throw you in prison and treat you as subhuman like .. fuck

it was always about them being able to just go after anyone they dont like .. thats the entire fucking point

Show threadKit Rhett AultmanJan 28
@jonah Indeed, it's the Captain Louis Renault system..."I'm shocked! Shocked to discover gambling is going on in here!"
Show threadJeffrey HaasJan 29

@jonah A term you may find helpful is "pervasive illegality".

The goal is no matter what you're doing, you're guaranteed to be in violation of something.