Successive UK governments have a track record of making laws like this regarding technology and privacy: vague, poorly defined, ignorant of the wider implications, and open to being used in...
Successive UK governments have a track record of making laws like this regarding technology and privacy: vague, poorly defined, ignorant of the wider implications, and open to being used in incredibly invasive & damaging ways.
As with a lot of things in modern politics, it's kind of exhausting. It's also often worse in principle than in practice, which makes it even more of a struggle to campaign against; we've got these laws on the books that criminalise normal everyday behaviours, but then the legal system does mostly (not always, but mostly) only make use of them in accordance with the intent. It feels very precarious - things are definitely not fine, although also by no means unliveably terrible, but there's this whole legal framework in place for things to be made much, much worse very quickly if the wrong person decides to do so.
I'd still rather not have stupid things like Brexit happen, but at least now the UK has a closed playground for their oppressive pet projects in their own country and doesn't need to lobby for...
I'd still rather not have stupid things like Brexit happen, but at least now the UK has a closed playground for their oppressive pet projects in their own country and doesn't need to lobby for EU-wide policies that allow it.
Can't blame you for that! At this point it seems like the only real option for those of us stuck here is using Scotland as a lifeboat, although it'd be a shame to leave London to get dragged down...
Can't blame you for that! At this point it seems like the only real option for those of us stuck here is using Scotland as a lifeboat, although it'd be a shame to leave London to get dragged down by the rest of England's electorate.
I could be wrong about this but I think the freedom of movement/living/working agreements the UK has with Ireland predate both Brexit and the EU itself and are still standing. I think you need to...
I could be wrong about this but I think the freedom of movement/living/working agreements the UK has with Ireland predate both Brexit and the EU itself and are still standing.
I think you need to live there for five years before you can apply for citizenship. Dublin is horrendously expensive now but there are plenty of other nice parts of Ireland.
It's a very good point - English as the primary language is also a major bonus compared to the rest of Europe given how much I struggle to pick up spoken languages. I was being a little bit glib...
It's a very good point - English as the primary language is also a major bonus compared to the rest of Europe given how much I struggle to pick up spoken languages.
I was being a little bit glib about the Scotland thing, but the concern is real. Ireland is a compelling option, and there are one or two others in the "possibly, maybe" bucket too if it comes to it. It's just tough to judge from the inside if and when it's time to go, if I'm taking things too seriously or not seriously enough, if it really is the UK that's declining or if most of the world is facing similar challenges, if whatever net UK specific decline does exist is enough to offset the downsides of leaving friends and family, if..., if..., if...
The Home Office says it wants to target “bespoke” devices used for crime, but critics say it is unclear what a bespoke device is.
“At the moment the government proposal appears to be vague and overly broad. While it states that the provisions ‘will not apply to commercially available mobile phones nor the encrypted messaging apps available on them’ it is difficult to see how it will not result in targeting devices used on a daily [basis] by human rights defenders, protesters and pretty much all of us who want to keep our data secure,” Ioannis Kouvakas, senior legal officer and assistant general counsel at UK-based activism organization Privacy International, told Motherboard in an email.
Successive UK governments have a track record of making laws like this regarding technology and privacy: vague, poorly defined, ignorant of the wider implications, and open to being used in incredibly invasive & damaging ways.
As with a lot of things in modern politics, it's kind of exhausting. It's also often worse in principle than in practice, which makes it even more of a struggle to campaign against; we've got these laws on the books that criminalise normal everyday behaviours, but then the legal system does mostly (not always, but mostly) only make use of them in accordance with the intent. It feels very precarious - things are definitely not fine, although also by no means unliveably terrible, but there's this whole legal framework in place for things to be made much, much worse very quickly if the wrong person decides to do so.
I'd still rather not have stupid things like Brexit happen, but at least now the UK has a closed playground for their oppressive pet projects in their own country and doesn't need to lobby for EU-wide policies that allow it.
Can't blame you for that! At this point it seems like the only real option for those of us stuck here is using Scotland as a lifeboat, although it'd be a shame to leave London to get dragged down by the rest of England's electorate.
I could be wrong about this but I think the freedom of movement/living/working agreements the UK has with Ireland predate both Brexit and the EU itself and are still standing.
I think you need to live there for five years before you can apply for citizenship. Dublin is horrendously expensive now but there are plenty of other nice parts of Ireland.
It's a very good point - English as the primary language is also a major bonus compared to the rest of Europe given how much I struggle to pick up spoken languages.
I was being a little bit glib about the Scotland thing, but the concern is real. Ireland is a compelling option, and there are one or two others in the "possibly, maybe" bucket too if it comes to it. It's just tough to judge from the inside if and when it's time to go, if I'm taking things too seriously or not seriously enough, if it really is the UK that's declining or if most of the world is facing similar challenges, if whatever net UK specific decline does exist is enough to offset the downsides of leaving friends and family, if..., if..., if...