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Comment by vroomvroomboom

4 months ago

It's the right choice: don't bow to government pressure, let the people pressure the government.

This is Apple condeeding. Apple lost. UK Government got (almost) what they wanted - a backdoor into iCloud accounts.

Apple's only consolation prize is that its limited to UK users for now. But it seems inevitable that ADP will gradually be made illegal all around the world.

  • Given that they’ve only prevented new signups it looks to me more like Apple is trying to apply pressure to the U.K. government to get them to back down. The law that permits this was passed in 2016 so the situation was default lost already.

    • They have said all existing ADP enabled accounts will be disabled or deleted in time. They need to give people time to migrate their data out before they nuke it.

> let the people pressure the government.

Hopefully they will.

  • There was a lot of campaigning against the Investigatory Powers bill when it was introduced. It didn't help much given the people in power want more power regardless of where they sit on the political spectrum.

  • I can't imagine many here (UK) will really care, we've had multiple breeches of privacy imposed on us by the powers that be. - Removed incorrect assumption of this not being reported.

How?

In the UK, there's no right to bear arms, so people are pretty helpless against their oppressing government.

  • >> In the UK, there's no right to bear arms, so people are pretty helpless against their oppressing government.

    There's a right to bear arms in the US and it doesn't seem to be helping them with their oppressive government.

  • I just dont interact with the government or British society at all. I have turned my back on it.

    If they ever come to my door I'll either go postal or leave the country.

    Its so bad here now.

  • > In the UK, there's no right to bear arms, so people are pretty helpless against their oppressing government.

    When people want to revolt it doesn’t seem like the right to bear arms has much to do with it. Not having the right to bear arms certainly hasn’t stopped countless rebellions and revolutions across the world. It’s not like the French of the Russians had a right to bear arms before their successful revolutions.

    Even in the UK, the lack of a right to bear arms didn’t stop Cromwell using firearms to defeat Charles II at the Battle of Worcester.

  • Technically I guess you're right, but one hopes that the foundations of British democracy provide its citizens with the tools to fight against an oppressive government. The only rub is getting them to stand up and do that.

    • Like what? Britain is a constitutional monarchy. Its foundations anticipated an oppressive king, not an oppressive parliament. Britain never had a revolution, it never had free speech to begin with. It seems to me that what made Britain successful in the past is maladaptive to its current situation.

  • Small arms are no match for drones and a fully armed military, a successful rebellion by any populace against a first world military is impossible unless the military lays their arms down voluntarily, full stop.

    • Every time this argument comes up, I just feel like rolling eyes, it is so overplayed.

      Yes, in a direct confrontation and an all out war, the populace stands no chance against the US military (assuming the military will unwaveringly side against the populace), no argument there.

      But an all out war is not an option, the government wouldn’t be trying to pulverize an entire nation and leave a rubble in place. If you completely destroy your populace and your cities in an all-out direct war, you got no country and people left to govern. It is all about subjugation and populace control. You can’t achieve this with air strikes that level whole towns.

      Similarly, if the US wanted to “win” in Afganistan by just glassing the whole region and capturing it, that would be rather quick and easy (from a technical perspective, not from the perspective of political consequences that would follow). Turns out, populace control and compliance are way more tricky to achieve than just capturing land. And while having overwhelming firepower and technological advantage helps with that, it isn’t enough.

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  • We could try the American way, bear our arms and shoot up a school, but I don't see how that will help.

  • Guns are an inefficient/stupid way to kill people anyway.

    Just ask Russia and Ukraine.

    Look around, human beings are quite clever.

NO, it's the wrong choice. Most people do not understand this stuff enough to truly care about, and they just want their devices to work. This is an awful decision by Apple. There's really nothing consumers can do to pressure the British government.