Comment by pc86

> Linking your real identity to the ability to load text on a computer you own absolutely is.

Not to defend the UK too vociferously (it _is_ going in a weirdly authoritarian direction and I certainly wouldn't want to live there), but this is also a thing in many US states: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/politics/invs-porn-age-verifi...

> Not being able to step out onto the street without having 50 government-operated cameras take your picture absolutely is.

This is a _bit_ of a myth; very few CCTVs in the UK are run by the government. It does have a very large number of CCTVs but they're generally privately owned and operated; they're largely a product of insurance company requirements.

As someone who lives in neither, the US seems considerably scarier at the moment, in general, and a lot further down the road to Hungary-style authoritarianism. The British government hasn't, as yet, made a serious effort to take over the media, say.

Assuming you live in the US, I sincerely recommend that you take all the energy you’re expending decrying the UK’s supposed slide into authoritarianism and see if you can find a way to use that energy to do something about masked thugs kidnapping US citizens, or stop scientific research being defunded for political reasons. How much time have you even spent in the UK? We have our problems for sure, but it’s baffling that anyone in the US at present would feel that they were in a position to lecture us on freem and moxy.

Also, as sibling says, you’re simply misinformed about CCTV. There is no centralized government-operated network of CCTV cameras. In fact, all figures you read about total numbers of CCTV cameras are basically just guesses, as there is no accurate way to track numbers of privately operated cameras.

>> Not being able to access porn without a VPN is not the definition of "authoritarian nightmare".

> Linking your real identity to the ability to load text on a computer you own absolutely is.

You're responding to something I didn't say.

> Not being able to step out onto the street without having 50 government-operated cameras take your picture absolutely is.

That's not true either. You're just lying. There are police CCTV cameras in trouble areas, sure, but the idea that there are 50 pointing at you at any one time is a lie. Most CCTV cameras are privately owned and they can only be sequestered by the police with a warrant.

But just to be clear, you call that an "authoritarian nightmare". It's an exchange of some freedoms (privacy on a public street) for some safety (freedom from criminal assault/theft/etc.). Because we haven't been constitutionally indoctrinated we can see the nuance in that exchange. Some may think it's gone too far, others not far enough, most appreciate the drop in crime.

> "Knife control" absolutely is.

The last time I bought a knife the Amazon delivery driver just had to check my ID to make sure I was 18 or over. But again, because we haven't been indoctrinated to believe that the constitution was given from upon high, we understand that if kids or young adults are buying knifes to stab each other, then we'll do something about it.

How many school shootings have there been in the US this year? The fetishisation of guns and violence is literally insane. The rest of the world looks at the US and its lack of gun control as lunacy.

>> But it isn't on the precipice of losing its democracy altogether (like the US).

> Good god come on. I hope I remember to come back here after the next election and accept your apology.

You first. You've already lied several times about the UK, so whenever you're ready.

This whole debate is utterly pointless. There's a clear divide between how the constitutionally indoctrinated American sees the world and those of us who live in countries without constitutions. Our system will always seem crazy to someone who only believes in one set of laws written down 200 odd years ago.

The difference with the UK to the US is that we have tended toward freedom for the past 1000 years. We are more comfortable with our system and institutions. It's certainly not perfect, but on the whole it doesn't oppress.

The 'First They Came' poem in the UK would go something like this:

* First they came for the Islamic fundamentalist suicide bombers, and I did not speak out because I was not a Islamic fundamentalist suicide bomber.

* Then they came for the Nazis, and I did not speak out because I was not a Nazi.

* Then they came for my PornHub access, luckily I didn't need anyone to speak up because I had VPN access

* Then they came for me - and there were plenty of decent people to speak up for me, cos life in the UK ain't as bad as it's said to be on Hacker News.

It kinda doesn't punch quite as hard ;)