Comment by globular-toast

2 days ago

Sadly doesn't seem to make much difference, though. If anything the UK is less authoritarian than the US now.

24 comments

globular-toast

Reply
tryauuum  2 days ago

It's hard to compare US and EU internet freedom because a person usually spends most of their life in one place and is clueless about the life in other.

I've never lived in US, were there any cases of ISPs blocking websites in USA? Even DNS-level blocking counts

  • tasn  1 day ago

    I've lived both in the US and the UK.

    The US has the 5th amendment protecting you from self-incrimination, while in the UK you can go to prison for not divulging your encryption password (even if you forgot it!).

    The US doesn't have ISP/DNS level blocking for all I'm aware of, but there's the ultimate blocking that sometimes does happen (FBI raiding your servers, even if outside of the US).

    The US has the 1st amendment protecting speech, while in the UK people routinely get arrested for social media posts.

    Maybe there are areas where the UK is better about privacy/freedom than the US, but no examples immediately come to mind.

simplyluke  2 days ago

How many people are arrested for social media posts and other speech in each country?

aliasxneo  2 days ago

At least I have still have a 2nd amendment - and, at least for now, still post on social media without getting a knock on my door.

  • BeetleB  2 days ago

    > and, at least for now, still post on social media without getting a knock on my door.

    That's called "luck".

    A friend of mine did likewise, and got a knock, then handcuffs, then a trial. He was acquitted because everything he said was allowed under the first amendment. In fact, several academics had published the same/similar stuff he did and not had any problems (or ever worried about them). But he was of the wrong race/religion...

    There was never a time in the 20th-21st century where you can practice your 1st amendment rights and be absolutely sure you wouldn't get a knock on your door.

    • aliasxneo  2 days ago

      > That's called "luck".

      I think it's actually called statistics. In 2026, it would seem I'm statistically less likely to get arrested for a social media post in the US than the UK. I mean it's not like the reason is hidden. Arrests typically require crossing into narrow unprotected categories under the First Amendment: true threats (Virginia v. Black standard), incitement to imminent lawless action (Brandenburg v. Ohio), or specific crimes like credible harassment, cyberstalking, or extortion.

      It's quite a bit different than the UK's hate speech laws and the comparative result makes complete sense.

      10 replies →

  • mrguyorama  2 days ago

    Tens of millions of Americans, usually supporters of the 2nd, have openly declared that having a firearm on you while at a protest is a crime punishable by death, and have done nothing to stand up against Trump, who has openly declared his hostility to the 2nd amendment multiple times now.

    Bringing a rifle to a protest you expect to get hot, brandishing it about, and then shooting someone in self defense is perfectly fine, but having an every day carry firearm, getting held down by the president's personal paramilitary org, and being shot execution style is apparently fine.

    I'm sick and tired of the stupid claims about how important the 2nd is while the very advocates of it only bring it up to talk about how much they want to shoot democrats.

    • aliasxneo  2 days ago

      There's idiots on all sides. Plenty of sane people who are too busy working and raising families instead of loudly participating in politics that still hold a balanced view on the subject.

      I can hold the situation you cited as an example that should be shown in training in how not to handle a situation like that while at the same time vehemently pushing back against the bureaucrats trying to disarm me. It's why I've always identified as an independent my whole life.