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Comment by dtf | Hacker News Reader

The current UK government has committed to:

  1. ban encryption (any encryption worth its salt)
  2. ban anything psychoactive
  3. detach us from the European Convention of Human Rights.

Not one of these things is achievable in practice. This posturing and will amount to nothing but farce in the face of the details.

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They also have banned some forms of pornography. The UK government has made it a priority to restrict and intrusively scrutinize the lives of its citizens, removing their ability to resist.

They're rapidly arriving at fascism. The public seems listlessly along for the ride, as usual.

What do you expect? In the days of Henry the 8th, they beat people up when they refused to pay tax. We still have our monarchy, it's British nature to just let our rulers do whatever they want to us, we wont fight back.

They also have banned some forms of pornography

Which ones? The only one I'm aware of is revenge porn (with intent to cause distress).

Any material judged to be obscene under the current interpretation of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 (could include bestiality, bondage, rape simulation, etc.) People have even been charged for writing stories, though I don't think anyone has ever been successfully prosecuted (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Walker)

How on earth can that act be deemed as this government banning 'some forms of pornography'? Even R v Walker is 2009 - a year before even the last government. Although UK production and distribution of some acts were banned last year, the pre-Coalition governments were far more draconian with their criminalisation of certain material involving consenting adults.

Drawn pornography depicting characters deemed to be under the age of 18 is banned - specifically, anything lolicon.

> They also have banned some forms of pornography.

While I get that it's not what you mean, I believe most of the world bans certain type of pornography - namely child pornography? (Although the world doesn't agree on what a "child" is in terms of age).

I'm not sure it's controversial to ban some forms of expressions that are considered to be more or less universally only possible by harming the innocent (see also: bestiality).

Personally I have an issue with possession of data being a crime, as it is such a dicey proposition when it comes to planting evidence etc. But I don't have any problem with it being illegal to eg: manufacture child pornography.

1 and 3 were on their manifesto. Given that they have a majority it is only a matter of time before they achieve them.

P.S. as I understand it 3 if achieved means that they either have to pass new almost identical legislation compatible with the UN convention on human rights or the UK would be in breach of our UN commitments...

They have a very slim majority, and some conservatives believe in civil liberties.

I fear not enough do so. We need 12 + all the rest. I just can't see them not getting this through.

We'd be in breach of our EU membership, regardless, so far as I know.

Being in the EU is of debatable value (I think it's overall a good thing but I understand that there is some bad). Being in the UN is basically a requirement for being a country in the modern world.

I don't disagree, but it seems to be something Cameron is rather keen to hang on to.

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