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Comment by eivarv | Hacker News Reader

Though not exactly what you're referring to, my impression is that people discuss the chilling effect [0] quite a bit.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect#Chilling_effec...

Yes, and this so-called Chilling Effect can have a potentially very negative impact on the ability of a democratic society to thrive and possibly to even survive. Democracies require (open, honest) debate. If we self-censor then we hold back on fully-expressing views or positions during debate.

This is one of the fundamental issues that I have with this proliferation of population-scale mass-surveillance (domestically in the US and abroad). It will not lead us into any sort of light, despite the promises about safety or less kiddie pr0n or whatever.

I'll start caring about chilling effects on speech again when local governments quit encouraging the police to just let riots wear themselves out, damage and deaths be damned. Until that happens I don't really care if the federal government is engaging in these tactics as long as belligerantly violent groups are actually charged and receive jail time.

> I'll start caring about chilling effects on speech again ...

That's ok, responsible people will take care of it while you're busy supporting fascism.

Some people do - though likely not as many as discuss Love Island.

I think the tech community in particular (with both the awareness and the means) has a duty to the public to make clear what is going on to those less tuned in.

So far, it has failed in that to a rather astonishing degree. Probably for exactly the reasons yourself and the OP describe.

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