“Linux is still legal”.
Someone’s been reading too much sci-fi.
Someone’s been reading too much sci-fi.
We have a lovely law called RIPA that makes non-disclosure of passwords or encryption keys punishable by 2 years in prison (or up to 5 years in certain cases). One of those special cases is "national security" reasons, which is about two steps away from becoming "because someone higher up wants that data".
Banning Linux, if not by malice then by incompetence/apathy, is not as unlikely as you think. Because they sure are, right now, very much incompetent and apathetic.
- Wearing an orange shirt with a specific logo
- Walking on the street
- Singing a song
- Supporting adowntrodden nation publicly or in a protest
Then it's not so far fetched for that insane government to mandate citizens machines to install some backdoor so they can be constantly monitored.
I remember UK trying to pass bills like 'Porn depicting cunnilingus is illegal'.
If that kind of crap occupies politicians' time, Linux being illegal is most certainly not in the Scifi realm.
Edit: not saying the UK doesn’t have some stupid laws on the books, or that politicians are not adding more stupid laws to the books, just that even in the US, the land of the free, a bad cop or a prosecutor looking for a promotion can make the next few months or even years hell for you if they wanted it.
My point is that the current UK government is a messy bunch of profiteers who will support any possible law that benefits them or their corporate friends. In addition, they and their "technical advisors" both are extremely incompetent.
That's why some version of "Linux is illegal" doesn't belong strictly to the fantasy realm to me. As a matter of fact, if I see that story on the headlines, I wouldn't be surprised in the least.
Not allowed to publicize specific information and not allowed to say they are gagged.
Honestly the UK is one of the few places that treats speech like it matters enough to be kept private. A refreshing change in some ways.