Australia

Why does Labor keep destroying any chance of re-election over such stupidity?

They have an overwhelming majority where they could push through all sorts of positive and progressive policy, but instead we end up with internet filters / banning kids from YouTube / backdooring Signal / whatever other dystopian crap they keep wanting to pull.

The short term whinge fest about good policy would be completely forgotten by the next election and you could win the public's favour off the results of that good policy... But instead all we'll remember is another attempt to ruin our online experience.

Do something good instead of being cunts ffs.

This is what I meant when I said on election night Albo is centre right at best.

When it comes to digital rights we have slowly been heading towards fascist dystopia.

I first stated paying attention when Rudd / Conroy tried to filter the internet. Although IIRC mobile phone Know Your Customer came in post sept 2001.

Since then it's just been a frog in a pot. Meta data retention, assistance and access, identify and disrupt now the hand your ID to every fucking site/app bullshit posing as a kids social media ban.

It's always been about the ability to silence dissent.

Fuck our politicians. Enjoying saying that while I can. Probably won't be long before saying that will get your internet cut off.

While I’m unhappy about potentially losing Signal, the second half of the article about expanding ASIO’s powers is even more chilling. Most people I know don’t use or care about Signal unfortunately.

Meredith Whittaker, the president of the foundation for widely-used global Signal encrypted messaging app, has said it will shut down the system in Australia if forced to hand over its users’ encrypted data to the country’s political surveillance agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

...raises hand

"You have stored data on your users?"

There's a legitimate argument to be had about privacy vs. safety. The police need information to investigate crimes, complete privacy means all crimes go unsolved. It should absolutely require the police put in some legwork, law enforcement shouldn't be able to be automated, but where in-between the two extremes you draw the line on this issue is subjective.

I don't want the government to have all the information, and I do want the government to be able to enforce the law. VPN's are probably where I draw the line, private access to information is a red-line for me. Signal chat is a grey area for me, because it is also a means of accessing information but privacy of association is not something I consider to be important enough for the risks to public safety.