Architect of the UK Online Safety Act Calls for Its Complete Repeal(prestonbyrne.com) |
Architect of the UK Online Safety Act Calls for Its Complete Repeal(prestonbyrne.com) |
Somehow I have zero hope the bill she is proposing as a replacement could be any better than the absolute horror that the OSA is though...
(this is not defending the act, just to call her the architect of anything is probably too much)
> By harmonizing to U.S. free speech standards, the UK will make it considerably easier, as a political matter, enter into data sharing and cross-border cooperation agreements, like CLOUD Act agreements, with the United States.
I can't think of anything worse. This is just the extreme right wing pushing the Overton Window even further
Step 2: harmonize all laws and regulations with EU anyways without voting influence because Single Market access is lucrative and vital
Step 3: start harmonizing other laws with the US in hopes of courting a new colonial ruler
Step 4: …?
———
With love, this feels like a situation where a good friend should simply have taken the car keys away.
This is how you get the Red Scare; that money is speech (Buckley v. Valeo); that legal entities are people with free speech and thus campaign donations cannot be restricted (Citizens United v. FEC); that retaliatory arrests for speech are fine so long as there's probable cause for something else (Nieves v. Bartlett); that therapists have a right to convert their underage gay clients (Chiles v. Salazar); etc. Did you not hear about Mahmoud Khalil? Or Alex Pretti? Ect?
The whole "objectionable tweets" thing is so overplayed too. British pundits like to wax poetic about the apparent persecution of people for political speech, and the "political speech" is, for example, Lucy Connolly calling for the burning down of a hotel building housing asylum seekers.
The biggest sufferers under UK speech restrictions are not tweeters, it's protesters, and yet the examples are always tweeters. Isn't that interesting?
Imagine if Trump could outright ban criticism of him or his policies, or if protests against unjust wars could be banned, or if we had UK style libel laws how would the Epstein thing have come out? Everyone who talked about it would have been shut down by lawsuits.
The biggest issue might be the false belief that it’s superior to others or that the USA is somehow “more free” than other democracies. That’s propaganda, and has precipitated the erosion of freedoms in the USA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_Unite...
As just one example of the failures of “america-style free speech”: Defending that corporations making large donations to political candidates is free speech. Talk about an incentive to corruption.
Here are some more. Frankly, the USA isn't doing very well on free speech lately.
As for the Epstein point, I cannot say I'm aware of the full saga given that it's been a multiple-decade scandal at this point. But the files were released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Translate this to the UK and Parliament passing a law mandating their release would be unquestionable. No lawsuit would survive the briefest scrutiny once Parliament willed it. I also think it's worth mentioning that Prince Andrew, our most prominent associate with Epstein, began facing repercussions for that association in 2019, years before the files were released.
Ummmmmm. He is.
That is to say, anybody _in power_ or any in any position of authority is significantly curtailing their criticism of Trump. If you haven't noticed this by now, then I despair. Frankly it's unimportant what the little guy says about Trump. The little guys speech is 'free', but the moment the little guy is in a position of power, watch the US administration silence him.
EDIT: For the uninitiated, being 'silenced' doesn't mean being carted off to prison. It means the Trump taking away your authority, reputation, career and/or livelihood. That is all that is required.
Oh, did I do that? Where?
> This is how you get ...
Not really, you're just naming a shopping list of examples of what I mentioned earlier: "USA has many deep problems in their politics", with a very tenuous connection to the laws on speech.
> Did you not hear about Mahmoud Khalil? Or Alex Pretti? Ect?
I did hear about that, why are you assuming I didn't? Can you explain the connection to the issue at hand though, because I'm not seeing it.
I chose the tweets example because it's one of the more ridiculous examples, but I could just as well have named Palestine Action or numerous other examples from other european countries. What's "interesting" about it?
Isn't it "interesting" how you're trying very hard to paint a certain picture of the discussion?
Are you claiming the problems in the USA that you mentioned are because of or despite having freedom of speech? You earlier seemed to claim that e.g. the jailing of activists was because of the free speech laws (the "this is how you get" line). So which one is it?
https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMi1jb3B5_585f6600-e128-49bf-9...