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Is 4chan the perfect Pirate Bay poster child to justify wider UK site-blocking?

(torrentfreak.com)
361 points gloxkiqcza | 3 comments | 24 Aug 25 16:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.736s | source
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numpy-thagoras ◴[25 Aug 25 16:57 UTC] No.45015974[source]▶
This is the first time in a long time on Hacker News that I've not seen universal disapproval to this measure. People are actually arguing for it, even as a devil's advocate? What the UK has been doing is wrong, it is disenfranchising and disempowering people.

The UK is not a democratic or even liberty-focused state anymore. It's always been ruled by a crowd of people who went to privately-funded schools that cost a fortune. Half the government's politicians and staffers can trace their relations back to the same historical personage.

They aren't afraid for their kids with these laws. They're afraid that this ossified, stunted system of power that's been built over 800 years will break, and they will be out of a job with pitchfork-wielding crowds chasing them out of London.

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1. Nursie ◴[26 Aug 25 06:04 UTC] No.45022812[source]▶
> The UK is not a democratic or even liberty-focused state anymore.

What on earth are you on about?

The UK is certainly a democratic state, it holds free, fair and transparent elections. Governments change regularly in line with these. The current prime-minister went to a grammar school, the deputy PM went to various 'standard' state schools.

Yes, bad laws and authoritarian impulses can and likely will have far-reaching effects, but that's hardly new or unique to the UK, the US has a history of spying on its entire population as well, from room 641A (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A) to the Snowden revelations and Palantir. It also has a load of states adding access restrictions and age checks of one sort or another to the internet.

The people of the UK are largely in favour of these sorts of rules, as they are in a bunch of other places. They may be wrong but that doesn't mean democracy is failing.

This "The sky is falling!" rhetoric is why geeks are very rarely taken seriously in these debates.

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2. account42 ◴[26 Aug 25 08:23 UTC] No.45023782[source]▶
The UK is a constitutional monarchy, which is antithetical to democracy.
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3. Nursie ◴[26 Aug 25 15:34 UTC] No.45028003[source]▶
That’s about as smart as saying “America isn’t a democracy, it’s a republic!”

They are both types of democracy.

(Yes, the ‘royal’ family should be relieved of all their holdings and tossed out on the street, leeches that they are, but that’s beside the point)