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

The game Alpha Centauri had the most hard hitting quote that I think applies now.

"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny...Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. Commissioner Pravin Lal, 'U.N. Declaration of Rights' "

I mean, yes, but also…

Not specifically related to this “child protection” thing, but you can’t deny that the free flow of information also leads to some pretty terrible things, driven by actors such as states, magnified x1000 by social media, and now also AI.

Every platform these days is full to the brim with misinformation and propaganda (which ends up in mainstream media as well), deliberately making many of us hateful and sometimes violent. The free flow of information is undoubtedly being used for harm.

I’m 100% for personal liberty and accountability, and admittedly I don’t have a solution for this.

I do think the Elon Musk approach (“just let people decide for themselves”) is very naive at best.

Again just to be clear this has nothing to do with the UK thing which I strongly disagree with.

Knives help you cook delicious food, knives can also help you stab your partner to death. This doesn't mean knives should be banned (though, ironically enough, the UK believes otherwise).

Different technologies are in different places on the "societal usefullness versus danger" spectrum. Nuclear weapons are obviously on the "really fricking dangerous" side, no country lets a civilian own them. Forks are obviously on the "useful" side, even though you can technically use one to gouge somebody's eye out.

What's the right tradeoff for guns, printing presses, typewriters and social media companies is a matter of some debate.

> This doesn't mean knives should be banned (though, ironically enough, the UK believes otherwise).

No it doesn’t. I can easily go to any number of local shops and buy a knife without any hassle.

You do however have to undergo age verification, but under a much less intrusive process than online (a shop assistant looks at you and guesses, or looks at your ID and does not retain a copy).

Same as buying alcohol or a child ticket on the bus or an old age discount

The Us has even higher limits - many things are banned to many adults. Alcohol, lottery tickets etc.

> The Us has even higher limits - many things are banned to many adults. Alcohol, lottery tickets etc.

Not trying to start an argument, because I could indeed be missing some crucial info here, but what kind of adults aren't allowed to purchase alcohol or lottery tickets in the US?

The most scrutiny I ever got while attempting to purchase either alcohol or lottery tickets in the US was the establishment's employee glancing at my ID (and even that happens less than 1/5 of the time for me).

Much the same way that no one will stop you from buying a knife if you have ID in the UK.

I mean, sure, I never disputed that (because I have zero idea how difficult it is to buy a knife in the UK, and I’ve never even said anything about knives).

My question was about the stricter limits on purchasing alcohol or lottery tickets in the US (which were brought up in the comment I originally replied to), because that was the first time I heard about that. I was curious what those alluded-to limits were, and I still have zero idea.

Bars in the US routinely ID people who are obviously over the age of 21. And then they get weird about foreign passports because...well, because America, I guess. I've sometimes been refused entry despite being clearly over 21 and having my passport with me (or, absurdly, been asked to show another ID, as if a passport wasn't sufficient for buying a beer). Attitudes to IDing people for alcohol are much more pragmatic in the UK.