In a well-intentioned yet dangerous move to fight online fraud, France is on the verge of forcing browsers to create a dystopian technical capability. Article 6 (para II and III) of the SREN Bill would force browser providers to create the means to mandatorily block websites present on a government provided list.

I don’t agree that it’s “well-intentioned” at all but the article goes on to point out the potential for abuse by copyright holders.

cross-posted from: https://radiation.party/post/64123

[ comments | sourced from HackerNews ]

  • acastcandream@beehaw.orgEnglish
    31·
    11 months ago

    Never underestimate a government’s creativity when it comes to stifling your rights. See: the list of states now requiring an ID to browse porn.

      • acastcandream@beehaw.orgEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        You have to consider how wide the net is, which includes people caught in it who are barely comfortable adjusting the volume on their computer. VPN’s are not super commonplace (yet), most people don’t have them than do. Then you have to be sure it’s working properly, or that it’s even a legit one, as some really do not protect your traffic at all and are the network equivalent of a placebo.

        Besides, even if everyone had one, it’s ridiculous for us to sit back and accept that status quo. I don’t want to feel like I need to constantly cover my tracks every time I open a browser.

      • acastcandream@beehaw.orgEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        That’s fine, but you have to understand the chilling effect this has, as well as how if people don’t push back it tells the government “why stop there?”

        I do not like slippery slope arguments generally, but in this case, they are clearly getting away at the state level with requiring IDs to browse websites. There’s no reason to believe it will stop at porn.