Comment

Comment on Honest Government Ad | Social Media Ban

I understand that I’m making a slippery slope argument, a fallacy in itself.

I just don’t trust that the purpose of this legislation is what it says on the tin because it’ll never achieve it’s stated aim, it’ll just teach a whole generation how to break the law.

And having failed, will the government stop?
No, they’ll try to ban VPNs, or something else equally vacuous.

source

Sort:hotnew top

Zagorath@aussie.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

I just don’t trust that the purpose of this legislation is what it says on the tin because it’ll never achieve it’s stated aim

IMO the actual unstated aim is much simpler: win good PR by saying they’re doing something, while upsetting big tech as little as possible.

they’ll try to ban VPNs

Doubtful. It’s being tried by some of the most extreme states in America, but even there it’s unlikely to go very far. It’s just not a practical option. That big tech they’re trying not to upset? They won’t like this. Businesses use VPNs all the time.

source
- Mountaineer@aussie.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  The Australian government isn’t scared to piss off Big Tech when it suits them.
  
  The ASSISTANCE AND ACCESS ACT 2018 lead to some people I know being given the option of quitting or relocating to somewhere that the Australian government couldn’t do THAT.
  
  It’s certainly an extra factor when deciding to offshore development teams here.
  
  As a “great” man once said:
  
  “The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia,”
  
  source
  - Zagorath@aussie.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I think the concerning problem is…big tech isn’t actually too concerned about that Act. For starters, there was a little misinformation going on about it at the time it was being discussed. This page is useful. A lot of it is wishy-washy apologia that should be ignored, but the section entitled “This law can compel employees to work in secret without the knowledge of their organisation” is specific and valuable. It notes that unlike the information that was going around at the time, the law can not compel specific individual employees to insert backdoors into their employer’s software.
    
    We’ve also seen pretty clearly that big tech has no problem supporting authoritarian governments, as long as it doesn’t directly undermine their bottom line. With a fairly minimal amount of dev time required to comply with this sort of law, it’s not something that’s going to concern them.
    
    But VPNs are necessary for them to get their work done. Businesses of all sizes use them daily.
    
    source