[cedws]

That's exactly what pisses me off about it. The government could have at least devised a technical solution to verify the age of people privately. Data breaches happen all the time, do they just not care about the consequences when millions of peoples' porn watching habits are inevitably leaked?

[progbits]

Because that's their goal. Make you scared about using things that are even legal but private/embarrassing.

[Telemakhos]

It's a great first step toward making criticism of the government scary. Porn, hate speech, and other "legal but private/embarrassing" speech are the sharp end of the spear. When it's okay to restrict those, it becomes more easier to restrict political opposition.

[berdario]

Bland protest speech is already going to see you arrested under the Terrorism Act, we are way past a "first step".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/23/private-eye-ca...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/17/armed-police-t...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/05/palestine-ac...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_vL-LpB0L5QrVYz0dgvpWEqN...

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/uk-palestine...

https://www.aljazeera.com/video/inside-story/2025/7/21/what-...

Note that, while the proscribed group spray painted war planes, they also disbanded (and regrouped under different names?) immediately after their appeal against proscription failed.

The only people who are getting arrested now, are those who are expressing support for the group (so: speech only, no action besides showing up)

[astrange]

Nobody in the UK cares about "criticism of the government". That's a paranoid concept that only makes sense in a presidential system like the US.

In Westminster systems you can kick out the government all you want and often do. The point of the constitutional monarchy is to separate the people you "shouldn't criticize" from the people who actually have any power.

The reason they're doing this is that British people hate themselves, hate their children, and the purpose of the country is to take everyone's money and give it to pensioners.

[msla]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/queen-dies-protesters-arrest...

> A man who was arrested by police in England for asking who elected King Charles III says he’s worried that his arrest could have a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression in the country.

[astrange]

That's my point. King Charles isn't the government. Nobody thinks he is either.

Keir Starmer is "the government" if you want someone. And he's at 27% popularity.

[msla]

"The king of a country is not connected to that country's government" is a kind of hair-splitting I really, truly cannot abide.

[immibis]

Hate speech is only "legal but embarrassing" in the USA. Almost everywhere else it's illegal.

[nxm]

And therefore no where else does one actually have free speech

[immibis]

Nowhere but the USA has free speech extremism.

[tim333]

It's to reduce kids exposure to porn and the like. Does it really matter if it can be hacked?

In the old days the put the porno mags on the top shelf so kids couldn't read them. That was hackable too but it didn't matter much.

[mindslight]

Personally I'd rather my kid discover porn sites with cleartext(S) browsing, so I can be aware of the development and have a talk. Then later I can teach them how to use VPNs, TOR, and other secure protocols to eek out some freedom from this digital prison that Surveillance Valley has built for us.