Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jaykru 264 days ago
another day, another example of why we must all vigorously reject the campaign to stop users from installing software on their computers. stallman was right!
1 comments

Not to refute your point, but a trivial enough thing to create as a web site. I'm guessing that will come next (if one doesn't already exist).
I guess the developers will need to learn HTML+CSS and self host this app on a Russian server. Will be good to showcase the freedom of the web!

I am going to use this news to hit every lemming in the face - those who claim corpo-controlled walled gardens are good for you and grandma.

I’m not sure who you’re expecting to convert. Most people- thinking of people like my parents- think any app that hinders police must be a bad thing.

The idea that something like ICEBlock is benevolent and doesn’t make the user a criminal by association just doesn’t register.

Surely an app designed to help circumvent the law is a bad thing, even if it doesn't make one legally a criminal merely by association?
Why is that a bad thing? Was the Underground Railroad a bad thing?
In a society with rule of law, it is generally understood that adhering to laws, even ones you don't personally like, is a good thing; and that it would be a bad thing to pick and choose which laws to follow and enforce.

I suppose you're making the argument that current US immigration law is unjust and immoral to begin with and therefore should be actively circumvented?

In the norms of its time, I am sure many thought it was a bad thing. Slave owners, certainly.

It’s only looking at it through today’s drastically different norms that it’s an obviously good thing.

> Surely an app designed to help circumvent the law is a bad thing, even if it doesn't make one legally a criminal merely by association?

Much like Miranda rights. Surely outright informing people in custody they have the right to remain silent is a bad thing, right? Actually, thinking about it now, there's a whole lot of things people have the right to do that make enforcing the law way harder than it needs to be.

Or maybe it's more important to maintain your rights as a human being and citizen, especially in the face of an overreaching executive branch willing to justify anything in order to overreach a little more.

Only if subjectively cherry picking. VPN apps "help circumvent the law", I wouldn't call them a bad thing
VPNs can serve a legitimate purpose, like shielding your traffic while using a public network. Seems to me the better technology analogue to ICEBlock is The Pirate Bay; maybe there's some flimsy pretext of it being used for a legitimate purpose, and maybe it's not outright illegal, but everyone knows that it's almost always used for an illegal purpose.
Depends on the law and how it's enforced. You could argue the current status-quo is law breaking by law enforcement, so circumventing them is enforcing the law.
With that attitude in 1775-76, the US wouldn't have won independence. Would you tug your forelock (and empty your purse) and Kneel to the King ?
I assume your point is that not all laws are just only by virtue of being laws. I agree with this. And of course, not all lawbreaking is equal in severity. We all can tell that jaywalking is not the same as vehicular homicide. At the same time, we should also be able to agree that selective following and enforcement of laws is disparaging to the spirit of a nation of laws.

Do you find the current American immigration laws, and the enforcement thereof, to be unjust? Do you see it as your moral duty to abrogate them, and help others do so? If so, can you explain why?

Depends on your opinion of the law that people are circumventing.
Then the government will just force ISP DNS not to answer queries for the domain. That's how easy you can block 99% of users, which is good enough.

And eventually, when all our hardware is runs-software-and-settings-signed-by-approved-entity-only, that last 1% can't do anything about it either.

Aren't mobile apps more or less already HTML+CSS?

A basic website should be easier to write and maintain than any app, because you don't have to maintain both the server and the client.

Indeed, not sure why it wasn’t a website already!