[carlosjobim]

Maybe that's the purpose? Pushing European and global "allies" to show their cards. Some citizens will support more censorship, while some will start questioning. It's good to know where your rivals stand.

Also it is cheap, easy, non-controversial domestically in the US, and ethically coherent with American values.

[seszett]

> ethically coherent with American values

Do you mean that VPN will blur the nipples when you watch pictures of classical paintings through it?

[shaky-carrousel]

> Do you mean that VPN will blur the nipples when you watch pictures of classical paintings through it?

No, it means they will send a SWAT team to your house if you use it to download a movie.

[warkdarrior]

> Pushing European and global "allies" to show their cards. Some citizens will support more censorship, while some will start questioning. It's good to know where your rivals stand.

I don't think European countries have been shy or sneaky about their restrictions on online content.

[carlosjobim]

That's a good point.

[sp527]

> ethically coherent with American values

I'm a lifelong US citizen and burst out laughing at this. What values? What coherence?

Do you mean the NSA man-in-the-middleing all that traffic and leaving a backdoor for Mossad? Imagine the most despicable possible invasion of privacy and the most reprehensible shadow oppression and manipulation of an uneducated populace you can conjure up.

Now imagine something way worse than that. This is America.

[carlosjobim]

Freedom of speech. I didn't expect to have to spell it out.

[ta20240528]

Note that in 36 odd states in the USA companies and their officers (i.e real people) cannot boycott Israel (or even say nasty things) and then do business with the state.

By law.

So, not so much free speech.

[mikkupikku]

But if you say the American government is occupied by zionists loyal to a foreign government, that's "hate speech" and would land you in prison if not for the enduring strength of the first ammendment (which several Europeans ITT think is bad, because they think "hate speech" is bad and they lack the mental fortitude to admit that sometimes right wing meanies might actually have a valid point.)

[giva]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reprisals_against_commentators...

[krior]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exce...

[microtonal]

You mean the freedom of speech that gets you shot when you protest the gestapo?

Where critical late night shows get cancelled because a small group of Trump-aligned people control most media?

Seriously, the world is looking in amazement how all the talk about free speech and democracy was purely performative.

The US becoming Hungary (or maybe Russia).

https://rsf.org/en/index

[sp527]

Yet another illusion. A lot of Americans are very good at finding ways to persecute people for having an opinion, often using economic consequences as a cudgel to enforce groupthink. And, at this very moment, the government is compiling lists of people it regards as enemies, purely on the basis of their "free" speech.