Brickbats

Brickbat: See No Evil

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United Kingdom Home Secretary Amber Rudd has called for a law that would criminalize reading "terrorist content" online, including "jihadi websites" and "far right propaganda." Those convicted under the law would face up to 15 years in prison.

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Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

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  1. “The defendant is hereby convicted of having deliberately, and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions, sought out and read an article written by Bret Stephens, a known Neo-Nazi sympathizer, gun ownership advocate and racialist provocateur who has been classified as a member of multiple hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The sentence, under the newly expanded auspices of the First Name Of Female Victim Of Recent Terrorist Attack Act, is death.”

    1. Quo Usque Tandem

      You know, I don’t think that scenario is much of a stretch, at all. Seems to be what was formerly known as Western Civilization is moving toward.

      1. Don’t be a paranoid right-winger- it won’t be a DEATH sentence IRL: that would be crazy! Nah, it’ll just be 30 years without parole.

  2. They should also ban the patronizing of politicians who propose laws while ignorant of how the internet works.

    1. Mickey Rat

      Bring back tbe headsman as the penalty.

  3. buybuydandavis

    The EU Marxists imported Islamic terror to rationalize implementation of a police state to crack down on their political opponents.

    1. Because that’s the first thing I think of when I think about the EU’s leadership… people who plan ahead.

      1. Radioactive

        shit buddy, they can’t get it right even in hindsight…

  4. Rat on a train

    Commenting without reading is still allowed.

    1. Inigo Montoya

      Not really. Unless/until they use webcams to track your eye movements, they will know if a site was accessed, for how long a page was open, and where you clicked around. If you leave a window open, they don’t know if you got up and did something else in that time. Have you never in your life borrowed a book from the library but not actually reading it?

    2. some guy

      Commenting without reading is required.

    3. Microaggressor

      Hit & Run should be safe, then.

      Reason is, after all, far-right propaganda.

  5. Bra Ket

    Next step is for the govt to create the terrorist websites to bust them with.

    1. Inigo Montoya

      Why not? Didn’t it come out that they do that with kiddie porn and dark web drug-buying sites? I’m sure their rationale is that they can’t make an omelet without cracking some eggs, or maybe just FYTW.

      1. Radioactive

        actually if you shrink cooking operatives and the tiny tiny kitchens (developed in secret gummint labs) they can be inserted into the eggs, thereby allowing an omelet to be made without breaking the egg…ipso facto!

        1. Roger the Shrubber

          Yes, but I’d like to make my omelette AND eat it, too.

          1. Radioactive

            fucking cannibal…

    2. some guy

      Isn’t the FBI already doing that?

  6. some guy

    Of course, certain public servants would get a pass in order to protect us. And trusted members of the media could apply for a license to view these sites for reporting purposes…

    1. Quo Usque Tandem

      Seems you need to learn how to respect your betters…

  7. Inigo Montoya

    Reading the linked article, there is zero mention of far left sites. So no Fahrenheit 451 treatment for that brand of wrong-think.

    In Russ’s estimation, the far right – which killed some 20 million in the last century – is a serious threat, but the far left, which killed some 100 million – gets a total pass. Wow.

  8. Cy

    “The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.” *How do we know that the history we are taught is the truth? If people so powerful tampered with facts, we would not even perceive that these “facts” are untrue. How do we know that what we’ve been taught is not a lie? Question everything.*

    -1984

    1. Remember the book’s ending.

      1. some guy

        Something about caring for an older sibling, right?

  9. Britain Is becoming more or a farce everyday.

  10. “Of a farce”, dammit.

  11. Radioactive

    thought it was more or less…

  12. SRVolunteer

    In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, I found a message board filled with wannabe western Jihadi types and used to concern troll them:

    “If the Jews are the ones who who planted the explosives that actually destroyed the Twin Towers and ALSO Osama Bin Laden is a hero for striking a vigorous blow the US, are we saying that Bin Laden is a heroic dupe of the Jews? The Zionists tricked those brothers into framing themselves for those crimes?”

    Under this law a UK citizen who did the same thing would be a criminal?

    1. Quo Usque Tandem

      I believe that would be at the government’s discretion. An effective way to keep the plebes in line.

  13. CE

    Oh boy…. there goes Reason, Lew Rockwell, WorldNetDaily, The Libertarian Enterprise, etc. Now you’re not just on a watch list for visiting, you’re a criminal….

  14. Idiocracy

    “The laws of Australia will trump the laws of mathematics: Turnbull.

    Despite calling the laws of mathematics ‘commendable’, the prime minister of Australia told ZDNet the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia when it comes to legislating decryption. Jul 14, 2017”

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