Was contracted to a New Zealand government department and all the Edge browsers had AdBlock installed by default. I guess the New Zealand government that I worked for is a terrorist organisation. The department that I worked for did take other peoples money though. (Won't give any more information than that).
I wonder what danger there is in over-classifying terrorism.
If someone, as a purely theoretical example, feels as if they fall under various 'modern' classifications of terrorist, then it could break down certain walls of reasoning preventing them from participating in activities that would fall under the 'historic' classification of terrorist.
What I'm saying is: Any government that's over-using the term is (potentially) actively participating in the radicalisation of a portion of their constituency.
And that is a dead-fucking-wrong approach; 180 degrees away from the correct heading. Gross negligence.
Statements like this are always funny to me. So I'm a terrorist/extremist for not wanting ads to be pushed in my face. I guess I am then. I'd rather adopt a label like that than give up what uBlock and the like have given me.
But what are then the people making the ads? In my head they are litterers, as they fill the public space with unwanted rubbish. But if I'm a terrorist, then these guys have to be on a whole other level. I sometimes think maybe 'rapists' is a suitable word, since they sure as fuck don't care about my consent when they push their rubbish on me. But in the worldview of the people who think I'm a terrorist for using uBlock, things are probably just all back to front.
Incidentally, Youtube does not work for me any more with uBlock Origin and whatever the strict privacy settings do in Firefox. It loads the UI but doesn't play the video or run searches, at least.
This is the kind of stories where I would like another angle.
First, to make things straight, neither Signal nor AdBlock are illegal in France, they are used by many without any problem. As in some other countries E2E encryption is sometimes attacked, and usually, it makes the news, but for now there is no problem using any privacy-focused app in France.
But, and I think it is what happened here, there is nothing stopping a prosecutor mentioning the use of such apps when making an argument in combination with other facts. It is like the use of cash. It is not illegal to use cash and possess large amounts of it (there are limits for large transactions though), but a prosecutor will certainly mention it if they can and it makes you more suspicious to justify an arrest. Not a conviction though, for a conviction, you need actual proof.
And of course, the defense attorney will point out the many legitimate uses of Signal as a way to discredit the accusation, this is the side we have here. A judge will hear both sides and settle the case in the end.
Not to say that there are not deeper political motivations, or that justice can't be corrupted, but I prefer not to make an opinion without hearing both sides.
14 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 39.1 ms ] threadSeems a modern problem is the significant watering down of what "terrorist" means. If blocking ads has become three measure of a terrorist:
If everyone's a terrorist... No one is.
The word no longer has any meaning. Eventually there will be two labels to apply to everyone: "corporate sheep" and "terrorist".
In which case I will always strive towards terrorist.
WTF is going on with France?
Another fun one: Signal is the No. 1 downloaded app in the Netherlands. But why? | TechCrunch, from March 2 2025
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41483581
[2] https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/1j38sgw/signal_is_t...
Apparently not anymore. Unless there's a different, working URL.
If someone, as a purely theoretical example, feels as if they fall under various 'modern' classifications of terrorist, then it could break down certain walls of reasoning preventing them from participating in activities that would fall under the 'historic' classification of terrorist.
What I'm saying is: Any government that's over-using the term is (potentially) actively participating in the radicalisation of a portion of their constituency.
And that is a dead-fucking-wrong approach; 180 degrees away from the correct heading. Gross negligence.
But what are then the people making the ads? In my head they are litterers, as they fill the public space with unwanted rubbish. But if I'm a terrorist, then these guys have to be on a whole other level. I sometimes think maybe 'rapists' is a suitable word, since they sure as fuck don't care about my consent when they push their rubbish on me. But in the worldview of the people who think I'm a terrorist for using uBlock, things are probably just all back to front.
Up is down, left is right.
First, to make things straight, neither Signal nor AdBlock are illegal in France, they are used by many without any problem. As in some other countries E2E encryption is sometimes attacked, and usually, it makes the news, but for now there is no problem using any privacy-focused app in France.
But, and I think it is what happened here, there is nothing stopping a prosecutor mentioning the use of such apps when making an argument in combination with other facts. It is like the use of cash. It is not illegal to use cash and possess large amounts of it (there are limits for large transactions though), but a prosecutor will certainly mention it if they can and it makes you more suspicious to justify an arrest. Not a conviction though, for a conviction, you need actual proof.
And of course, the defense attorney will point out the many legitimate uses of Signal as a way to discredit the accusation, this is the side we have here. A judge will hear both sides and settle the case in the end.
Not to say that there are not deeper political motivations, or that justice can't be corrupted, but I prefer not to make an opinion without hearing both sides.