This is something I’ve noticed on The Hard R, all over the rest of the internet, and in real life. More and more people seem to just assume that some form of expression they don’t like is illegal, or punishable by authority figures in some way.

Porn is obviously a big one. A lot of porn is controversial, but not illegal. Incest, bestiality, lolis, etc have been removed from almost all mainstream sites. Now people just assume it’s illegal to have or to look at it, but it isn’t in most of the free world.

I’ve also seen a LOT of people make various assumptions about what sort of speech must constitute hate speech, with the assumption that it’s actually required to be removed from anywhere on the internet or any public place.

It’s not even just expression though. Modify your car. Dig in your yard. Touch your own house’s plumbing or gas. Mow your lawn. Decide NOT to mow your lawn. Root/Jailbreak your phone. Access Youtube without ads through a third party app using the official API. “Are you allowed to do that?”

People seem increasingly willing to subject themselves to unofficial authority like websites, software/consumer agreements (which might not have much legal teeth beyond the option to deny service), Home Owners Associations, etc, and act like they have no idea they can just… leave. They think it’s the immutable law of the land.

  • RA2lover@burggit.moe
    2·
    1 year ago

    IMO, it depends.
    If the manufacturer has an official way to do so, regardless of how annoying (xiaomi wait times) or cripling (knox e-fuse) it is, there’s a presumption of legality involved.
    If they actively go out of the way to try to prevent it, current legislation generally gives them a path to sue, which typically results in a legal limbo. One could argue this was necessary to achieve interoperability with other software (and use, say, the reverse engineering exemptions of the DMCA), but there’s still a general notion of lawsuits being too expensive to defend against.

    • MomoNeedsCorrection@burggit.moe
      2·
      1 year ago

      but there’s still a general notion of lawsuits being too expensive to defend against

      But a bottle of vodka is only like $20 and old rags are free. Can’t be that expensive do defend a bullshit lawsuit