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
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      1 year ago

      Don’t even get me started on patents. At least laws still come up slowly enough you could theoretically keep up at a federal level at the low, low cost of all of your time and sanity. Doing the same with patents has been impossible for the last ~4 decades and doesn’t protect you against things such as submarine patents.