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A comment on OnionShare makes it easy to publish anonymous, uncensorable websites. Parent comment

Re:OnionShare makes it easy to publish anonymous, uncensorab... by squarefoot on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @03:05PM (#21262386)
Exactly. A screwdriver and a file can make a deadly weapon, a piece of car tire inner tube paired with a Y-shaped piece of wood and a few bearing balls can make a slingshot capable of killing a person at distance. Bows and arrows are easy to build, and the necessary materials are easily obtainable in nature. If we restrict everything that can be used also to harm others, we'll end up needing a weapon permit just to enter a hardware store or take a walk in the park.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:OnionShare makes it easy to publish anonymous, uncensorab... by bduerst on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @04:04PM (#21263054)
The counterargument to this is always what is the tool designed to do?

- Should the layperson be allowed to own weapons-grade plutonium?

- How about being able to buy and cultivate your own anthrax cultures?

- Why shouldn't I be able to spray DDT when it's super effective?

Sure, a screwdriver is design to screw, just as fentanyl is designed to kill pain, but in the hands of a bad actors they can cause different levels of harm.

I'm not saying Onionshare is good or bad, just that you need to step back at look at any tool and consider the net potential impact if bad actors are able to exploit it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:OnionShare makes it easy to publish anonymous, uncensorab... by squarefoot on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @08:22PM (#21265671)
That's why I emphasized the "also"; one thing is a tool whose primary purpose is not to harm people but can be misused to do so, and a whole different thing is something which can only be used to hurt people or restrict their liberties.

"I'm not saying Onionshare is good or bad, just that you need to step back at look at any tool and consider the net potential impact if bad actors are able to exploit it."

True, and that's why we must think very carefully before enacting laws that make this or that tool illegal just because some criminal found a destructive use for it; there are so many things potentially dangerous in the wrong hands that blindly banning them all would either be impossible or would bring us back to stone age.

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Re:OnionShare makes it easy to publish anonymous, uncensorab... by MrStonedOne on Tuesday October 15, 2019 @07:46PM (#21265401)
No, "designed to do" and "functions it can provide" are never the same.

You shouldn't limit smart people because some OEM is stupid and didn't think up an innovative use case when deciding and designing on the intended use of a product.

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