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A comment on UK government’s plans to regulate the internet are a threat to free speech. Parent comment

Re:UK government’s plans to regulate the internet are a thre... by HarryHirsch on Thursday September 17, 2020 @11:14AM (#24505632)
There's an analogy to campaign reform. Individuals can choose to bribe politicians, and the politicians can choose to accept the cash and otherwise not modify their voting behaviour.

Yet in the real world we can see what Citizend United actualy did.

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Re:UK government’s plans to regulate the internet are a thre... by unishark on Thursday September 17, 2020 @11:08PM (#24512582)
Technically it remains illegal to bribe politicians. More of them get busted every year.

Citizens United was about campaigning for them independently. Something that was already legal for individuals to do.

I agree second order effects are a problem, but this is widespread in govt (e.g. they buy votes with some narrowly-defined program like govt employee pensions or local pork spending). Maybe the problem is that the power and wealth that comes with being elected is too attractive, and is what we need to somehow fix.

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