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A comment on Stop the proposal on mass surveillance of the EU. Parent comment

Re:Stop the proposal on mass surveillance of the EU by kragen on Thursday February 02, 2023 @10:18AM (#34627672)
uber cab is not especially enjoyable, and the legal alternatives (for riders) include taxis and remises (not to mention buses, trains, bicycles, private cars, private motorcycles, and electric scooters; buenos aires is pretty dense and public transport is pretty good)

uber was just better

the legal alternative to pirating games was to buy them, geez

the legal alternative to gay sex was heterosexual sex, which many people actually preferred; possibly you haven't heard, but it's a more popular alternative even today

you're right about heroin and meth though, so, one out of four i guess

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Re:Stop the proposal on mass surveillance of the EU by deedree on Thursday February 02, 2023 @10:34AM (#34627968)
Did you forget about alcohol, nicotine, caffeine? Totally legal addictive alternatives.
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Re:Stop the proposal on mass surveillance of the EU by kragen on Thursday February 02, 2023 @10:38AM (#34628038)
arguably caffeine and alcohol are even less adequate as a replacement for heroin than a bicycle is as a replacement for uber cab

i mean if the objective is just 'euphoria' (as opposed to avoiding opiate withdrawal or having a 60-hour-long orgy) there are a lot of ways you can get it: hyperventilation, falling in love, roller coasters, exercise, praying, etc., and i thought about saying this, but i think that this really is a pretty weak counterargument to dtech's claim that heroin and meth have no legal alternatives; they're pretty much right about that

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Stop the proposal on mass surveillance of the EU by dtech on Thursday February 02, 2023 @02:59PM (#34632184)
Only Uber had an alternative, the rest you either didn't address or are incorrect

> the legal alternative to gay sex was heterosexual sex

Unless you're subscribing to a unscientific "people choose to be gay" philosophy, having sex with a gender you're not attracted to is not at all an alternative.

> the legal alternative to pirating games was to buy them

You mentioned surviving today, currently a lot of those games cannot be bought legally, which is what I meant with no alternative. Back then also a lot of people didn't pirate, and a lot of people who did did so because they had little money. I would count that situation as having no available alternative.

We were discussing a hypothetical chat application which currently are offered for free, so money is not an issue there.

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