It's a fair question. To me, it's a positive thing to criticize the decline of civil liberties in one country, but a negative thing to respond to that criticism with a "at least we're better than another country" flame. It's not productive at all to play the "my country is less bad than yours" game.

> It's a fair question. To me, it's a positive thing to criticize the decline of civil liberties in one country, but a negative thing to respond to that criticism with a "at least we're better than another country" flame.

The OP's comment was clearly a flame of precisely that sort. It wasn't making any constructive commentary on civil liberties issues, just asking a dumb and inflammatory rhetorical question.

I suggest that the only reason you find the OP less offensive than the reply is that you're American and not British. If our internet laws are fair game for criticism, I think your (crazy) alcohol laws and health system must be too :)

Also, what makes you so sure that civil liberties have been "declining" in the UK? There have been steps forward as well as steps back, I don't see any justification for overall pessimism.

And if there were an HN article about American alcohol and health care policies, I'd criticize them along with you.

The OP wasn't a good comment either, but the response was even worse, which is another way of saying "internet flamewars escalate".

But it was the OP who broadened the topic of discussion by asking if there were "any" freedoms left in Britain. That naturally invites comparisons outside the area of copyright law.

>especially when you're doing it in a dishonest attempt to make British law seem better.

I don't think he was trying to make British copyright law seem better; at least, I didn't read that into the post.

Indeed, both the UK and USA have serious flaws. As do all other countries, I imagine.

But on a wider scale, they are both also some of the most successful and free countries that have ever existed, and clearly have better human rights records than, for example, Northn Korea, Sudan or Zimbabwe.