<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>mananaysiempre</author><text>As a Russian student studying in Paris, it was a &lt;i&gt;terrifying&lt;/i&gt; realization that the mayor can, apparently, prohibit any and all mass protests by simply issuing a decree, no higher authority needed. (This was in 2018 IIRC.) This is apparently part of the anti-terrorist law or something? I dunno, and nobody seemed to care except for the participants of the protests that were happening at the time.&lt;p&gt;Compared to the constant, unceasing reminders by Russian activists that the &lt;i&gt;de facto&lt;/i&gt; prohibition on protests in Russia is a legal sham and the actual thing would require the president declaring a state of emergency (that only happened in 2022 and then not fully), the silence in an established democractic society was deafening.&lt;p&gt;The tired “freeze peach” responses on HN evoke similar feelings, as do the “private businesses can deny anything to anyone”. (Never seen a less-than-loyal artist’s concert cancelled the day before because the venue received a suggestion—not a command, mind you, a &lt;i&gt;suggestion&lt;/i&gt;—from a city official’s phone? Have I got news for you.)</text><parent_chain><item><author>seydor</author><text>I &amp;#x27;m actually shocked that people are OK with that. People in countries that have had dictatorships recently probably remember that. Snitches everywhere, the police raiding houses again and again for no reason, with no recourse and people were just accepting it.</text></item><item><author>dahwolf</author><text>Software is flexible which seems to result in our human rights being equally flexible.&lt;p&gt;Imagine the police regularly raiding your apartment without announcement. The post office opening all your mail. Storage box companies searching your unit.&lt;p&gt;You wouldn&amp;#x27;t be OK with that. You&amp;#x27;re innocent until proven guilty and a search requires a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing and an approved warrant. Private communication is private and absolutely nobody else&amp;#x27;s business. It&amp;#x27;s a crime to open somebody&amp;#x27;s mail.&lt;p&gt;In the digital domain, we&amp;#x27;re fine with all of these illegal searches, either we don&amp;#x27;t even know they happen or we do know yet let it pass, as it feels &amp;quot;invisible&amp;quot; and not intrusive. Plus, you&amp;#x27;re a standup citizen so all is good.&lt;p&gt;And that&amp;#x27;s how one day you end up as a bankrupted outcast for having insulted the king.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>EU Commission doesn&apos;t understand what&apos;s written in its own chat control bill</title><url>https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2023/3/28/the-european-commission-does-not-understand-what-is-written-in-its-own-chat-control-bill/</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>waboremo</author><text>Many struggle understanding consequences unless it&amp;#x27;s happening directly to them at that very moment. Until then, the problem ceases to exist for them.</text><parent_chain><item><author>seydor</author><text>I &amp;#x27;m actually shocked that people are OK with that. People in countries that have had dictatorships recently probably remember that. Snitches everywhere, the police raiding houses again and again for no reason, with no recourse and people were just accepting it.</text></item><item><author>dahwolf</author><text>Software is flexible which seems to result in our human rights being equally flexible.&lt;p&gt;Imagine the police regularly raiding your apartment without announcement. The post office opening all your mail. Storage box companies searching your unit.&lt;p&gt;You wouldn&amp;#x27;t be OK with that. You&amp;#x27;re innocent until proven guilty and a search requires a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing and an approved warrant. Private communication is private and absolutely nobody else&amp;#x27;s business. It&amp;#x27;s a crime to open somebody&amp;#x27;s mail.&lt;p&gt;In the digital domain, we&amp;#x27;re fine with all of these illegal searches, either we don&amp;#x27;t even know they happen or we do know yet let it pass, as it feels &amp;quot;invisible&amp;quot; and not intrusive. Plus, you&amp;#x27;re a standup citizen so all is good.&lt;p&gt;And that&amp;#x27;s how one day you end up as a bankrupted outcast for having insulted the king.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>EU Commission doesn&apos;t understand what&apos;s written in its own chat control bill</title><url>https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2023/3/28/the-european-commission-does-not-understand-what-is-written-in-its-own-chat-control-bill/</url></story>