Comment by throw123xz a day ago
Using what seems to be a misconfiguration of a network feature to support the opinion that the UK has no privacy is a bit weird. Not only other networks don't seem to have the same issue, but companies and people screw up sometimes.
Also, is that Nigel Farage the same one of Brexit fame? The one who ran away when Brexit turned out to be different from what he and his party promised? That guy is going to save UK's privacy and freedom? lol.
From my experience with the US IC, they "encourage" industry to "leak" data to their advantage. This example stinks of exactly the same tactic.
Could be, but considering that you have some police/government departments/public entities using this provider, it wouldn't be wise to leak their own data to everyone in the open like this.
On a side note, it's not the first time I've read a comment like the one you left above here on HN. As someone that lives in the UK, there seems to be a disconnection between what you guys write and what I see and experience daily. You make it look like no one can say anything or that this is a war zone... Don't take this the wrong way, but I recommend checking other news sources too because your view of the UK seems to be a bit "distorted".
The strategy is a bit more complex than you assume. The "accidental" leak of information in this case will now be "fixed" because a researcher discovered and disclosed it. Plausible deniability is maintained. It's unlikely that any "bad actors" were tracking police/government entities with this exploit, because if they had been, their own communications would have revealed their activity to the surveillance state, and they would have been subject to raid and arrest.
What you see and experience daily is probably not much different than your average citizen of the P.R.C. They're also happy to go about their daily lives living in a surveillance state, with lower crime rates than yours, and similar unchecked governmental powers.
But in the PRC it's illegal to say you don't like the government, while in the UK it's illegal to say you're going to blow up a mosque because Muslims are rats.
Yes, in every country (including the USA) (excluding North Korea because it doesn't have social media) it's possible to get arrested based on a social media post. However, that's overly reductive. Has anyone paid attention to which posts get people arrested? No, because that wouldn't make the UK look nearly as evil as the people saying this stuff want it to look.
Lots of these incels are surprised that the UK has different free speech laws to the US and are outraged that posting incendiary things on social media (racist violence-inciting anti-migrant comments) can lead to a visit from the police, arrest, and conviction...
Their genius is thinking posting things in public is related to "privacy"...