this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
619 points (98.9% liked)

Technology

73254 readers
4496 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The proposed update to Switzerland’s Ordinance on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (VÜPF: Verordnung über die Überwachung des Post- und Fernmeldeverkehrs) represents a significant expansion of state surveillance powers, worse than the surveillance powers of the USA. If enacted, it would have serious consequences for encrypted services such as Threema, an encrypted WhatsApp alternative and Proton Mail as well as VPN providers based in Switzerland.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

So. Switzerland doesn't really have fully direct democracy in the necessary sense.

Yes, it's half-direct, who said otherwise? Fully direct on a Nation state level would maybe be possible now with the Internet.
But we can still overrule them, while germans get tired of their politicians lying on elections and doing what they want. Doesn't mean they don't try here.

But yeah, this system has it's weaknesses with complicated or emotional topics. But then again, we are all humans.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Fully direct on a Nation state level would maybe be possible now with the Internet.

That's my point. It might seem dangerous to rely on the Internet for such basic matters, but it's already being used to great effect to undermine all democracies. So there's no choice, it's like an arms race. (Still, probably for elections it'd make sense to have a countrywide parallel intranet, so that someone's error in setting up a BGP router wouldn't disrupt it.).

But yeah, this system has it’s weaknesses with complicated or emotional topics. But then again, we are all humans.

That's the other side of the problem - modern easiness of propaganda.

OK, I live in Russia, just rather sad to see how many other countries are slowly drifting in the same regrettable unsavory direction.