If we want to base the argument on technical nuance, 4chan are sending their packets to the U.K. just as the cocaine dealer would be sending packets (of cocaine) to their buyers in the U.K.

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oliwarner 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They're replying to an externally-established connection. The packets they're sending are going to a local router.

If you posted cocaine from your cocaine-legal country to an address where it was illegal, and you followed all the regular customs labelling rules, I'm not sure you should be liable. And you shouldn't be extradited either. Even the UK demands that extradition offences would have been criminal had they been committed in the UK. Now I'm sure in practice, you'd find yourself in trouble immediately but I don't think it's fair.

The ramifications of laws like this is everyone needs to be Geo-IP check every request, adhere to every local law. It's not the Internet we signed up for.

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falcor84 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I would strongly disagree with that, in the sense of the layer of communication that 4chan operate at. I would argue that 4chan aren't sending packets to the UK any more than I'm currently sending my keystrokes to wherever you are reading this from - these actions are performed at a different layer.

If the UK wants to block packets from across the pond, they should (but I hope they don't) do it via a Great Firewall, rather than expecting random foreign websites to do it for them.

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Ajedi32 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This isn't a physical product. A better analogy would be a phone call, initiated by someone in the UK to a foreign country.

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strideashort 5 hours ago | parent [-]

What if I send http request over snail mail? And they send me back printed http/html response?

Is it “different” then?

Being serious here.

	▲	saaaaaam 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think (but am not sure) that there are long established postal laws in most territories about sending “obscene” material through the mail. I think this was used to prosecute pornography publishers in earlier times. BUT you needed to (a) intercept mail and (b) have a good reason and (c) get a warrant to open (interfere with) that mail. Possessing pornography was a separate issue which may or may not be allowed. Typically (I think) authorities went after publishers not consumers - because they were easier targets to pin down. Which would seem to imply that if you’re sending encrypted traffic at the request of a recipient the as a publisher of “obscene” material then unless you are delivering very clearly illegal content to a user then you should not prosecuted. I haven’t got a single source for anything I’m saying, so I might be entirely wrong - I’m simply going off half-remembered barely-facts. So please do argue with me!

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tyho 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

4chan send their packets to their ISP, not the UK.

	▲	3rodents 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The destination of the packet where it is sent, just as a toy sent from the U.S. to a customer in the U.K. is sent to the U.K. rather than the local Fedex store.
	▲	2postsperday 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I don't think this holds up, at least not with the "kids toys" example. Aliexpress only sends the toys to the Fedx or whatever shipping partners UK uses.
	▲	6 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		[deleted]
	▲	strideashort 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		not at all, 4chan only sends packets to their isp!

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estimator7292 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The user mails you a box with a note that says "1kg of 4chan packets pls", and a prepaid return label to an address local to you. You put the packets in the box and kick it down the street to its "destination". Job done as far as you know.

The place you sent the box then repacks it and mails it to the UK. Somehow the UK thinks that you and only you have broken the law.

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IshKebab 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Not actually how TCP/IP works though.

	▲	strken 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Can you elaborate? The metaphor is a good description of how a VPN works, if not plain old TCP/IP.