There's also, importantly, a distinction between what are told we can no longer use, and what can actually be taken away.

Open source and open hardware can be called illegal by a government, but, if we collectively invest our energy into open alternatives, they can't be taken away in the same sense. I can build a RepRap printer and I can use a local AI model. It's on all of us to make sure that the open alternatives are viable, maybe in the current global political reality now more than ever.

Making something illegal isn't a disincentive for everyone. When they start banning books, some of us start assembling printing presses.

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echoangle 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Believe me, if the government wants to stop you from having access to something like that, they could do it. Just give people some incentive to report you and make really harsh punishments and everyone will be thinking really hard about how bad they want have access.

	▲	Zetaphor an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Because that has worked so well for: * Drugs * Media piracy * Alcohol * Sex work * Unlicensed gambling The government is not an all powerful entity with absolute control over its people. Even in countries under past and present dictatorship there are examples of people getting access to what the government deemed as illegal.
	▲	dvngnt_ 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		They can stop piracy or child predators. what makes you think they can prevent access to running models that require no internet access to run
	▲	anticorporate 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Well, sure. The same could be said of any freedom they want to take away. The responsibility is on us to preserve those freedoms. Free software, open hardware, right to repair, privacy tools, etc. will all be the weapons of the people in the fight against totalitarianism.
	▲	bijowo1676 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		the government is not God, they cant do much beyond declaring anything bad. It is on people to realize we have the ultimate power and oppose the overreach of government in all ways we can to keep our freedoms. Freedom is not free, after all
	▲	danny_codes 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Fortunately we have both a democracy and a constitution, making those sorts of things hard for the government to do.