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What country has the best freedom of speech and data privacy laws?
For example Norway ranks highest on the freedom of speech index but how are their privacy laws?
What nation would you say is the best for freedom of speech and not sharing customer data with other nations who may have agencies that request it? In the example above it'd be pointless if Norway had the best freedom of speech laws if they just had an open door policy to Europe or American agencies wanting to know things about their customers. So I'm looking for a country that is strong in both protecting freedom of speech and also for not revealing information to others.
I'm not looking for providers because I'd colocate my own server so do not offer suggestions, just countries who fit the criteria please
edit below:
Well it's more for a service that I want to offer than for a need for me individually. I'd still be bound by the laws of my country by offering this but in doing so, nothing is illegal by that alone and I wouldn't be collecting information of use to anyone important anyway as it's not required. But I can only control what I can control.
Comments
Honestly you're very unlikely to find a country which will treat you better than where you are a citizen - unless you're somewhere on the lower end of the scale in terms of free speech & privacy.
For example, Switzerland's position on privacy is well reputed. However, it's only concrete for Swiss citizens and residents. Unless you plan on becoming one, there's a decent chance you'd be seen as fair game.
Coincidentally, this principle is also why the five/nine eyes spy on each others citizens - most countries in principle won't do blanket warrantless surveillance on their own; but they'll happily do it on others and share the knowledge.
My tl;dr on this is know your audience. If you're looking to host something mildly politically critical of your own country, pretty much any other western country is fine. If you're looking to host something that you never want tied back to yourself in any way (e.g. a political statement that could get you killed in your country) and you're worried about governments figuring it out, think again - they can figure it out if it becomes of interest to them.
I think all these freedom of speech, privacy etc are rubbish words. There is no privacy today. If they would want to take you server down, it will go down. Your freedom of speech ends where mine starts...Read about five eyes etc, however I still think it is almost impossible to run away from them.
Also, forget about Norway, Switzerland. It is just a fairy tail.
There's no freedom of speech. It's a mith. You can't say out loud you don't like gays or divorced women with kids, even if you really don't like them. If you say that, you'll be criticized by the society, you can even be fired for your opinion. It's a simple example, but a good one to understand and stop looking for a thing that doesn't exist.
Speaking of countries... Read about the 5/9/14 eyes countries first.
So just avoid business with:
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
United Kingdom
United States
Denmark
France
Netherlands
Norway
Germany
Belgium
Italy
Sweden
Spain
That still leaves countries such as: Finland, Costa Rica, Iceland, Estonia, Jamaica, Uruguay, South Africa, and some other places. Still higher PFI than the United States.
Freedom of speech is also freedom to criticize. You can't say something controversial and have the state defend you from criticism. That's literally the antithesis of freedom of speech. If others don't have the freedom of speech necessary to criticize you, then freedom of speech doesn't exist.
OP is looking for a country and hosts that won't shut their website down if people get upset at what OP has to say. OP is not looking for a fantasy-land where they're always right.
Frankly, you have to define a threat model realistic for your situation. Generally where you’re a citizen of/perm resident has better qualifying factors than a foreigner.
I doubt you’re trying to commit espionage, and you’re probably not that high up on the governments importance list to care for, so generally it’s more about finding the host which will be willing to follow law of the land and support you as opposed to the country.
Nonetheless, always have a backup plan. If you’re that concerned, identify 3 spots in different countries (or regions of country) that you can float the content on demand over to.
Well it's more for a service that I want to offer than for a need for me individually. I'd still be bound by the laws of my country by offering this but in doing so, nothing is illegal by that alone and I wouldn't be collecting information of use to anyone important anyway as it's not required. But I can only control what I can control.
Maybe I should have mentioned that in the original post. I'll add that now.
Edit fuck up with my mobile editting
If you're thinking about hosting something even slightly controversial or even conservative thinking steer clear from Estonia. You'll get a whole shitstorm on you.
Everyone has their kinks.
China
Freedom of speech doesn't exist elsewhere, it's a manipulation. If it really existed, no one would be fired for their opinion. If you really don't like gays and for example working in such a company like Microsoft and one day you say it out loud, you definitely will be fired. Do you know Grant Napear? A well-know NBA commentator. Read how and for what he was fired. And after all of that people who say something about freedom of speech only make me smiling. Honestly saying, even before all of this I knew that FOS doesn't exist but a lot of people still believe in that mith. Tons of people.
https://xkcd.com/1357/
It would be either China or Russia.
Based on the shit that has been going on for the past 12 or 15 hours- I am led to believe that China has very good freedom of speech laws. Insults, namecalling, bullying all seen and read in LES posts since yesterday.
If there are guns in the world, there is no freedom of speech as an option.
also, if there an Internet in the world, there is no such thing as data privacy.
A popular opinion but it ignores the economic reality.
Sure, the government can't prosecute you if your views are controversial.
But if you're blacklisted by employers, practically speaking you're still censored by ruling elites. Ironically, in the US the government can't prosecute you for controversial opinions but can refuse to hire you.
To be honest, China has the best Freedom of Speech because you can criticize the entire world except the 1 party and 1 leader.
It sounds like you need a good provider, and not such much care on the location then. If you go the dedicated server option, you should encrypt your disks at rest. If you go the virtual server option, encrypting your disk won't matter (the host can extract the key in memory), as such if you care about the integrity and privacy of the data, you should go the dedicated server option where you retain full control.
There are plenty of providers that will most likely permit your content, just find ones with good reputation for not backing down when the content is legal ("Law of the Land" providers).
There are no countries exists, sorry. All there folds are the same sh*t, but some of them are worse of others.You can't rely on on any of them
Republic of Ecuador