The title of this post has two senses: one connotes becoming free of the shackles of restrictions. While the other is becoming free because of restrictions. Needless to say, it is the latter that this post is talking about.

A society with more number of restrictions and regulations is not necessarily a less “free” society.
The misconception arises when we define Freedom, Liberty et al by the absence of restrictions, whereas we should define it by the presence of the ability to do things.

For example, there are so many more restrictions for living in an urban society – traffic laws, house laws this law that law. Yet people prefer that to a rustic middle-of-the-forest life where there are no restrictions. That is because they have the ability to do “more” things, not less, in the urban society. In that sense, it is a more “free” society. This has important ramifications for the libertarian agenda: the ability to do more things shall frequently have to come with an increase in restrictions if one lives in an interconnected society.