Four weeks since the #OnlineSafetyAct has passed, #Ofcom have made their first move... https://mindsconnected.tech/index.php?showtopic=1038&view=findpost&p=8355 #internet #website #forum #onlinesafety #investigation #law #justice #tech
Online suicide forum investigated under new UK digital safety laws https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/09/online-suicide-forum-ofcom-investigation-uk-digital-safety-laws #Internetsafety #Regulators #Technology #Business #Ofcom #Media
US Troll site Kiwi Farms receives Ofcom demand for Online Safety Act “Risk Assessment”, rejects it on 1A/Jurisdiction grounds, demands MLAT
https://alecmuffett.com/article/113056
#1StAmendment #KiwiFarms #OnlineSafetyAct #cloudflare #ofcom #trolls
@gamingonlinux I've still not heard back from my MP Steve Reed, about the letter I sent to him about this.
Shower of bastards.
“I’ve just closed the forum of a small classic car club because we don’t have the time or capacity to ensure compliance with only volunteers. Meta will benefit, because we will, reluctantly, move to using a Facebook page”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/112834
#OnlineSafetyAct #ofcom
“There is something deeply wrong when a law passed with cross-party consensus & endorsed by Britain’s most trusted charities has made it impossible to run an internet forum for hamster owners”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/112832
#OnlineSafetyAct #hamsters #ofcom
#Ofcom launches investigation into #GBNews over #LGBTQ+ slur https://goodlawproject.org/ofcom-launches-investigation-into-gb-news-over-lgbtq-slur/ #GoodLawProject "launched an online tool helping the public make a complaint to Ofcom about this latest example of GB News platforming toxic rhetoric. A record 71,582 people filed complaints in this way – almost 17,000 more than the 54,595 who complained about Piers Morgan in 2021."
Wondering if this ruling will give Starmer the excuse to Trump style "chop" OFCOM...
There's still time to put pressure on the UK government.
The UK Secretary of State has the power to exempt small, safely moderated websites from the Online Safety duties.
We need urgent change to protect net plurality, rather than further consolidating power in monopoly platforms. We need competition for a safer Internet.
Write to your MP (UK) #SaveOurSites
https://action.openrightsgroup.org/save-our-sites-write-your-mp
The UK Online Safety Act comes into effect today.
Its onerous duties may cause many small sites, blogs and fedi instances to shut down or geoblock UK users when faced with potential fines and penalties.
This won't keep children safe. It'll benefit large platforms like Facebook and X that are laying waste to content moderation.
Ofcom’s risk assessment deadline has passed, and online platforms must now take action to protect users from illegal content and activity occurring on their platforms. Significant fines await those who fail.
https://www.computing.co.uk/news-analysis/2025/new-online-safety-act-measures-come-into-force
Great read
"The Online Safety Act reads to me as a profoundly ironic tragedy. #Ofcom constantly reiterates that huge, vague swaths of expression are “illegal, harmful content” while, to me, almost everything they’ve written about the #OSA is illegal, harmful content. The OSA exercises prior restraint and enables jawboning for a deliberate chilling effect, placing an undue burden that would never withstand strict scrutiny let alone justify unreasonable search and seizure"
https://lobste.rs/s/ukosa1/uk_users_lobsters_needs_your_help_with#c_xevn8a
The Online Safety Deadline has passed | @cyberleagle / Graham Smith
https://alecmuffett.com/article/112814
#OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #ofcom
When it comes to blogs, Ofcom says one thing, the UK Online Safety Act says another.
This lack of clarity over whether blogs with comments are exempt will push small sites to shut down completely.
We need the UK government to tighten up the definitions and exemptions in the Act.
Read our explainer for more detail https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/save-our-sites-deadline-17-march/
Under the UK Online Safety Act, small blogs, forums and fedi instances are faced with disproportionate requirements to:
️ Check if they have UK users
️ Do a risk assessment on whether kids might access the content, or if CSAM or terrorist material might be posted in the comments
️ Put themselves at the risk of fines, and even prison sentences, if they fail to comply with Ofcom’s future directives
New #Documentation: Geo-blocking UK users in #BunnyCDN
I've got a site that, I think, #Ofcom _could_ decide falls under Part 5 of the #OnlineSafetyAct (actually, more accurately, I can't say definitively enough that they wouldn't).
I'm not willing to pay any money to the Age Verification industry, or let them have visitor data.
So, I've decided to move the site definitively out of scope by ensuring it doesn't have UK users
The post describes how to geoblock the UK
https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/documentation/general/geoblocking-uk-users-with-bunnycdn.html
Carpe DM ?
End-to-end encryption = online safety. It keeps what we send on messaging apps secure from hackers and predators.
Tell Ofcom NOT to implement message scanning powers in their consultation.
You have until 5pm TODAY!
https://action.openrightsgroup.org/48-hours-tell-ofcom-practice-safe-text
Do you want hackers and predators to slide into your DMs?
That's what would happen if message scanning tech is forced onto messaging apps.
Ofcom's consultation on powers that'd break end-to-end encryption closes on Monday!
Use our tool to tell them #PracticeSafeText
#e2ee #encryption #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #ukpolitics #ukpol #cybersecurity #security #privacy #ofcom #whatsapp #signal
https://action.openrightsgroup.org/48-hours-tell-ofcom-practice-safe-text