UK Online Safety Bill Will Mandate Dangerous Age Verification for Much of the Web
UK Online Safety Bill Will Mandate Dangerous Age Verification for Much of the Web
This blog post was co-written by Dr. Monica Horten, and is also available on the Open Rights Group website.Under new age verification rules in the UK’s massive Online Safety Bill, all internet platforms with UK users will have to stop minors from accessing ‘harmful’ content, as defined by the UK...
That headline needs a massive IF statement
IF it passed in its current state, which is highly doubtful.
The govt has already U-turned on breaking encryption. Making everyone share their biometric data to prove age is a privacy nightmare, and probably breaks existing laws
44If it passed as is, hosting providers would just add a check box to allow or block access from UK IP addresses. Overnight, most of the Internet would stop working for UK residents.
27Is a distinct possibility.
Even now I come across US sites which don't work because they don't want to have the whole GDPR compliance for EU members, which is usually overcome by a simple VPN to Canada/USA.
Funny thing about this is that the very people this is supposed to protect are probably far more tech savvy than the dinosaurs writing the legislation.
Torrent sites are blocked in UK by most isps , does it stop torrenting? No. And this wont work either it will just restrict the internet for the majority to "protect" the minority.
11
Except, if I understand correctly they haven't u-turned. They aren't removing the language re encryption, just acknowledging that it isn't enforceable. Yet.
2
sites will have to verify the age of visitors, either by asking for government-issued documents or using biometric data, such as face scans, to estimate their age
Yeah, most sites are just going to block UK users. Dealing with personal data like that is a nightmare.
37Jesus Christ did this actually pass?? I really hope for society sake other countries aren’t impacted or follow in the UKs footsteps. This is an enormous violation of privacy. We commonly gave China shit for doing stuff like this, but apparently we decided this was the right way to go. The data collected from this thinly veiled “age verification” will have enormous impacts on society.
20Jesus Christ did this actually pass??
No, not yet, and only the other day did they remove the requirement for breaking encryption from the proposed bill.
9Oh thank god, hopefully these cunts will stop trying to pass this 🤞
3
It’s been under debate for a few years. There is renewed attention on it in recent days, it seems. Maybe it’s gotten more support, I’m not entirely sure.
3
Is it bad that I'm becoming numb to losing my digital rights?
12Yes. Yes that’s bad. That’s what they want. Same tactics used car salesman employ: wear them down.
30We had digital rights? It's been so long since we had them that I forget we had them at all.
7
sure its about protecting the children for now
9Or that’s the use they’re hiding under. One of the most surveilled countries in the world
7