Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Some seem to think regulation is going too far and some seem to think it's not going far enough.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Much like the Lawrence’s, the death of a child is horrific for any parent, under any circumstance but them some channel that grief for a cause and then relentlessly pursue it. To unhealthy degrees.

Whilst we can sympathise initially, when their crusade starts to go beyond the bounds of the reasonable they soon lose our sympathy

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

As has happened with many 'crusades' in the past few years . . even the subject of this thread is seeing it.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

It’s also not very effective and impacts on free speech as well. It should be focussed on the actual problem and the people that have been so badly affected by these problem sites. The legislation should not impact on adults, given the reason for it is safety of children in terms of what they can access.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Two interesting observations;

Firstly https://cybernews.com/tech/pornhub-a...ewership-drop/

OK so Pornhub has seen an (apparently) massive drop in traffic since the introduction of the OSA, but has it? I wonder if there has been a corresponding massive increase in traffic from, say, Scandinavia, which has a number of VPN endpoints?

Alternatively, Pornhub and its sister companies have implemented some kind of age verification as required. I wonder if that just hasn’t had the effect of pushing people to some, let us say, 'less scupluous’ sites, who may host some far more harmful* material?

And then we have this; https://www.theguardian.com/society/...t-commissioner

Which does, on the face of it, seem to be claiming that the OSA has been a complete failure, in fact has worsened the situation. Or that they are pushing for even more regulatory powers? What do you think?

I am reminded of the 'Law of Unintended Consequences’!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Remember, what happens in porn hub stays in porn hub :erm:

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I've always gone with "be careful what you wish for" ;)

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

How can it not, possibly impact adults?

Say I set up a website, say ‘filthyporn’R’us.net’. I may expend time and money trying to make sure that it only hosts content made by consenting adults, and user-generated content is checked and double-checked before being released.

Fine, but I am now required to ensure that anyone viewing is over 18; how, how can I do this?

I need to make some kind of check, all I can say is that a particular connection is being made, I have no idea who is actually sitting at the other end. So I absolutely have to inconvenience everyone, just to be sure.

Or I don’t, I simply shift my site to another jurisdiction and don’t bother to do any of this!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I just had to verify my age on my Xbox account. Which I've had since about 2005/6, if I didn't I would have lost access to online chat and messaging etc. Frankly ridiculous. The main Microsoft email account it is linked to has been mine since the mid 90s.

You would think my dob and how long I've had the account would have been enough to suffice without me having to prove it via selfie or passport scan.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

"You would think my dob and how long I've had the account would have been enough to suffice without me having to prove it via selfie or passport scan.”

Yes you might think that, but a consequence of the Law is that providers have to ‘play safe’, just in case. Sorry, you have been inconvenienced!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Play it safe, lol. Having a microsoft/Hotmail account for literally 30 years and my dob should not mean my age needs to be checked 'just in case'.

This is why people think this whole bill is ridiculous.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Wouldn't work, if the site is available in the UK it is covered by the OSA & age verification would be required.

---------- Post added at 00:29 ---------- Previous post was at 00:23 ----------

Ofcom say that age verification is required where appropriate, how this is achieved is up to each site owner.

Your DOB could easily have been made up, so means nothing. However, Ofcom have previously confirmed that the length of time someone has had an account can be used to verify that someone is over 18, so you're correct in saying that this could have been used for age verification.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I think you missed the point, again. If its in another jurisdiction, you dont need to care what the OSA says.
Short of blocking the site, which is very unlikely, no one can really do much about it, if you ignore the requirement.

Even blocking would fail, torrent sites have been blocked for years, they are all still happily functioning, and in regular use.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

This is the very issue with the stupid way it's been implemented, once innocent people begin to get caught up in the widely cast 'net of consequences', the repercussions become harder to manage . . often leading to even more 'illegal' ways to circumvent the aforementioned incompetence of the original law

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

You don't need illegal ways, a VPN (legal) can easily circumvent it.