Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Do you fully understand the way VPN's work ?

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Do you need to ask that question ?

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Thats unlikely to be legal (or practical), as the UK has already found out with Apple.
Also, you dont need to buy a VPN, plenty of free ones about that you just directly download.

Plus you can set up your own if you want, the software to do so is freely available.
Same with proxy servers, you can (as I do) just make your own with freely available common software.

I really dont understand your motives here, its like you want us all to be under totalatarian state control, ask the North Koreans how good that is.

[ Oh, and I read yesterday that a spokeperson said there were no plans to control VPNs, just clueless people saying someone should ].

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

And there is the problem, clueless people jumping on the latest buzz word and talking as if they are the expert. Thats probably why the Online safety bill is so rubbish the people putting it together had no idea what they wanted and how to do it.

---------- Post added at 18:35 ---------- Previous post was at 18:34 ----------

Just being helpful :)

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Nailed it.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Are they difficult to set up, then? I’ve not tried it myself, but I was under the impression it was a straight forward process.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

A per-device VPN app is extremely straightforward, although the terminology might give less confident users pause. I imagine setting one in the main home router to direct all traffic is a fair bit more involved.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Piece of piss, even a child could do it ;)

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

ASUS make it very very easy with the VPN Fusion functionality , you can even have the VPN only apply to specific devices rather than the entire LAN

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

They are simple but some of my friends and family don't like messing with their Pc's and phones.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Interesting piece regarding 4chan and their non payment of fines

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq68j5g2nr1o

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

If you have a UK account, using a UK VPN when abroad to watch UK content is OK. What I think Netflix and others seek to stop is a UK account using a "foreign" VPN to watch "foreign" content not available in the UK.


And the government could stop access to foreign VPN's by blocking access to the foreign VPN access points from the UK. It is likely a losing battle unless we go the whole China methodology. You could likely do something similar at home, block access to foreign VPN points at the router. And if you don't let junior install stuff on their phone they can't set one up locally anyway.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Well that's opened my eyes, I've always thought 4chan was one of the hundreds of TV channels showing adverts and not much else.

Probably an easy assumption to make for someone with very little interest in TV viewing and even less interest in the goings on with social media platforms :D

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Think this says it all.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Not fully, no. How do they work?

---------- Post added at 18:57 ---------- Previous post was at 18:55 ----------

It was a hypothetical answer to a hypothetical question that isn't even being proposed by the Government. You are right in saying that this is merely a suggestion (by the Children's Commissioner).

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

All you need to do is watch this, then you may understand why those on this forum say the Government is losing the VPN battle. The more they claim they will stop them the more people will use them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-U7kqizKH8

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Thanks, i'll take a look.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

The first 7 minutes of this programme features lawyer Matt Johnson who believes that the way in which some websites are implementing the age verification part of the Online Safety Act (OSA) is discriminatory towards visually impaired users (the final 13 minutes of the programme covers the requirement of websites to have policies in place to deal with illegal or harmful content pertaining to the disabled etc).

He is also unhappy that anyone who is critical of the age verification part of the OSA is regarded as someone who simply wants to access erotica when it is, in fact, now required to access some forum discussions:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002htvr

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Just another legal bod giving his opinion on stuff, and quite possibly one of those legal bods that will chase down anything that may/could/is likely to/ possibly . . get his name circulating and make a few quid from it.

Unsure if he's on the side of the bill or against it, or just picking holes in it because of . . as mentioned.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

No, it's affected him personally. Matthew Johnson has been blind since birth and, as he said on the programme, has been prevented from accessing internet forum discussions due to his inability to verify his age.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Go on then, I'll bite.
How does being blind stop you verifying your age ?

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Hang on . .

He's blind, and a Lawyer. Obviously has the technology to 'read and write' documents etc, probably has a secretary too, but doesn't have any way at all to verify his age on a forum?

No friends, colleagues or family members to assist with photo ID or whatever is required?

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

He explains it all in the programme excerpt (first 7 minutes).

Also, disabled people tend to prefer the independence of doing things independently if possible, rather than having things done for them and the law supports their right to this.

Sighted people have had issues taking a photograph to verify their age, so it must be even more difficult if one is blind. Apparently, it's not just a case of taking a photograph, it has to be done exactly within a boxed space and frequently fails.

Ofcom has said that websites must make adjustments as
required by the Equality Act.

It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

"reasonable adjustments"…

Here are some examples

https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov....or%20decisions


Completely redesigning a system/website because someone insists on not having help to take a photo would not be a reasonable adjustment…

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I'm asking you, not watching some random video.

What they "prefer" is irrelevant, they can do it, with help if necessary.
There are plenty of photographers who do passport photos, we used one for my granddaughter.

Yes, it is. See above.

Someone is clearly just making excuses.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Two opposing views and interpretations of the law, which is why I think it will be interesting to see the outcome if he decides to make things legal.

As per Ofcom, there should be ways of meeting his needs (without completely redesigning a system).

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Leave it out Richard.

He's been blind since birth, moved to the UK (with family) many years ago, went through university, gained employment as a lawyer and has risen from basically a nobody to where he is now.

I'd suggest that during all that time he's faced much harder trials than the issue he's moaning about now.

Jumping on the band wagon for some fame and fortune in my opinion.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Been told that Ofcom are to survey children from aged 8 upwards to find out which websites they use and if they have been asked to verify their age.

I had assumed that this would be more reactive than proactive.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

What a joke and a waste of time.

No point in asking 13-15 year olds as if they'd tell you the truth to what sites they visit..

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

For some, if they could cause mischief ...

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

That sounds like an interesting project, I wonder how they're going to manage it?

I can't imagine an Ofcom employee standing outside schools questioning the kids as they arrive, that could end up as rather embarrassing.

Email questionnaire maybe? Nah, I can't see kids of that age bothering with email addresses, and those that do would probably hit delete without reading.

However it's conducted would have to be on an individual basis too, no point asking a room full of kids if they've recently tried to watch porn or access a website selling knives is it.

I wonder if it will fall once again into the hands of teachers, taking time out of the ridiculous notion of actually educating children in order to have 1 on 1 sessions with them to create yet another statistical database used to create even more 'safeguarding' initiatives.

I'm surprised all kids aged 8 to 15 aren't now so confused by it all that they spend time on street corners drinking white lightening

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I expect they have to "justify" their existance somehow, so what better way that pointless surveys. :rolleyes:

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I've asked and it will be done via online invites to parents as parents have to give consent for children to take the surveys (which they will take on their own).

It won't actually be focusing on over 18 sites, but on user to user generated content sites.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Surveys are also being sent out to those aged 18 and over to find out if adults are being age verified on various sites.

Tomorrow the Prime Minister will announce that every adult will be required to hold a digital ID. This will show whether they are 18 or over and whether they are entitled to work or not.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

This week's programme for the sight impaired offers some help to those who are having difficulty verifying their age:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002jsqx

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

From today Ofcom is able to issue a 'Preserve data notice' to websites. This is to prevent data from being deleted and lost.

This will be invaluable for cases where children have lost their lives and websites are believed to have contributed to or caused this, but the sites either refuse to hand over the data to delay matters or say that it's been deleted.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

The OSA is also now responsible for imgur not being available in the UK (without using you know what).

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

That is frankly ridiculous I used the site every so often to host images I posted on certain forums I visit.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Tbf they are very much in scope as users post images for other users and that is high risk in itself. So they need to be age verifying UK users and have probably been caught not doing so, and so just chose to block UK ISPs rather than complying.


Other sites presumably exist but the annoying thing is this happened with basically no notice, so people who had done that couldn't make other arrangements.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Yet another (predictable) consequence of this ridiculously stupid law.
You can bet more will follow suit, the UK will slowly become internet isolated.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

That may be a good thing considering the World of crap that's on it :D

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Although as mentioned; I’m sure more than once, if said site is based abroad and they simply give OFCOM the proverbial finger, then what?

Or it is a UK-based site but they claim that ‘a hardware failure’ deleted all the data, then what? Or, ‘we suffered from an unfortunate (sophisticated, state-backed) hack, which alas has deleted all of our records, sorry about that; then what?

What will happen is that the larger sites, probably the ones who do make an effort to filter out, shall we say ‘unsavoury material’, will do their best, or decide that it;s not worth it and pay lip service to blocking connections from the UK. I say ‘lip-service’ because anyone working in this field knows that it’s not as easy to do as it might seem and, cough, VPNs and proxies.

Of course the less salubrious sites who probably do host the majority of this material will ignore OFCOM as being the paper tiger that it is and carry on.

The OSA - somehow I don’t think this was well thought out!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

If they block image storing sites then any photo storing site will come under scrutiny. What about backup/sync sites? You can store and share images and content on them and some are encrypted so the site can't see what is stored.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Govt. are like council road workers, they never seem to do anything but there's always a new hole being dug deeper somewhere :D

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Another victim of the useless and clueless nut jobs that are the Conservatives and Labour!

I went to grab a link to an image that I used for a game and found that I cannot access it, no email saying pull your images before the date, just a "You cannot access without a VPN".

I need to start looking at some stuff with Oracle, Cloudflare and some other stuff.

I seriously need to get out of this country, it's an absolute shambles!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

So imgur are actually saying that people should use a VPN in order to access the site?

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Why would they say that? They wouldn't block people and then tell them how to access the site anyway.


If you go to imgur.com you get linked to this
https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/arti...United-Kingdom


The key point is
There's some more DPA guff on there too, but that's the main facts.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I thought it sounded odd when it was claimed that this was what they were doing!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Damien probably read all the 'official' blurb, then reduced it down to the basics . . looks like I need a VPN . . which is what most people now blocked would conclude. ;)

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

It's in quotation marks though.

---------- Post added at 15:14 ---------- Previous post was at 15:06 ----------

There have been calls to toughen up the measures introduced within the Online Safety Act last July that were designed to protect children, including by Becky Riggs, the Child Protection lead for the National Police Chief's Council.

Researchers signed up to TikTok as 13 year old children and at first were shown innocent material like football clips, but two or three searches later, the algorithm started suggesting highly sexualised content, before eventually showing graphic pornography embedded in other videos.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

They are saying they have blocked UK IPs.

So the only way you can view it now (from the UK) is to use a non UK IP address, and for most people that would mean by using a VPN.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

True, but from what was said, I thought that they were actually advising people to use a VPN, which they aren't allowed to do. Been told that a porn site has come to the attention of Ofcom for doing exactly this.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I've been told the moon is made of cheese, that doesnt make it true.

Stating facts is not illegal, the facts are that most people in the UK would now need to use a VPN.

Their actual info page makes no mention of this btw ;
https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/arti...United-Kingdom

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Whilst it's factually correct that a VPN could be used to access their site, websites are prohibited from advising people of this. It was claimed that.they were advisingpeople to use a VPN, but it turns out that this was incorrect.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

No IMGUR does not tell you to use a VPN, none of the sites that have been banned from providing services to us in the UK, have said "Go and get a VPN" because they and anyone with common sense will understand, that it would land them in a world of legal issues.

However anyone with a little, just a smidge of common sense will understand that in order to access a site, that is now blocked due to the perpetually offended and clueless brigade, that they will require a VPN in order to access it, so when they want to pass that information on to others, they will shorten the BS given by the Website because of the perpetually offended and morons to "You cannot access from the UK, you will need to use a VPN".

Also just because something is in "Quotation Marks" does not mean it's a DIRECT QUOTE, quotation marks are used for all sorts of stuff, whether you like that or not, I do not care, I don't sit on the internet all day looking for something to be offended by or jump like I am a member of the Gramma Police, I have a life!

Finally, if you are that anal about someone giving information that is from reading between the lines and not 100% factually what was stated, then I feel sorry for you!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Nail and head come to mind. Well said.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

No, they are not.

Simply providing the fact that you would now need a VPN is not "promoting" their use.
If I tell you that a knife can be used to stab someone, I am not promoting the use of knives to stab people.

They are not "deliberately" targeting UK children, plus, on top of all that, its "could", not "will".

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Apparently now game developers are being told that certain "features" will need to be removed from games otherwise the games will be banned in the UK.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/we-bel...ine-safety-act

The following is RUMOURS, I cannot provide proof as the people I spoke to will not provide it, they are not wanting to risk their jobs, personally I think some of it is just "Hey we are going to cause some trouble for the laughs" but some of it I can see actually happening.

Take the following with a large dose of sodium :)

A developer has said that they have been contacted and told they cannot have player to player communication, cannot have character creation features, player created content or characters that are deemed to be "Attractive" to either men or women, basically each character has to hit each branch of the ugly tree as they fall out of it to hit the ground before being added to the game.

That is to avoid any "Child" from seeing something "Sexual" in a game or reading something "Sexual", also to stop them reading or hearing any words that might be deemed "Hateful or Extreme".

These features will not be allowed apparently in the game at all, regardless of if it is made for 18+ or not because they cannot stop children accessing adults devices (shocker).

Grand Theft Auto 6 apparently from one person I have spoken to who works in the industry, is currently being determined if it will be allowed to be sold in the UK, and has said the UK is now stricter than Australia, Germany and Korea for what is allowed in games.

Adverts for GTA 6 will apparently not be allowed to be shown on UK TV, YouTube, Twitch etc in the UK because the adverts are deemed "Too Sexual and Racist" because they show "Women in bikinis dancing drinking alcohol", whilst also showing "Black people committing crimes".

Gaming News websites will apparently be forbidden from writing about games which use game engines that can provide "Photo Realistic" graphics because "Children".




Don't worry though our lord and saviour his almighty Starmer and her almighy badenoch (if she gets in next), will make changes to the OSA and make it a general safety act covering everything, from online to real world content and make sure that we cannot see anything that the perpetually offended brigade don't like, making us all feel warm and safe, whilst staring a beige wall for entertainment :p:

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...-visitors.html

Here’s the latest casualty. Richard, what have you done?

[EXTRACT]


The popular online image sharing website Imgur.com, which was first founded in 2009 and has been widely used to host viral images, short videos and memes that can be linked to from other sites, appears as if it may have responded to a recent Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigation by blocking UK IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

The last paragraph in the linked article

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

On rare occasions I visit sites that request my age, I simply pick a date sometime between 1970 and 2000.

They've never asked for proof, and if they started to it would be the same fiasco as is currently being laughed at

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

... but as I understand the OSA, self-declaration of user's ages isn't rigorous enough anyway which is why places are using facial age estimation.


At least they should know their own rules?

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I guess we'll have to block UK IPs soon ..... :erm:

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Gosh, what are we going to do with all these new data centers :D

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

And the new nGreedia AI Data Centre that is going to bring so much revenue and so many jobs, which are going to be a complete waste of time when they won't be allowed to be used for anything but left wing propaganda.


Sarcasm below

Guess the UK should stop education and just ensure everyone has their little cubicle with the feeding and waste tubes inserted, to ensure they don't go out in public and cause "Alarm & Distress" on the public, then also make sure that they have their "North Korea" styled computer devices installed, which limits what they can do online and watch.

Remember the film Idiocracy (2006), the main "Entertainment" was a man being kicked in the nuts, well let's see how long it is before we are down to that because the perpetually offended ensure that nothing else is allowed!


Sooner I can get out of this country the better, although that would require winning the lottery which I don't play or some kind multi-millionaire or billionaire dropping £300k in my bank :p:

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Big site users hacked due to this new law in the UK causing problems abroad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BIGyMG5jc4

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I think thats some US ID system, not sure if its related to the UK, but either way, this is exactly why its a terrible idea.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Nothing to do with Digital ID's but all the click bait youtubers are making it about that.

The system that was breached was a 3rd party company who is/was contracted to do support for Discord, so if you were locked out of your account etc it is likely them that you spoke to as Discord itself does not it would appear have their own support staff for users, only for employed staff.

If you have never had to speak to the end user support team then you are I would say safe, because you won't have received the email, however if you have contacted them, then you are likely getting the email.

Again this has nothing to do with Digital ID's because this has happened previously where Discord and others were breached and information was taken, not one of those times was anything linked to Digital ID's, but now because of the Online Safety Act every click baiter is linking anything they possibly can to it.


I don't want a Digital ID, the Government have enough ways to track my movements, spending etc I don't need them to have a way to block my access to being able to use a bus etc, so I do not agree with the Digital ID system at all, it's a farce and control scheme plain and simple, but people need to stop linking it to everything and anything they can.

I expect next week some headline "Car stolen from air port because the owner did not have a digital id" or some other BS article.

I also do not expect the Government to have the safety up to scratch for where the databases are stored with everyone's details, but let's face it and be real here, what information is someone going to get from a Digital ID that they cannot already get from a Bank, Facebook, HMRC, Companies you have worked at etc etc, 99.9999% of our information is already on the internet, already in the hands of criminals and if you think it's not, then you need to wake up because not least is it in the hands of the Government, the biggest bunch of criminals on the planets!

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

ADGuard have released a 3GB Per month free VPN works PC Apple and Android

https://adguard-vpn.com/en/blog/why-...m_content=body

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

The Government today issued a statement to ITV:

'We know that some children still get around restrictions, which is why we are strengthening education in schools. Our new guidance teaches healthy relationships and helps them understand that online pornography doesn't reflect real life'.

Anyone who uses a VPN should ensure that they check out it's credibility as much as they are able to. This one is using it to empty people's bank accounts!

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/do-you-use...rnight-1748204

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Translation: We realise now that this was a failure because we had no clue what we were doing.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

It's not just pornography where proof of age is now required, one of my carers wanted to buy a Stanley Knife from Amazon.

He wants to know if a VPN would circumvent this, I said maybe not as it's Amazon UK.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Knives have to have a proof of age on purchase nothing would get round that.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I had to use my dad's driving licence to buy kitchen knives. Apparently they couldn't find me on the government database :shrug: upon delivery postman pat asked for my date of birth then handed over the parcel.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

First they manage to close all the High St shops and send everyone shopping online.

Then they introduce checks so people can't buy what they need online (especially trades people I imagine)

I presume the next step is to enforce some kind of digital identity card . . oh, wait :rofl:

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Our Government has said that they won't ban VPN's and I think you said that they technically couldn't anyway, but this is what one place in America is doing:


https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-pr...ything-we-know

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

Yet more nonsense. People will find a way round it and easily I am sure.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I suppose that this is an attempt to cut down on knife crime/deaths, which is a good thing really.

It says that Experian can't find him! I had assumed that the fact he was paying by credit card would be enough to prove he was over 18.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

I tried to buy a pair of kitchen scissors about 12 years ago in Morrisons. I was 32 and didn't have ID on me. They refused to sell me them. Even though I clearly looked older than 18.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

That's ridiculous. I'm glad you mentioned this though, as he says it will be easier to go to town for a knife- neither of us considered that they'd want proof of age for an instore purchase for someone clearly over 18.

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

One of many many

Re: Online Safety Bill Etc
 

What a vile monster, glad he's been caught.