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Britain’s MPs charge VPNs to expenses as minister urges caution | POLITICO
Every time a Member of Parliament uses a VPN, somewhere a child is tortured: https://www.politico.eu/article/britain-mps-charge-vpns-expenses-minister-caution-tech-jonathan-reynolds-data/
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The Online Safety Act: legislation so proportionate & effective that it requires paid propaganda to launder its reputation
Influencers hired to promote new porn age verification laws … Ofcom’s ads represent an effort to win over young social media users. However, on Ms Bentley’s post, one follower responded: “It’s a well intentioned but horribly implemented law.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/01/influencers-promote-britain-new-porn-age-checks/ Archived at: https://archive.is/2025.08.02-154715/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/01/influencers-promote-britain-new-porn-age-checks/
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Online Safety: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be looking at something without having asked permission of someone like yourself
With apologies to Mencken.
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It seems like those 16-year-old voters are not going to hear very much about Jeremy Corbyn
https://x.com/zarahsultana/status/1951214851478438252
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“Everything the right – and the left – are getting wrong about the Online Safety Act” | George Billinge | The Guardian | …let’s ignore the article and just look at George’s LinkedIn profile
Here is the article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/01/everything-right-left-politics-getting-wrong-online-safety-act Here is George’s LinkedIn profile: It’s interesting that he argues about “right and left” – I am neither, but I have nearly 40 years of experience of tech and security and safety and privacy.
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Tech Secretary Peter Kyle under fire as Online Safety Act faces mounting backlash
“nothing to do with” does not mean the same thing as “has no impact upon”, Peter: “These laws have nothing to do with censorship or policing adults seeking to access legal content. Those who suggest otherwise are playing politics with child safety and have no practical alternatives for protecting our children from content they should…
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UK GOVERNMENT TO BAN ONLINE ADVERTISING OF VPNS?
While Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are legal in the UK, according to this law, platforms have a clear responsibility to prevent children from bypassing safety protections. This includes blocking content that promotes VPNs or other workarounds specifically aimed at young users. Alistair Campbell & Rory Stewart to face financial ruin? Also it is very telling…
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‘But Prof Livingstone noted that it was “possible that the companies are over-blocking to undermine the Act”‘ – no, @livingstone_s, Reddit simply does not editorialise user content
Sonia is quoted by the BBC: […] an expert in children’s digital rights at the London School of Economics – said that companies might “get better over time at not blocking public interest content while also protecting children” as the law beds in over time. She echoes conspiratorial thinking that platforms… …that platforms are actively…
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vx-underground: “me when a website wants to see an id to use it then i remember tea app donated 75,000 valid driver licenses to the internet”
I’ve always critiqued age verification for creating a market for stolen credentials, but perhaps I’m too hasty: perhaps the credentials which are stolen from age verification sites can simply be recycled so that they go around in a circle and the information doesn’t have to substantially proliferate.
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UK Government Warns Promoting the Use of VPNs Could Attract Fines | ISPreview UK
The UK Govt is – like much of civil society – in thrall to a belief that platforms don’t offer value to their users, instead hooking them via some kind of addiction. Hence: The UK government has warned that online platforms which “deliberately target UK children and promote [VPN] use” could now “face enforcement action,…
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Reminder: Adults aged 18+ using a VPN to circumvent age verification is not strictly a child safety issue
Whatever regulators & government may say, we are not facing a zero sum safety problem where if a 40-year-old uses a VPN to visit Reddit or PornHub without age verification then a small child will somehow be tortured to compensate. This is all about stopping kids getting to stuff that they cannot cope with, right?…
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‘We’ll fight together’: Americans planning to sue Ofcom over the Online Safety Act | LBC
…Preston Byrne – a technology and free speech lawyer – said he will be suing Ofcom “in federal court to protect all Americans from UK censorship” alongside fellow lawyer Ron Coleman. […] “If you run a tech company affected by the Online Safety Act and want to help us stop censorship at the waterline, have…