-
Ofcom apparently don’t understand “false-positive rates” nor “base rate”
Take badly drafted and overlarded legislation and then summarise it badly, and you end up with a refined recipe for shadowbanning, blocking & censorship: Our children’s codes for user-to-user services recommend that services … design and operate recommender systems so that content likely to be suicide or self-harm content is excluded from children’s feeds I wonder how many errors
age verification censorship online safety online safety act over blocking shadow banning surveillance VPNFediverse reactions
-
Ofcom conveniently listing all of the porn websites which do not adhere to age verification requirements
Update: 4/12/2025: Hello, if you’re reading this because of AVS group, you might like to read this followup posting. If this is your sort of thing: On 30 July 2025, under this expanded enforcement programme, we have opened an investigation into AVS Group Ltd in relation to the adult sites [URLs…] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/investigation-into-avs-group-ltds-compliance-with-the-duty-to-prevent-children-from-encountering-pornographic-content-through-the-use-of-age-assurance
Fediverse reactions
-
Marc Andreessen complains to Downing Street about Online Safety Act and UK tech minister
Meanwhile, privacy campaigners argue the legislation has opened a space for unscrupulous companies purporting to provide age assurance services to gather and misuse reams of personal data. “Creating databases to store data used to determine people’s age will act as a honeypot for hackers and malicious actors because they’re compiling valuable information that can be
-
Encryption Made for Police and Military Radios May Be Easily Cracked | WIRED
Sounds like one of the manufacturers had a batch of DES chips lying around: at least one implementation of the end-to-end encryption solution endorsed by ETSI has a similar issue that makes it equally vulnerable to eavesdropping. The encryption algorithm used for the device they examined starts with a 128-bit key, but this gets compressed
Fediverse reactions
-
A “political blackmail” – the EU Parliament is pressing for new mandatory scanning of your private chats | TechRadar
As reported by digital rights group Netzpolitik, during the meeting held on July 11, the Parliament threatened to block an extension of the current voluntary scanning interim regulation – a temporary law that enables messaging providers to scan their users’ chats if they wish so – unless the Council agrees to mandatory scanning. “This political
Fediverse reactions
-
“I’m confused that the government advises never to give out your personal information, then introduces a law that means we have to send photos of our passports & driving licenses to anyone who asks”
r/autismUK subreddit: My gut is screaming that there is something bigger at play and there’s a hidden agender, and I don’t like feeling like this. I worry for people, like my daughter, who doesn”t have a passport or driving licenses or ‘border control biometric data’ that some of these services, like YOTI, say they are
Fediverse reactions
-
Repeal the Online Safety Act | Petitions | 500,775 signatures at Wednesday 2315h
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/722903?reveal_response=yes
Fediverse reactions
-
Request: can everyone attending Defcon please add/change their job title or biography to “self-proclaimed expert” to support Chelsea Jarvie?
If you critique deployment of Age Verification in the UK not only do you get branded as being “on the side of the child abusers” but also you have your professional qualifications undermined: A UK Government spokesperson said: “This self-proclaimed expert is wrong. The Online Safety Act protects children without sacrificing people’s privacy. Not exactly.
-
David Aaronovich on media coverage of the Online Safety Act: “when are you going to have someone on to tell you what the downsides are?”
This is what happens when you let public policy be driven and architected by aggrieved parents, child charities and techlash advocates:
Fediverse reactions
-
“Age verification: what’s the harm?” | Girl on the Net explains
A very good, frank, post from GotN, who has a largely NSFW website but addresses a very broad set of issues in this explainer: https://www.girlonthenet.com/blog/age-verification-whats-the-harm/
Fediverse reactions
-
New online safety law savaged by watchdog as ‘silencing a generation’ | Politics | News | Express.co.uk
Scary that it is the reactionary right wing press who are getting so much correct at the moment: He told Express.co.uk: “We have to find ways to protect young people from online harm. But we also have to respect the freedom of expression rights of young people, especially older teenagers who we are now saying
Fediverse reactions
-
Via Reddit: “what can I do about the online safety act” | …trying to provide some constructive advice
The short answer is: contact your MP and complain. https://www.writetothem.com/ Don’t tell them that you are angry at it, tell them WHY you are angry at it and WHAT impact it has on your life and how you expect it to pan out. Tell them that you don’t want to be giving your information to
Fediverse reactions