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UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

ofcom.org.uk

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Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#31

Post by iLoveOncall »

collyw wrote: post #6

The steady march towards authoritarianism continues. Is there any way that we can overwhelm them?

> Is there any way that we can overwhelm them?

Yes: leave the UK.

I and a lot of high earners are thinking about leaving the UK because it's simply a punishing country where you have high taxes like others in Europe but nothing to show for them. It's also by far the most authoritarian western country, as exemplified by measures like this one.

The way to overwhelm them is to sink the UK by having most of the people it relies on to function (high earners) leave and let the country collapse.

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#32

Post by AJRF »

DrBazza wrote: post #23

We love our regulation, especially if the government can't easily tax it. Yet, we still have gambling adverts on UK TV and on football shirts. At the same time we've also banned adverts for "certain types" of porridge. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgrwzx8er9o

Unlikely to change as Gambling companies are major donors to the Labour Party.

https://theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jun/28/tory-bet...

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#33

Post by EpicQuest_246 »

benfrain wrote: post #25

I’d like to see all social media sites require proper age verification, much like any gambling sites in the UK have to. No under 18 needs social media. Feel, especially for children, they are a net negative.

Which kills any sort of online anonymity as all social media posts will be directly linked to your ID. This will make it much easier to go after anyone that is a dissident in the UK.

Many these awful laws such as one being discussed are sold to us under the guise of protecting the children. The last time I checked 7 people a day were being prosecuted for speech related crimes in the UK (and I checked a while ago).

Parents should be the ones that should be controlling their children's social media usage.

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#34

Post by kelnos »

zo1 wrote: post #30
pjc50 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the US Wrong thread, you should be posting in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42427132 "US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from app stores Jan. 19"

Side note. But if they're banning TikTok, they totally need to ban Youtube and Instagram as both of them have what TikTok has. I.e. The never-ending slot-machine of dopamine known as Shorts and Reels.

If that's why they were banning TikTok, then sure. But that's not why they're banning TikTok.

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#35

Post by foldr »

briandear wrote: post #13

My problem with all of these sorts of things is the idea of who determines “harmful.” Because that’s a term of such ambiguity that it could literally mean anything. “Covid came from a Chinese lab” — “harmful because it causes ‘racism’” “Pakistani grooming gangs in Rotherham are targeting young British girls” — harmful because it could promote social unrest. “Eating meat can improve metabolic health” — harmful because…

There's a lot not to like about this legislation, but you're way off the mark here. The legislation doesn't impose a generic ban on anything that someone or other considers 'harmful'. It's a raft of quite specific regulatory requirements relating to specific kinds of content. There are certainly arguments to be made against it, but your examples are quite irrelevant.

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#36

Post by shreddit »

DrBazza wrote: post #23

We love our regulation, especially if the government can't easily tax it. Yet, we still have gambling adverts on UK TV and on football shirts. At the same time we've also banned adverts for "certain types" of porridge. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgrwzx8er9o

Well "porridge" is not a synonym for "healthy", but i see your point in gambling ads...

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#37

Post by krisbolton »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #2

Better alternative to first-party propaganda: https://www.eff.org/pages/uk-online-safety-bill-massive-thre...

Well, that links to EFF's own "propaganda" - perpetuating privacy at all costs. Inevitably the place law and regulation should is somewhere in between, balancing risk and striving for an acceptable position all things considered within a democratic framework.

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#38

Post by thih9 »

DrBazza wrote: post #23

We love our regulation, especially if the government can't easily tax it. Yet, we still have gambling adverts on UK TV and on football shirts. At the same time we've also banned adverts for "certain types" of porridge. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgrwzx8er9o

About banning ads for “certain types of porridge”:

> …the majority of porridge, muesli and granola products will not be affected by the advertising restrictions but some less healthy versions (with added sugar, chocolate, syrup) could be affected.

> Sometimes products may be marketed as, or perceived by consumers to be, healthy but in fact contain surprisingly high levels of saturated fat, salt or sugar.

Source: https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2024/12/06/here-are-the-fact...

More details; the pdf in the last link has examples on how scoring (computing NPM score) is done for particular products: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restricting-adver... , https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nutrient-prof...

Re: UK's Online Safety Act comes into force

#40

Post by hyhconito »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #31
collyw wrote: post #6

The steady march towards authoritarianism continues. Is there any way that we can overwhelm them?

> Is there any way that we can overwhelm them? Yes: leave the UK. I and a lot of high earners are thinking about leaving the UK because it's simply a punishing country where you have high taxes like others in Europe but nothing to show for them. It's also by far the most authoritarian western country, as exemplified by measures like this one. The way to overwhelm them is to sink the UK by having most of the people it…

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