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4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

alecmuffett.com

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Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#281

Post by whimsicalism »

chimprich wrote: post #199
whimsicalism wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there is no ‘right to enter America’ and fwiw i seem to recall that the UK has a bad habit of banning American musicians for the content of their songs.

Like the US's bad habit of banning British musicians for the content of their songs? https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/30/uk/bob-vylan-uk-band-glas...

seems like a reciprocal relationship to me. i'd also say the recent US stances are an aberration whereas the history of UK immigration policy is a better reflection of core governing principles.

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#282

Post by mrkstu »

martin-t wrote: post #242
Razengan wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put anyone in charge of any space and they'll want to control what people say and think there. Hell look at HN and literally anywhere. Everybody has their own "ideal" world. I for instance don't want anybody talking shit about anime or video games ever.

The evolution of governance of online communities mirrors that of the real-world. First, everyone did what they wanted. As conflict became more common, power hierarchies started to emerge. we're now at a stage where every place needs to be governed, yet its members have no influence over who does it. I have online communities will transition into something resembling democracy where moderators are elected from member…

You vote for the moderation you like with your digital feet- see X vs BlueSky

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#283

Post by lofaszvanitt »

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #222
riazrizvi wrote: post #175

More odious nannying by silly civil servants. If Britain is to restore cultural leadership it needs to move policy away from this horrible trend of policing what people say and think, and focus its energy on better policing what people do.

I don't mean this to be as insulting as it may, but the UK government trying to police US businesses has always felt like a toddler trying to ground his mom.

You are missing the point. US has a lot of harmful cultural exports and one of them is streaming, where people degrade and humiliate themselves for money and the like. Then there is yt shorts, then 4chan, then social media.

These slowly degrade societies, like it or not. At least someone tries to do something to weed out the utter, batshit crazy adults, actually childminded idiots, who think the world is their playground.

Any way I see it this is a slow virus, a weapon of sorts. Just politicians usually have their heads lodged in their own back orifice, hence slow reacting.

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#284

Post by Razengan »

martin-t wrote: post #242
Razengan wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put anyone in charge of any space and they'll want to control what people say and think there. Hell look at HN and literally anywhere. Everybody has their own "ideal" world. I for instance don't want anybody talking shit about anime or video games ever.

The evolution of governance of online communities mirrors that of the real-world. First, everyone did what they wanted. As conflict became more common, power hierarchies started to emerge. we're now at a stage where every place needs to be governed, yet its members have no influence over who does it. I have online communities will transition into something resembling democracy where moderators are elected from member…

> moderators in pretty much all online spaces are effectively dictators

This. How do 1-10 or 20 or even 100 people get the "right" to decide what millions of people talk about and see?

What's keeping them from burying/boosting opinions about shit they have strong personal feelings about?

Steve Huffman/Spez of Reddit literally edited users' comments, and they autoban anyone saying "Fuck Spez"

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#285

Post by lelandfe »

833 wrote: post #257
GoblinSlayer wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what the text means, but even if it did, you cornered yourself, since if you have no particular care for UK users, you won't care if they are blocked from your general service.

Blocking UK users from your service does not put you out of scope of OSA, according to Ofcom. 4 days ago: > "Services who choose to restrict access rather than protect UK users remain on our watchlist "

It is worth noting that the other sites swept up in this current batch have had their investigations closed by restricting, though.

My read on "remain on our watchlist" was them monitoring for if that block lapses, etc.

I do expect UK's internet insanity to reckon with VPNs sooner rather than later, though.

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#286

Post by fer »

sensanaty wrote: post #258
mikkupikku wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4chan does have very minor explicit support for UK users; on some boards it puts a UK flag on their post (as it does with all other countries and territories.) It could perhaps be argued that this constitutes the site being consciously designed with UK users in mind. Hardly matters though, there's nothing the UK can do about it. They aren't a superpower anymore and it's time for them to realize it.

That's only on /pol/ though, and it's based on GeoIP. No other board has flags other than complete meme ones like /int/

Off topic, thread moved to /bant/ >>420694069

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#287

Post by maffyoo »

833 wrote: post #260

Ofcom said this four days ago: > "Services who choose to restrict access rather than protect UK users remain on our watchlist" How does withdrawing service from UK users not "protect UK users"? How does age verifying UK IPs provide more protection than withdrawing the service entirely? It is about power and control, and nothing else.

what happens if access is unrestricted from UK users and the content becomes available again. Reads to me that they will monitor sites to ensure this doesn't happen. Surely logical..

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#288

Post by fer »

mikkupikku wrote: post #249
FabCH wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note, they don’t earn money from users. They earn money from advertisers. This is important because if it was advertisers, it would be much easier for UK to have actual power over them, since the UK business actually would be under UK jurisdiction.

4chan gets money by selling (with crypto) "passes" to their users. These passes allow users to post using VPNs. Being banned in the UK will increase demand for these passes, probably increasing 4chan's revenue over all.

You can buy passes with a regular credit card

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#289

Post by msh »

xp84 wrote: post #233
kstrauser wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's different in that it prosecutes citizens of those countries for things done outside their borders, not unrelated people doing things elsewhere. America will prosecute Americans for doing certain things that are illegal inside America outside its borders. As another example, if you take a boat to international waters and kill someone on it, you're going to get arrested and prosecuted when you get home. America…

Ok, hypothetically though, and going back to the smoking in Paris law, if the UK banned smoking in Paris, and a French citizen proven to have smoked in Paris vacations in the UK, the only thing stopping the UK from prosecuting them is that it would be kinda "act-of-war-ish" to start imprisoning French citizens. Technically they could under their own law, they just wouldn't dare since they don't want to start a major…

The US have done this a lot, luring “hackers” and other criminals to the US and then arresting them.

Re: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence

#290

Post by chmod775 »

devjab wrote: post #265
lenerdenator wrote: post #148

Ofcom does know that they're dealing with 4chan, right? Ultimately all of these sorts of regulations rely on people feeling the need to comply. 4chan feels no needs, least of all to comply. It's the immovable object of online forums. It has not encountered a true unstoppable force. I doubt it ever will. If they want it "gone" they'll have to both block it at the infrastructure level leading into the country and keep…

Ofcom is simply doing their job. I doubt they care about the users of 4chan. They will fine the company in accordance to UK law. Then if the company does not comply Ofcom will target their advertisers and it's Japanese owner who lives in France as well as having UK ISPs block 4chan. I can't think of any reason as to why France wouldn't work with UK authorities on this. Contrary to HN and other USA tech forums might t…

For France to be legally able to give a shit Ofcom would need to go to court in the UK, pierce the corporate veil, and receive a final judgment against the owner of 4chan. Only then would they have some routes to petition French authorities for assistance.

There's no agreement between the UK and France that would require or even permit French authorities to enforce fines by a some random UK entity willy-nilly.

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