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Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

express.co.uk

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Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#61

Post by Analemma_ »

eduction wrote: post #59
wiether wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It appears that you are mixing things here. It's not about "hosting a website", it's about providing services. If you provide services, like selling a newspaper, in the UK, you need to respect their laws, or you will suffer the legal implications of not doing so. And regarding the accountability, it refers to the fact that imgur USED TO provide services in the UK: > We have been clear that exiting the UK does not all…

It’s you who are mixing things. Putting up a website outside the UK and “deciding to provide services in the UK” are two decidedly different things. UK legal imperialism is self centered and unrealistic and undermines speech the world over.

I’m guessing that Imgur happily accepted the ad revenue from UK users while it served them images. If you genuinely were “not providing services” to UK users, you wouldn’t do that.

I’m not happy with extraterritorial assertions over internet services either, but you can’t wish them away with sophistry about “we’re not providing services to them!” if you’re happy to take their money and serve them a page in exchange. That’s the definition of a business providing a service to a customer.

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#62

Post by notarget137 »

wiether wrote: post #52
elAhmo wrote: post #37

> The ICO also confirmed that companies could not avoid accountability by withdrawing their services in the UK. This is quite a slippery slope. If I host a website in one country, I do not necessarily care where people access my website from. It is not like I actively provide a service to them - they just use internet (decentralised network) to access it. What if I publish a newspaper here, someone takes it where the…

It appears that you are mixing things here. It's not about "hosting a website", it's about providing services. If you provide services, like selling a newspaper, in the UK, you need to respect their laws, or you will suffer the legal implications of not doing so. And regarding the accountability, it refers to the fact that imgur USED TO provide services in the UK: > We have been clear that exiting the UK does not all…

Does every single website that exists and is available in UK automatically provides services in UK? Isn't it just simpler to completely block every request from UK by default to "not provide services"?

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#63

Post by thw_9a83c »

constantcrying wrote: post #46
thw_9a83c wrote: post #44

Following this logic, I suppose that, in the future, cars that cannot automatically detect the presence of a child in a wheelchair and prevent the engine from starting will be banned.

Why are you being sarcastic about this. Obviously that will be a legal requirement at some point, just like constantly supervising the driver for tiredness is.

I'm not being sarcastic. I'm predicting a trajectory of never-ending increase of regulatory requirements for any human activity which I don't like. Only big players have deep pocket for lobbyists and lawyers to avoid them or resources to implement them.

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#65

Post by pixl97 »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #56
seanhunter wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You already need to care depending on what you are serving, and this has been the case for at least 20 years to my knowledge. The most obvious example of this is websites from the UK or Europe which operate any kind of gambling. [1] This may well be legal (based on licensing) in their jurisdiction, but they still need to restrict access to prevent US people from accessing the service or they will be breaching the US'…

> People hosting news sites have often had to geofence to prevent UK residents from accessing their site if they are hosting any kind of reporting of UK court cases that are under embargo or matters that are subject to one of the UK's famous "Super injunctions" [2] …and if the site has no UK assets, how enforceable is the injunction?

I mean, in the case of the US, you board a plane in country X going to country Z, it flies over country Y which is friends with the US. The US has country Y land the plane and has the plane boarded by armed men that drag you off kicking and screaming where you are put in a cage and then shipped to the US.

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#66

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

noir_lord wrote: post #40

As a Brit. Good - cause the maximum amount of pain, start pulling services across the board - the more it happens the more painful it becomes for the government to defend it.

Likewise, as a Brit, I hope more mainstream sites do this until people realise how stupid or authoritarian (but I repeat myself) the UK's Online Safety Act is. VPN companies must be enjoying these shenanigans.

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#67

Post by pixl97 »

thewebguyd wrote: post #49
constantcrying wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK government does not care. The law applies no matter where you are hosted, where you are incorporated or who is proxiying you. >You do not need to abide by UK laws, even if your website is accessible from there. The UK government does not agree.

But its still not the UK government's decision. They don't have sovereignty over other nations, as much as they'd like to think they do. All they can legally do is bitch and moan and order UK ISPs to block. There's no action they can legally take against Imgur.

>There's no action they can legally take against Imgur.

This is a very, very dangerous game to play.

This is how employees of your business on vacation in the UK end up in jail.

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#68

Post by pixl97 »

IanCal wrote: post #35
bArray wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory, HackerNews should be concerned. There is no prevention of children using the site, and potentially "harmful content" could be access either on or through the site. Being an aggregator doesn't seem to be a get-out.

This has nothing to do with harmful content it’s about managing children’s data you collect.

So if I (not really) a 13 year old of the UK provide my email address to HN, how is that managed?

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#69

Post by cudgy »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #50
cjs_ac wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not specific to the UK: many developed countries are cracking down on Internet businesses. There's going to be an awful lot of regulation, and it will be incompatible between different countries. The one-model-fits-the-whole-world style of business is over: you're going to be confined to national borders again. The opinion polls are clear: the normies want this.

> The opinion polls are clear: the normies want this. Giving normies the vote was a mistake.

So only snobby elitists get to vote?

Re: Imgur pulls out of UK as data watchdog threatens fine

#70

Post by satellite2 »

cjs_ac wrote: post #33
turblety wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's clear to me, it's a huge risk for any company to allow access to UK visitors at this stage. All companies should be blocking all UK visitors. It's just too much risk for them to take. The fault is obviously an incompetent and authoritarian UK government, but that's what the UK overlords have agreed.

It's not specific to the UK: many developed countries are cracking down on Internet businesses. There's going to be an awful lot of regulation, and it will be incompatible between different countries. The one-model-fits-the-whole-world style of business is over: you're going to be confined to national borders again. The opinion polls are clear: the normies want this.

Where do you get your conclusion from?
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