Earlier quoted context omitted.
Might makes right I guess.
Now apply your critique to Ofcom.
Gladly. In practice it’s true, but that doesn’t make it morally justified.
4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
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Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#692Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the fact 4chan instructed a lawyer shows it does.
The lawyer is taking the case pro-bono. I am not sure why you think running a website where people are free to say awful things about powerful people would be profitable.
> The lawyer is taking the case pro-bono.
What difference does that make?
> I am not sure why you think running a website where people are free to say awful things about powerful people would be profitable.
I didn't say anything about them being profitable. And again, what different would that make?
Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#693Earlier quoted context omitted.
The UK I don't think has arrested anyone for running a website.
I don't think it's a great argument considering that the law in question is the Online Safety Act 2023.
There are a lot of things you can worry about in life. I'm not sure not visiting countries due to things zero people have had a problem with is productive. I'd be more worried visiting the US with the ICE stuff, although I accept that's rare but there's real cases like https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton...
Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#694Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#695Earlier quoted context omitted.
Am I reading these views on HN? I had to check, it seems yes. :)
It used to be widely known that tech nerds are socially impaired. Then they built the future and earned a lot of money and status, and now Silicon Valley is a hotbed of neofascist thought. Turns out that if you give enough power to people who wrangle machines, they start thinking about wrangling people the same way. Nerds are extremely dangerous. Through their work they quickly absorb the axiom of "predictability is…
This was already happening, it's just they were on your team and you were happy. One of the most obvious things to have happen is the overriding power of the left in tech and all the right (and centre-left) people warning that when the pendulum swings all the left-wing people who love giving authority more power will regret it. As though all authoritarian left wing countries in history were not evidence enough, they have to learn the lesson the hard way.
Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#696520k sounds like a lot until you realize it's basically unenforceable if the company just ignores it
Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#697Ofcom is currently threatening a Canadian forum that exists to help people with depression. Ofcom claims that geoblocking blocking the UK is "insufficient": > I've also gone back to Ofcom explicitly telling them the UK was now geoblocked (twice now) and I received a response that this was insufficient. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1rk690v/i_ru... Ofcom really thinks that their laws apply gl…
The tricky part is that geoblocking is inherently porous
Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#698The response from Ofcom doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. If you are to sell a toy in the UK you must be a British company. (and must pay VAT and comply with British safety standards). If a consumer buys from overseas and imports a product then they do not have British consumer protections. Which is why so much aliexpress electrical stuff is dangerous (expecially USB chargers) yet it continues to be legally imported. Jus…
I was surprised by Ofcom trying to use that analogy as it's not at all relevant. 4Chan isn't selling anything in the UK, so why are Ofcom harping on about consumer protection? It's a stupid law and Ofcom are stupid. I wish that Labour hadn't continued with implementing the Tories authoritarian law, but then Labour seem to be a Tory-Lite party but with just less blatant corruption.
theres no mainstream anti-authoritarian party in the UK.
Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#699People here seem to be thinking this a UK/Europe-specific phenomenon, but there's plenty of examples of the US "seizing" sites that were never hosted in the USA either, and even put pressure on countries to extradite people involved even if they never broke any laws in the country they're living in. One I remember was a site hosting streams of the 2022 football world cup. Or a number of Iranian-affiliated news sites…
The concern here is that regulators are starting to assume global reach by default, even when that leverage isn't obvious
Re: 4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches
#700People here seem to be thinking this a UK/Europe-specific phenomenon, but there's plenty of examples of the US "seizing" sites that were never hosted in the USA either, and even put pressure on countries to extradite people involved even if they never broke any laws in the country they're living in. One I remember was a site hosting streams of the 2022 football world cup. Or a number of Iranian-affiliated news sites…
I have worked for a company that was threatened by the US to not offer services to several countries or face criminal charges in the US. I'm talking about a saas nothing strange. We were too small and bent, also US customers were 30% of the total which made it a non choice.
This is probably the part people underestimate