Online safety

[whelk]

Are the changes going make a difference? Anyone struggling for porn? All part of the govt wanting your data?

[benjii]

VPN downloads up 2,000%.

Lol.

[Lighthouse]

TBH I normally have a tug over stuff which is so niche and obscure that it doesn’t actually register as porn. So far I haven’t had to put any personal details in order to watch Delia Smith basting a four bird roast.

[AlexLaw76]

16 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

TBH I normally have a tug over stuff which is so niche and obscure that it doesn’t actually register as porn. So far I haven’t had to put any personal details in order to watch Delia Smith basting a four bird roast.

I can’t see what Lighthouse has written, says “content not found”

[RedArmy]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I can’t see what Lighthouse has written, says “content not found”

Might delete my vpn if that’s the case. 

[badgerx16]

2 hours ago, benjii said:

VPN downloads up 2,000%.

Lol.

Most of the free VPNs are buggy and prone to data harvesting.

[benjii]

13 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Most of the free VPNs are buggy and prone to data harvesting.

I know. That's why I use Pure VPN.

[trousers]

16 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

TBH I normally have a tug over stuff which is so niche and obscure that it doesn’t actually register as porn. So far I haven’t had to put any personal details in order to watch Delia Smith basting a four bird roast.

Spatchcock?

[hypochondriac]

I've paid for a vpn for years so I haven't seen anything.

[sockeye]

The whole saga has been a total own goal by Labour. Though I can't help but wonder if this is just them jumping the gun on the rest of the West. I suspect we will see it rolled out across a number of governments soon.

Edited Tuesday at 21:30 by sockeye

[hypochondriac]

11 hours ago, sockeye said:

The whole saga has been a total own goal by Labour. Though I can't help but wonder if this is just them jumping the gun on the rest of the West. I suspect we will see it rolled out across a number of governments soon.

It was started under Cameron so both major parties are culpable. I can't see Americans going for it and it's impossible to ban VPNs so it won't have much impact IMO.

[AlexLaw76]

8 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

It was started under Cameron so both major parties are culpable. I can't see Americans going for it and it's impossible to ban VPNs so it won't have much impact IMO.

Banning VPNs would be a very odd move by any Govt, considering having/using one is NCSC official guidance.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

Banning VPNs would be a very odd move by any Govt, considering having/using one is NCSC official guidance.

It's simply not going to happen. It may be that they attempt to ban free ones and shepherd you towards government approved VPNs for work purposes perhaps that would require age verification anyway. Anyone who knows what VPNs are and how they work know that won't work either. Maybe the goal is to make avoiding it difficult to the degree that many people will just not bother.  

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

It's simply not going to happen. It may be that they attempt to ban free ones and shepherd you towards government approved VPNs for work purposes perhaps that would require age verification anyway. Anyone who knows what VPNs are and how they work know that won't work either. Maybe the goal is to make avoiding it difficult to the degree that many people will just not bother.  

Yeah impossible, a lot of these VPN companies are in actually based/housed in florigen territories so they're not bound by 'UK or US' relegations as such. The closest we'd probably get is a media propaganda effort pushing a 'gov.uk VPN - Protect yourself' style service, that gullible people fall into.

China don't even ban VPN's - that's how people work over there and get around the 'Great Firewall of China'.

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Yeah impossible, a lot of these VPN companies are in actually based/housed in florigen territories so they're not bound by 'UK or US' relegations as such. The closest we'd probably get is a media propaganda effort pushing a 'gov.uk VPN - Protect yourself' style service, that gullible people fall into.

China don't even ban VPN's - that's how people work over there and get around the 'Great Firewall of China'.

Plus the last thing a VPN company wants is for it to be known that it cooperates with authorities and gives up identifying data to governments as that's a surefire way of torpedoing your business. They will fight it all the way and usually win depending in what jurisdiction they are in. 

[whelk]

39 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

It was started under Cameron so both major parties are culpable. I can't see Americans going for it and it's impossible to ban VPNs so it won't have much impact IMO.

I thought it was to stop kids easily getting to porn etc? Knowing how to get round that isn’t going to solve the issue, however that extra step of having VPN for some 11yo could easily hinder. 
 

Assume there are mountains of sites that won’t comply as well similar to dodgy gambling sites that aren’t subject to Gambling Commission rules and still take addicts that have self-excluded.
 

Edited Wednesday at 09:13 by whelk

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, whelk said:

I thought it was to stop kids easily getting to porn etc? Knowing how to get round that isn’t going to solve the issue, however that extra step of having VPN for some 11yo could easily hinder. 
 

Assume there are mountains of sites that won’t comply as well similar to dodgy gambling sites that aren’t subject to Gambling Commission rules and still take addicts that have self-excluded.
 

Some sites have simply blocked UK IPs to get Ofcom off their backs which is a pretty sad state of affairs. Wikipedia have apparently taken the government to court because of their categorisation under the act.

You had the weirdo government minister claiming Farage supports Saville and pleading with the people this morning to not use VPNs and to do the age verification like good citizens. It will be very interesting to see if the government look to go further here or if they just ignore how relatively ineffective it is and essentially say they've tried. 

[badgerx16]

There are sites explaining how to circumvent some of the verification systems without using a VPN.

 

Edited Wednesday at 10:57 by badgerx16

[hypochondriac]

56 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

There are sites explaining how to circumvent some of the verification systems without using a VPN.

 

Some people have used the character select screen from death stranding to circumvent the verification systems. It's absurd. 

[badgerx16]

14 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Some people have used the character select screen from death stranding to circumvent the verification systems. It's absurd. 

Putting magazines on the top shelf of newsagents didn't stop 15 year olds getting hold of them either.

Governments should learn that the Internet is not something that be directly controlled by legislation

[whelk]

4 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

Putting magazines on the top shelf of newsagents didn't stop 15 year olds getting hold of them either.

Governments should learn that the Internet is not something that be directly controlled by legislation

Think you might have different opinion if your daughter took her own life due to Facebook and Instagram pushing shit to make her feel more inadequate and depressed- all to make extra money rather than have someone to moderate and ensure sensible guidelines are being applied.

Yes, no one knows how to do it effectively but these bastards are sucking money out of economies and could do loads more.

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

Think you might have different opinion if your daughter took her own life due to Facebook and Instagram pushing shit to make her feel more inadequate and depressed- all to make extra money rather than have someone to moderate and ensure sensible guidelines are being applied.

Yes, no one knows how to do it effectively but these bastards are sucking money out of economies and could do loads more.

I agree totally on the lack of corporate responsibilty of SM companies, but I don't think the new legislation will prevent these things continuing.

[hypochondriac]

3 hours ago, whelk said:

Think you might have different opinion if your daughter took her own life due to Facebook and Instagram pushing shit to make her feel more inadequate and depressed- all to make extra money rather than have someone to moderate and ensure sensible guidelines are being applied.

Yes, no one knows how to do it effectively but these bastards are sucking money out of economies and could do loads more.

Do you think that questioning the way this act operates in practice puts you on the side of Jimmy Saville? 

[bpsaint]

Download opera browser, it had a built in vpn for those “ahem” special websites

[badgerx16]

From the BBC;

"Meanwhile, clips of parliamentary debates have also been swept up in the restrictions. A speech by Conservative MP Katie Lam, containing a graphic description of the rape of a minor by a grooming gang, is available to view without restriction on Parliament's official streaming website, ParliamentLive, but is restricted on X.

Lam, who was elected in 2024, wrote on social media: "The British state won't protect children from mass gang rape. But it will 'protect' adults from hearing about it.""

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3l0e4vr0ko

[benjii]

7 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

From the BBC;

"Meanwhile, clips of parliamentary debates have also been swept up in the restrictions. A speech by Conservative MP Katie Lam, containing a graphic description of the rape of a minor by a grooming gang, is available to view without restriction on Parliament's official streaming website, ParliamentLive, but is restricted on X.

Lam, who was elected in 2024, wrote on social media: "The British state won't protect children from mass gang rape. But it will 'protect' adults from hearing about it.""

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3l0e4vr0ko

She's obviously talking shit seeing as it's pn the Parliament Live site. Government didn't ask X to moderate it.

[hypochondriac]

6 hours ago, benjii said:

She's obviously talking shit seeing as it's pn the Parliament Live site. Government didn't ask X to moderate it.

Their shoddily written bill is responsible for over moderation.