Online Safety Bill UK

[TravisPerkins]

Has anyone heard about the new Online Safety Bill announced here in the UK recently?

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ne-safety-bill

As this bill seems to be targeting internet companies that provide user uploaded adult content with massive fines (up to £18 million) to those companies that don't comply to the new laws I'm just wondering how it might affect these types of porn sites?

The UK government says the new bill will focus on online platforms where children are more likely to find pornography by chance.

This includes social media, but the law may not apply to many commercial adult sites because the current draft only covers websites containing user-generated content.

No doubt everyone will say all we need is to use a VPN to get around it like when this was was tried before, but that isn't the case this time.

There is a piece on the BBC today about this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57143746

[holzz]

I remember the 2017 Act. I didn't and still dont' get the issue. It's just having a page of age verification. That's a good thing IMHO. I get firms are pissed off they spent money, especially when the original law wasn't enforced. I guess blame Brexit. The Tories aren't saying they want to ban porn so I dopn't think it's that bad a law. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, I dunno.

[corbindallas]

Maybe as I get older I just see things in the context of individual liberty, but what's this about easily found porn sites? It is on parents to monitor their kids. Why does society have to childproof the world for loser parents? Sorry, this isn't directed at anyone just more an annoyance if that's what they're claiming.

No one believes any of this makes sense right?

[Stavros]

So far the UK Government's attempts to control and limit the internet have failed, I don't expect this one to go as far as some might want it to, and part of the reason is that it covers too much ground and is in some cases confusing, so that as it goes through Parliament, a lot of what is in the Bill now will have to be explained and clarified, and and may be dropped by the Govt. Also, this is a large bill, and it will take time to pass, unless the Govt decides to rush it through. This means it will not survive intact in its present form.

One aim, as usual, is to limit the availability of porn, regardless of the barriers that ISP's provide through adult content blocking softare aimed at parents restricting their children's ability to view anything, deliberately or by accident. It puts the burden of proof on 'Big Tech' with big fines if they fail.

The Bill identifies Category 1 and Category 2 companies as having legal responsibility, in the following terms -but does not or has not at this stage identified who they are-

"The government response confirmed that companies within the scope of the regime will have a duty of care towards users of their platform. The response also confirmed that the majority of companies within the scope of the regime will be deemed lower-risk Category 2 services, and will be required to take action against illegal content on their platforms. A smaller group of companies thought to pose a higher risk to users will be deemed Category 1 services, and these companies will also need to take action against legal but harmful content."

And it is not just porn that is the target, but fraud, including 'Romance Fraud' where some Nigeran Prince having declared his undyling love for Mabel (71) in Tring, diddles her out of £45,000. Work that one out -where is the website? Who owns it? Can the Govt take EE to court if Mabel used their online services?

Now go one stage further -
"Category 1 companies will have a duty to protect content of “democratic importance”, such as content promoting or opposing government policy or a political party. These companies will be forbidden from discriminating against particular viewpoints."

Does this mean that a Category 1 company can not exercise its editorial judgment and refuse to print content that it does not agree with? What does this mean?

"Category 1 companies will have a statutory duty to safeguard UK users’ access to journalistic content shared on their platforms. Accordingly, it has been confirmed that articles by recognised news publishers shared on in-scope services should not be removed as part of a platform’s content moderation obligations."
https://mediawrites.law/draft-online...idered-by-mps/

I think right now the main problem is the online abuse that exists in social media platforms of the kind levelled at politicians and media people, where the key element is the anonymity of the people using it. If a law making anonymous posts illegal, I wonder how long social media platforms would last? The other option is for websites to be obliged to levy a fee for access, something Facebook would oppose, which Rupert Murdoch has camapaigned for. But note that Twitter is now proposing a monthly subscrption service for $2.99 called 'Twitter Blue' but where the use of the word 'Blue' does not imply porn, just an editing function equivalent I suppose to a 'blue pencil' but online.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/15...ption-service/

[TravisPerkins]

Twitter will be the first to be targeted as it is the main 'go to' for kids with a smartphone who want to view porn. And probably in revenge for banning Trump!

No one in their right mind is going to pay a subscription to see porn tweets either so that wont ever get off the ground.

As for the bill taking a long time to pass. We have Boris the Animal in charge here in the UK and whatever he wants done gets done more or less instantly. Don't forget he has a massive majority in Parliament

We lead the world in the Covid response thanks to his swift action on important issues.


Another fact to consider is the reliance on Twitter for professional porn outfits..... is that they rely on Twitter to promote their updates. I can see most of those ceasing to exist if Twitter stop allowing porn in their tweets

The reason the age verification bill was a non starter as it relied on the end user to buy the porn pass. As everyone would have just used a VPN it was doomed from the start.

[Stavros]

Twitter will be the first to be targeted as it is the main 'go to' for kids with a smartphone who want to view porn. And probably in revenge for banning Trump!
No one in their right mind is going to pay a subscription to see porn tweets either so that wont ever get off the ground.
As for the bill taking a long time to pass. We have Boris the Animal in charge here in the UK and whatever he wants done gets done more or less instantly. Don't forget he has a massive majority in Parliament
We lead the world in the Covid response thanks to his swift action on important issues.
Another fact to consider is the reliance on Twitter for professional porn outfits..... is that they rely on Twitter to promote their updates. I can see most of those ceasing to exist if Twitter stop allowing porn in their tweets
The reason the age verification bill was a non starter as it relied on the end user to buy the porn pass. As everyone would have just used a VPN it was doomed from the start.

"We lead the world in the Covid response thanks to his swift action on important issues." -I assume this is sarcasm on your part- Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand dealt with Covid better than us in the early stages.

I agree with most of your post, with one exception, which is the passage of the Bill. The dominant Conservative party in the Commons does have its 'keyboard warriors' who are distresed by the varied issues tangled up in what they ridicule as 'woke' culture, which means the Institutions owning up to the wealth they inherited from the Atlantic Slave Trade; Universities (or more likely Student Societies in Universities 'no platforming' speakers with offensive views on trans issues, for example); the BBC and so on. But it also has the Libertarians like Steve Baker who have already complained there is 'too much' Government and the State is invading people's space (think masks and social distancing advice), so I think some aspects of this Bill may have a rough ride. And none of it as far as I can see deals with the 'Dark Web' where anything goes.

I think the Twitter subscription service is for editing functions rather than censorship, and as long as platforms can fund their operations from advertising, then subscription only will not be attractive to customers, though as you know in the UK The Times and Telegraph are now mostly behind a paywall, though the occasional artice and review is open to view.

The other possibility is that the Bill will become law, but fail in operation, either because Category 1 and 2 companies are not prosecuted, or the case fails in Court.

[Stavros]

A revised version of the Bill will be introduced into the House of Commons today. There is an overview in the BBC link below, and two articles which discuss the implications, with regard to the general issues of 'free speech' and 'State censorship', plus the focus that is being made on 'Algorithms'.

Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has said Algorithms are the key, which suggests she has educated herself as to what they are, because earlier in her career

"Dorries arrived at a meeting with software giant Microsoft and immediately asked when they were going to get rid of algorithms, according to an official given an account of the meeting. She also raised the same issue in a separate stakeholder meeting, a lobbyist familiar with the exchange said."

Now she is saying that harmful content must be dealt with by the law, because of the Algorithms, thus, referring to children in particular, she said-

“It was not that they went online and looked for the means to do so, but because algorithms took them in that direction, whether it was to pro-anorexia sites, suicide chatrooms or self-harm sites,” she told MPs in November."
Nadine Dorries, Britain’s Big Tech slayer – POLITICO

BBC Overview of the Bill is here-
UK introduces exhaustive Online Safety Bill - BBC News

Discussion in New Statesman on Free Speech or Censorship here-
Is Nadine Dorries a free speech champion or censorship fanatic? - New Statesman

[rodinuk]

It just received Royal Assent and passes into law.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67221691

[Imatwork]

Although I completely agree with the concept of the Bill,its been aimed at the very demographic who have the skills to circumvent it unfortunately.