UK Online Safety Regulations and impact on Forums and other things

rob

rob

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www.ofcom.org.uk

Time for tech firms to act: UK online safety regulation comes into force

People in the UK will be better protected from illegal harms online, as tech firms are now legally required to start taking action to tackle criminal activity on their platforms, and make them safer by design.
www.ofcom.org.uk www.ofcom.org.uk



One large forum shutting down https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/ - article on it here https://www.computing.co.uk/news/20...t-obligations-spark-concern-among-small-sites

I would imagine a few here run sass / forums / systems / apps etc that will be caught up under the act... what are you doing to mitigate it, if anything?
 
There was a plane crash once, NASA did a study on it afterwards. turned out there were so many things on the checklist, pilots just ignored it. Items on the checklists were there for manufacturers to cover their backsides, rather than the safety of the aircraft.

This is the state of the UK today, too many rules, people will just ignore them.

or most likely, host it offshore.
 
Agreed - far too many rules generally, although illegal online activity needs to be targeted as it is offline.

In this case, hosting offshore won't work:

"The rules apply to organisations big and small, from large and well-resourced companies to very small ‘micro-businesses’. They also apply to individuals who run an online service.

It doesn’t matter where you or your business is based. The new rules will apply to you (or your business) if the service you provide has a significant number of users in the UK, or if the UK is a target market."
 
diablo said:
if the service you provide has a significant number of users in the UK, or if the UK is a target market."
Click to expand...

What realistically will they do though? They can't even shut down firesticks.

Anyone involved in anything that breaks any of these rules will host it offshore on a .com. Only those who aren't causing any issues will stay here and carry the burden of the costs of implementing it.

"Good men do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad men will always find a way around them."
Plato
 
rob said:
www.ofcom.org.uk

Time for tech firms to act: UK online safety regulation comes into force

People in the UK will be better protected from illegal harms online, as tech firms are now legally required to start taking action to tackle criminal activity on their platforms, and make them safer by design.
www.ofcom.org.uk www.ofcom.org.uk



One large forum shutting down https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/ - article on it here https://www.computing.co.uk/news/20...t-obligations-spark-concern-among-small-sites

I would imagine a few here run sass / forums / systems / apps etc that will be caught up under the act... what are you doing to mitigate it, if anything?
Click to expand...
I've had a look at the cycling forum, and whilst the proprietor/mod Velocio is obviously very bright, it's clear from some of their other posts that they also have "issues".

At present, Velocio (who also runs the forum hosting platform Microcosm) seems to be the only one who has taken this decision, so it will be interesting to see whether others follow suit.

If, as Velocio suggests, the legislation lends itself to being weaponised by anyone who's unhappy with the moderation of a forum, then I can think of one forum proprietor who should be very worried indeed.
 
Wow, they're really trying to close the net (quite literally) on us and take control of what was supposed to be freedom for us all.
 
Make everything illegal and then choose who to prosecute depending on what their political views are.
 
  • Haha
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