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#onlinesafetyact

24 posts18 participants0 posts today

Sometimes, Ofcom bewilders me:

Ofcom has said that for small sites, the costs of complying [with the Online Safety Act] “are likely to be negligible or in the small thousands at most”.

Small sites, especially volunteer-run community sites, generally don't have "small thousands" to spend on legal advice. And even if they did, that's far from "negligible".

archive.ph/eRu0m

Ofcom guidance: "service providers should not host or permit content on your service that directs or encourages child users to circumvent the age assurance process or the access controls, for example by providing information about, or links to, a virtual private network (VPN) which may be used by children to circumvent the relevant processes."

If you run a forum about technology, say, your #OnlineSafetyAct obligations include censoring discussions of VPNs, Tor or other privacy-preserving tech.

So question for the OSA people out there: I’ve done a risk assessment for my mastodon instance (what a huge waste of time). Do I actually need to do anything with it, other than to keep it safe?

Do I need to publish it, or file it somewhere?

The UK Online Safety Act comes into effect today.

Its onerous duties may cause many small sites, blogs and fedi instances to shut down or geoblock UK users when faced with potential fines and penalties.

This won't keep children safe. It'll benefit large platforms like Facebook and X that are laying waste to content moderation.

theregister.com/2025/01/14/onl

The Register · It's not just Big Tech: The UK's Online Safety Act applies across the boardBy Lindsay Clark

Just published the Online Safety Act pages for my two web applications.

Viking Mind (bookmarks, out of scope):

vikingmind.uk/online-safety-ac

Pick a Date (polls + votes, in scope):

pickadate.uk/online-safety-act

Pick a Date will probably go through a couple more versions to tighten things up. I've also disabled comments on all my blogs.

Feels like a waste of time, but there's no exemption for small / low risk sites.

vikingmind.ukViking Mind - Online Safety Act

Shut vile death video site, families say, as Ofcom gets new powers
...
From Monday, Ofcom gets new powers to crack down on illegal content, but it may not be enough to close the site.

Ofcom has no powers to "shut" or "close" sites.

At most, it can seek an order from a court to compel ISPs on the UK to attempt to block access (which probably means abusing DNS).

And from the summer all sites must have robust age verification systems to prevent children accessing a range of content.

No, they don't.

Bravo, BBC. Another excellent job reporting the facts there.

#OnlineSafetyAct

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w1z2

Mike Haines
BBC NewsShut vile death video site, families say, as Ofcom gets new powersFamilies want a website showing deaths of their loved ones to be taken down, as the online regulator gets new powers.

I spent a good chunk of my weekend helping people running tiny, low risk, online services complete paperwork about the UK’s Online Safety Act, for zero discernible benefit.

So it is a bit galling that the main headline on the BBC this morning is about the government wanting to “slash red tape”.

I have spent one heck of a lot of time on the OSA, trying to help others with its burden, and it just seems so utterly unnecessary.

Continued thread

When it comes to blogs, Ofcom says one thing, the UK Online Safety Act says another.

This lack of clarity over whether blogs with comments are exempt will push small sites to shut down completely.

We need the UK government to tighten up the definitions and exemptions in the Act.

Read our explainer for more detail ➡️ openrightsgroup.org/blog/save-

Open Rights GroupSave our Sites: Deadline 17 MarchIncredible as it may seem, thanks to the Online Safety Act, dozens of harmless, safe, small websites are closing down by 17 March, rather than face threats of fines that could lose their operators their homes.
Continued thread

Under the UK Online Safety Act, small blogs, forums and fedi instances are faced with disproportionate requirements to:

⚫️ Check if they have UK users

⚫️ Do a risk assessment on whether kids might access the content, or if CSAM or terrorist material might be posted in the comments

⚫️ Put themselves at the risk of fines, and even prison sentences, if they fail to comply with Ofcom’s future directives

#SaveOurSites 🌐