Cory DoctorowGod Did the World a Favor by Destroying Twitter
https://www.wired.com/story/god-did-us-a-favor-by-destroying-twitter/
OldeNaturalist@pluralistic here in the UK, operation of a mastodon instance will soon be a minefield, thanks to the ill-conceived, all encompassing "online harms" bill.
The duties imposed upon even the smallest operators are extremely onerous, and come with significant penalties. Crazy.
eons Luna (Eonity)@oldenaturalist @pluralistic this reminds me of a similar-in-principle law passed not too long ago here in Singapore which dictates that social media platforms take down material considered “harmful” by the government, regardless of where they are hosted; the government can direct ISPs to block access to that platform if their directions are ignored. It would be interesting to see how this could work for Mastodon/Fediverse.
Singapore can now order social media sites to block access, as 'online safety' law kicks in
Effective from February 1, Singapore's Online Safety Act comprises a new section that regulates online communication services--specifically, social media platforms--that must comply with directives to block local access to "egregious" content or face potential fines.
@oldenaturalist @pluralistic eg: suppose material deemed harmful by the Singapore government is found on a particular Mastodon instance. Would the government then direct only that particular instance to take down that content, or direct it to all Mastodon/Fediverse instances? If that instance refuses to take down the content, would the Singapore government block access only to just that instance? Direct everyone to block that instance? Or block ActivityPub altogether?
@oldenaturalist @pluralistic I can already see that law being difficult, if not outright impossible to enforce on decentralised social media platforms like Mastodon and other Fediverse-enabled platforms. To be honest I myself find it a pretty stupid law; while the intentions are good, it could be very easily abused to silence rightful criticism and more, not to mention the difficulty in enforcing it.
@eonity @pluralistic it's clearly aimed entirely at censorship, under the time honoured tradition of "protection". It solves nothing, whilst handing over vast sums of money to age verification companies and vast troves of personal data to who the hell knows.
A bill that the CCP would be proud of.
@oldenaturalist @pluralistic it’s really upsetting that more and more governments around the world are implementing such laws, even those in countries traditionally seen as being quite open on free speech. It’s one thing to see my own country of Singapore passing such laws (free speech is generally not, and has never been a thing here), but it’s another when countries like the UK and Australia passes similar laws.