Retro RelicsAug 23, 2025
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The UK's Online Safety Act's push to protect kids online through content blocking and age checks sounds good—until you look deeper. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/blocking-access-harmful-content-will-not-protect-children-online-no-matter-how
Blocking Access to Harmful Content Will Not Protect Children Online, No Matter How Many Times UK Politicians Say So

The UK is having a moment. In late July, new rules took effect that require all online services available in the UK to assess whether they host content considered harmful to children, and if so, these services must introduce age checks to prevent children from accessing such content. Online...

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Aug 23, 2025 at 3:04pmTypefully
Show threadRetAug 23, 2025

@eff as the article does point out, it's because it's not about protecting kids. It never was and it never will be. It's about controlling expression online. They know a "crunch point" is coming and controlling speech online will be necessary for the current system of government to survive.

They'd love a world where every packet you send is signed and tied to a real-world identity, end-to-end. Every site subject to rigorous controls (the OSA basically already requires that).

Nothing scares the powerful more than losing that power.

Show threadRiverAug 25, 2025

@ret @eff Ideally, they'd want to forge everyone's signatures as well

"Here's an official ceritifed 3rd party that'll take good care your symmetric keys, and you can access your profile via a simple SMS"

:(

Show threadGordonbpAug 23, 2025
@eff I know a young person who was groomed via Snapchat. This bill does nothing to combat that sort of abuse which IMHO is much worse than viewing p*rn..
Show threadManitouMCMLXVAug 30, 2025
@eff The British effort of blocking access online is only a cheap excuse made for people, who not question such decisions at all. First and foremost this is nothing but a measurement to oppress the "common folks", coming from the British (self-announced) elites, in other words: British classical and money nobility, who want to increase their social distance to the common people even more.