Bonum Certa Men Certa

Online Safety Act Tries to Accomplish the Impossible

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 03, 2025,
updated Aug 03, 2025

Hubris. Dumb politicians and dumb policies that are hard to enforce effectively:

PRESS RELEASE: United Kingdom goes after Apple’s encrypted data

Somebody (MinceR) asked me in IRC about the UK’s Online Safety Act, which may or will apply to me. To quote him, "what's the concern anyway? minors being able to use the Internet for anything? like, anything at all?"

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has a lobby-driven take on it (i.e. the usual) and my initial reaction to the above question/s was: "i didn't follow that closely or saw what "content" they deem harmful, but i generally agree with the sentiment that 1) there is a lot of crap online; 2) that crap has worse effect for a person with less life experience; see what australia does about under 16s right now" (informal, IRC). Prior to that I said "it tackles a real issue the wrong way [as] the concern is legit, the solution is not".

An associate of ours is questioning the "underlying process within the EFF which led to the decision to have [this article] written", so we're doing our own.

So let's start with the basics.

What is the UK’s Online Safety Act? The premise is, we need to "protect" young people and adults online from "bad" things online (not limited to "content").

Who does this "protecting"? What are the criteria for "harms"?

Therein lies a key problem. Once implemented, those things can change. For instance, it can be asserted that some site critical of the government must be blocked. Also, what's deemed unsuitable for young people (how young?) will also be classified as unsuitable for adults.

So what are the solutions to "bad" things (whatever counts as bad) online? Blocking? Warnings? Delisting?

For sure this isn't a new problem. The media (like radio) has long dealt with those sorts of issues. In some cases, in order to get certified (or licensed) a channel or station or newspaper or whatever would have to meet some quality criteria.

Why is the Web (or the Net in general) any different? Could little kids not manage to get their hands on some Playboy Magazine (or even pornography) before the Web? Nonsense. Regarding grooming*, there are already laws against that, the Online Safety Act would introduce nothing unprecedented in that regard.

Regarding kids and pornography, Ryan calls this "I'm doing this because I know I'm not supposed to." He says: "Children have a tendency to rebel."

See, aside from VPNs and all sorts of means for bypassing restrictions, kids were always able to circumvent censorship and the challenge gave some of them an extra "thrill".

In my personal view, the UK Government - due to its lack of consultation with the right stakeholders - is trying to accomplish something that's close to impossible and would be expensive to enforce.

All I can say is, "good luck with that!"

The same is true for encryption in the UK. I use encryption in my communications every day; I don't care if the government likes it or not and I don't use GAFAM.

_____

* "I have a comment on things that are harmful to minors," Ryan says in IRC. "When I was about 14 years old, there was a guy in South Bend, Indiana who told me his name was "Joey" I can't remember how he spelled his last name, but I can remember what it was phonetically "Shafer" maybe. Anyway, he started trying to groom me and was sending me naked pictures of himself through email and AOL Instant Messenger. He said that he had a teenage boy that was 15 that he "had sex with", and eventually "Joey" told me he was 38 years old. The local police department had no idea what to do about it because they had no clue what to do about things that happened on the internet, even though it was in the same state. A lot has changed since then, and there's still disgusting people who are sending nudes to kids. But it's over things like Instagram and Facebook and whatever they're using, where it's practically guaranteed they'll be caught just for sending it because the system is set up to spy on people already. Plus those companies log everything so if they don't get caught right away, they will as soon as the kid screams to their parents there's some gross guy on the internet or, when the "child" turns out to be the police. It's not a state secret that the police are a LOT better at catching these people today than they were in the late 90s and people still do it. There will always be plenty of "dumb ones" to catch because all the dummies out there who are gross and like kids don't think they'll be caught. There's probably no class of criminal that the police want to bust more. It justifies there being a "police department" even when most of what they do is bullshit. They have to do some legitimate public safety work because if they did none at all, nobody would tolerate them. So the police pitch themselves as "Hey at least we're keeping gross people away from kids." "

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Bailing Out GAFAM, Giving Taxpayers' Money to Failing Companies, and Trying to Outlaw Lawsuits Against Them
What would the late Lincoln have said?
Men Who Abuse Women Should Never Spend Over 3 Years of the UK High Court's Time
This demonstrates that we need a reform in the UK
 
Links 25/08/2025: ‘Panama Playlists’ and Live Nation/Ticketmaster Suit Aims at Class Action
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Empathy Towards Autistic People and Old Gadgets
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Datacentres Versus Water Supplies and "The IPv6 Divide"
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Financial Strain
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Distros Ought to Replace Firefox (and Firefox ESR) With Something Like LibreWolf
Perhaps it's come to replace Firefox
Father of Julian Assange Said the US Government Was Trying to Bankrupt WikiLeaks, Now the Assange Family Promotes Fake Currencies
Using the name for bad purposes?
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) Inc. Lost 2 Million Dollars Last Year and Its Chief Took a Salary Increase of Almost $6,000
Another year or two like this... and the SFC will be bankrupt [...] Hallmark of mismanagement
The "New Techrights" Turns Two Very Soon
Accomplishing something each year is what's important, not merely "finishing" another year
Gulf Nations Leave Microsoft Behind
How much lower will Microsoft stoop in an effort to raise money from oil-rich lenders?
How to Combat IRC Trolls (in Our Experience)
Today I want to share my experience (or knowledge) of how to deal with IRC trolls
The Register MS Needs to Stop Participating in the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype, But It Gets Paid to Participate in This Hype
the publisher (The Register MS) wants to have it both ways
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Living With Your Parents, Zürich Zoo, and Macondo
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 24, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 24, 2025
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Signal on OpenBSD and Keyboard Layouts Compared
Links for the day
Links 24/08/2025: Microsoft Settles Data Breach Lawsuits and Climate Change Causes Heatwaves, Water Shortages
Links for the day
CachyOS is Rising Fast, But Slopfarms Are 'Googlebombing' It
CachyOS receives more media attention
No Reason for Red Hat Relief Yet (Layoff Rumours)
the execution could be stalled, delayed, or scheduled for some time after people come back from holiday
GNU/Linux 6%, Windows 60% in Venezuela, Suggests statCounter
The cash cows are dying
Mass Layoffs Continue at Microsoft This Month (Remaining Workers See Conditions That Deteriorate)
So far this month (one week remaining) we saw at least two waves of layoffs at Microsoft
How SPAM E-mails With Windows-Centric Files Get Twisted as Linux Threats, Then Slopfarms Spread the Word
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
Links 24/08/2025: Heatwaves Threaten Workers, Maldives Versus Press freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Digital Cameras and Printers
Links for the day
Links 24/08/2025: GAFAM Lie About Pollution and Slop's Carbon Footprint, The Guardian Says Slop ("Hey Hi") is a Bubble That Will Send Stock Markets Into a Freefall
Links for the day
80% of the Sponsored (Fake) Articles in The Register MS Are Promotions of Ponzi Schemes (Unethical Money), the Rest is Banned Chinese Business
Is that an ethical way to make money? No.
The UEFI Restricted Boot 'Time Bomb' is About to Go Off in a Few Weeks
Garrett was the first person to face sanctions (like muting) in our IRC channels because of his abuse; worse yet, he hijacked other people's names and then locked them out of their own accounts
Should Currys PCWorld Start Voiding Warranties of Users of Vista 11?
If a person's laptop has a mechanical issue, should this person replace GNU/Linux with Vista 11 for the repair shop? Only to damage the SSD?
Newer is Not Always Better, and It's Possible That 'Peak' is the Past
People creating their own platforms means progress, whereas centralisation (like moving from blogs to social control media) is the opposite of progress
LLM Hype is Sowing Destruction: It Contributes to DDoS Attacks and Makes the Web Less Accessible (JavaScript "R U Human?" Tests)
If it was googlebot, it would be possible to argue that you'd at least then get referral traffic from Google Search. With LLMs, all you get is plagiarised.
Links 24/08/2025: New York Times Talks About Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Upgrading Debian and Mobile-indifferent Design
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 23, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 23, 2025
Richard Stallman's Talk in Buenos Aires Scheduled for 16 November 2025 (a Month After FSF Turns 40)
they've just updated their site and Stallman is listed first
Nobody is "Replaced by AI", It's Just a Smokescreen for Jobs Being Eliminated by Lack of Money (Too Much Debt) and Offshoring
It's also why many make the jokes about the "I" in "AI" being "India" or "Indians"
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, WebProNews, LinuxSecurity, and the Serial Slopper
The bubble needs to burst, but even then the Web will be left with residues of these slopfarms
Links 23/08/2025: Science, War, and Important Win for the British Media Against SLAPPers Who Abuse Women
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/08/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Back to Oldschool
Links for the day
"Deserved Victory" for "Women That Suffered"
"GNM defended its reporting as being both true and in the public interest and in a judgment on Friday"
The US Government is Now in the Business (Literally!) of Saving Microsoft and Intel
This means that President TACO/Cheeto now has greater financial incentive to also prop up Microsoft and Windows
Links 23/08/2025: onmicrosoft.com as Spam Cannon, The Cheeto-Intel Deal Is Official
Links for the day
Wired Complained About LLM Slop Only Days Before It Got Caught Doing That Itself
Never throw stones in a glass house
IBM "Value" Down 14.16% in a Month, Red Hat Layoffs Allegedly Discussed 12 Days Ago
"IBM is a dinosaur. Dinosaurs get extinct when the don't keep up."
We're Seeing More Countries Where Windows Isn't Even in Second Place Anymore (Third or Worse)
In a way, Microsoft can barely even hold onto second place anymore
Microsoft Workers on Canonical's Payroll
If you want something that's sort of like Ubuntu but is not controlled by Canonical, then look into Linux Mint, Debian, or LMDE
GNU/Linux Climbs to 4% in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone isn't a very rich country (to say the least), but it's better off than some of its neighbours
The SLAPPS Run Out of Oxygen Because They're Abuse of Process
At the end of the day we plan to publish over 1,000 articles explaining what happened
The Register MS Gets Paid by the Employer of the Previous Editor in Chief to Promote the "AI" Ponzi Scheme, Which Does Considerable Damage to the Web and to Online Journalists
The Register MS can 'badmouth' slop all it wants; it gets paid to inflate this bubble. It's actively participating in it.
Soon It'll be Autumn, Time to Repair Things
Where they don't charge an arm and a leg
Doing Our Best to Cover Software Patents When the Mainstream Media Does Not
Even the FSF has its limits
Gemini Links 23/08/2025: August Questions and Network Solutions
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 22, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 22, 2025