Nothing the UK government wants to do with the internet is making it safe for children.
No one is going to argue agaisnt child safety.
This is about control and censorship.
Never let any govt control the internet.
Good for wikipedia with the subtle dig about not wanting user data. I imagine who does.
How long after govt control of the internet before your browsing history starts affecting your car insurance or job prospects or whatever else.
Everyone already scours your social media to find a reason not to hire you. You think the govt doesnt want in on that action?
Why would they need to get the age of readers.. if you really want to jerk it to a diagram of a pussy, go for it…
US organisation?
Want to operate in Europe?
Follow European laws.
Not a foreign, outdated constitution that’s already led to one civil war and looks like it’s stoking a second.
> the House of Lords debated an amendment from Conservative peer Lord Moylan that would exempt services “provided for the public benefit”
There should be no such exception. The rules should be applied as strictly to an online encyclopaedia as to anyone else. If Wikipedia ceases all operations in the country or is blocked as a result, perhaps it will help people find the appropriate level of disdain to feel for this nonsensical legislation.
If this govt wants to protect kids, then it should start with the basics
Ensure kids have access to a good education, great healthcare, live in decent warm homes, can access nourishing food, rely on effective social services. They are the important basics this govts is failing on now
Age verification is a trojan horse, there are better ways to protect kids
This whole bill shows how out of touch thei Government is. They never heard of a VPN to bypass age checks?
If mandatory age checks go through for adult web content, that’s it, I’m switching to a VPN.
Then they’ll be blocked in the UK. The government don’t care.
We don’t need wikipedia, we are the UK. We have Brexit. We have taken back control. If wikipedia won’t do what we want we will have Brekipedia and it will be glorious! Nothing can go wrong.
I’m reminded of the [Virgin Killer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Watch_Foundation_and_Wikipedia) fiasco (potentially controversial and NSFW image), where some UK regulator decided they didn’t like an image on Wikipedia and accidentally blocked the entire UK from editing…
The game of how much overt fascism a government can push through in 2 years.
Well done to Wikipedia. Unequivocally the correct call. Age verification to look at an encyclopaedia is an insane idea.
I’m a bit worried this will play into the government’s awful controlling hands though. Blocking the largest source of free information which has ever existed would be useful for keeping people ignorant and easy to manipulate.
The whole bill starts with the wrong premise. Instead of people having to verify that they are adults it’s much easier to have a shortlist of sites that are suitable for children.
Devices sold for children could be limited to a walled garden of safe sites. Any site wanting to be in that section could apply for validation, and the government could add sites that they believe to be suitable.
Parents can decide if they want to give their child a restricted or unrestricted device, in the same way they can decide if they will let their child play on the streets unsupervised, of take them to the park.
It’s much easier to get agreement from a device manufacturer or retailer selling products here than it is to lock down a website hosted overseas.
It’s never going to work, everyone will just fire up a VPN and access the internet like the rest of the civilised world.
Funny how the government only “cares about children” when it suits them.
Letting poor children starve? Not the state’s problem.
Children might be able to read educational articles about s3x? Yikes, block Wikipedia!
Thank fuck Boris isn’t still in charge or he’d have Jennifer Arcuri delivering on the online safety bill.
16 comments
Nothing the UK government wants to do with the internet is making it safe for children.
No one is going to argue agaisnt child safety.
This is about control and censorship.
Never let any govt control the internet.
Good for wikipedia with the subtle dig about not wanting user data. I imagine who does.
How long after govt control of the internet before your browsing history starts affecting your car insurance or job prospects or whatever else.
Everyone already scours your social media to find a reason not to hire you. You think the govt doesnt want in on that action?
Why would they need to get the age of readers.. if you really want to jerk it to a diagram of a pussy, go for it…
US organisation?
Want to operate in Europe?
Follow European laws.
Not a foreign, outdated constitution that’s already led to one civil war and looks like it’s stoking a second.
> the House of Lords debated an amendment from Conservative peer Lord Moylan that would exempt services “provided for the public benefit”
There should be no such exception. The rules should be applied as strictly to an online encyclopaedia as to anyone else. If Wikipedia ceases all operations in the country or is blocked as a result, perhaps it will help people find the appropriate level of disdain to feel for this nonsensical legislation.
If this govt wants to protect kids, then it should start with the basics
Ensure kids have access to a good education, great healthcare, live in decent warm homes, can access nourishing food, rely on effective social services. They are the important basics this govts is failing on now
Age verification is a trojan horse, there are better ways to protect kids
This whole bill shows how out of touch thei Government is. They never heard of a VPN to bypass age checks?
If mandatory age checks go through for adult web content, that’s it, I’m switching to a VPN.
Then they’ll be blocked in the UK. The government don’t care.
We don’t need wikipedia, we are the UK. We have Brexit. We have taken back control. If wikipedia won’t do what we want we will have Brekipedia and it will be glorious! Nothing can go wrong.
I’m reminded of the [Virgin Killer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Watch_Foundation_and_Wikipedia) fiasco (potentially controversial and NSFW image), where some UK regulator decided they didn’t like an image on Wikipedia and accidentally blocked the entire UK from editing…
The game of how much overt fascism a government can push through in 2 years.
Well done to Wikipedia. Unequivocally the correct call. Age verification to look at an encyclopaedia is an insane idea.
I’m a bit worried this will play into the government’s awful controlling hands though. Blocking the largest source of free information which has ever existed would be useful for keeping people ignorant and easy to manipulate.
The whole bill starts with the wrong premise. Instead of people having to verify that they are adults it’s much easier to have a shortlist of sites that are suitable for children.
Devices sold for children could be limited to a walled garden of safe sites. Any site wanting to be in that section could apply for validation, and the government could add sites that they believe to be suitable.
Parents can decide if they want to give their child a restricted or unrestricted device, in the same way they can decide if they will let their child play on the streets unsupervised, of take them to the park.
It’s much easier to get agreement from a device manufacturer or retailer selling products here than it is to lock down a website hosted overseas.
It’s never going to work, everyone will just fire up a VPN and access the internet like the rest of the civilised world.
Funny how the government only “cares about children” when it suits them.
Letting poor children starve? Not the state’s problem.
Children might be able to read educational articles about s3x? Yikes, block Wikipedia!
Thank fuck Boris isn’t still in charge or he’d have Jennifer Arcuri delivering on the online safety bill.