Open Rights Group
@openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org  ·  activity timestamp 7 days ago

How's it going since the UK Online Safety Act slammed an age gate on the Internet?

Age verification providers with dodgy privacy policies, over-moderation of content, scammers scheming and sites closing down.

Here's a week in the life of an unworkable law ⬇️

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/the-great-british-firewall-age-verification-has-failed/

#OnlineSafetyAct #onlinesafety#OSA #privacy #ageverification #ageassurance #ukpolitics #ukpol #freedomofexpression #censorship #netplurality
Toni Aittoniemi
@gimulnautti@mastodon.green replied  ·  activity timestamp 7 days ago
@openrightsgroup I don’t even think a private company SHOULD be allowed to run an age-verification service!

Critical matters private personal information should be exclusively handled by the state, with independent security audits mandatory.

You hand that data over to the private sector once, it’s going to be hacked or sold and that’s it, and you can’t vote the fuckers out who fucked it up.
Open Rights Group
@openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org replied  ·  activity timestamp 7 days ago
@Intellectual_Resistance The idea of a VPN ban was suggested by Heidi Alexander MP, but downplayed by the Secretary of State, Peter Kyle MP. While a ban isn’t government policy atm, they’ve just threatened platforms with fines for promoting VPNs to UK under 18s. It’s a moving situation and this latest announcement does little to dampen rumours of a ban.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/07/uk-government-warns-promoting-the-use-of-vpns-could-attract-fines.html