I'm just waiting for all UK users to be banned from anything that isn't Facebook or X. It's absolutely ridiculous and a huge win for big tech as it locks us in to their platforms and their platforms only. Those of us with a bit of tech knowledge will work around it but it's infuriating.
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Uhh totally unrelated but... how hard is it to get fedi platforms working over the alt internets, like tor/i2p/ipfs/etc? I'm sure somebody somewhere must be working on that, right?
It is a thing it is being done. I can't remember the repo link but u can do it.
Social problems aren’t solved with technology 🤦♀️, it's great shame .online decided to abstain, but even greater shame UK illiterates desire fascistic anti-intellectualism.
They absolutely are. It's one thing to beg for the right to do something. It's entirely different to be able to just do it without the permission.
Did people forget how big of a deal the printing press was?
Of course I recall the printing press that still exists today. But the UK has chosen to censor itself politically, therefore technologically.
Unless you know of a magical “ignore law” technology, let me know it!
The Mozilla VPN with their Firefox extension (not yet on Linux), for example, lets you change the VPN server's country based on the domain you connect to and even bypass the VPN for certain domains. So, I believe it can be configured to select a U.S. VPN server, for example, when visiting a U.S. social site, but stay on the native connection when accessing BBC services. It uses Mullvad as the provider, actually, which is high quality. They can't be the only one.
The Internet always seems to find ways to bypass blocks.
6th with 70 monthly active users https://piefed.fediverse.observer/list
Piefed.social has 949, piefed.world 222
Piefed.social isn't as affected because they restrict the NSFW communities. Feddit.online doesn't have the restriction, so it's more exposed.
The fear is a complaint being made to Digital Ocean that a server they host is violating UK law. It would be much easier for DO to remove the server than to take any other action.
Ain't had no job to pass a bad law for their citizens. Now our chaps have to use VPN to come and talk with us! It's sad!
I’m confused, why are non-UK instances banning UK users? Are their admins located in the UK? Is anyone afraid of being extradited to UK because of their local laws? Do you block Saudi Arabia too because you can’t guarantee blasphemy laws are going to be upholded?
They believe that Ofcom could pressure their hosts to cut their services off if they don't comply with the act, or believe they could be fined.
How would that even work in another country? Wouldn’t Saudi Arabia pressure hosts for breaking blasphemy laws?
Yes, the U.S. and the U.K. have cooperation agreements for Civil actions.
Saudi Arabia has no soft power here. UK does.
Not saying that UK will here (I think they won't), but the relationship dynamics are a bit different.
Saudi Arabia has plenty of soft and hard power too. Possibly more so than UK. I think we’re getting overly dramatic. UK doesn’t have enough pull to start extraditing thousands of people for not complying with their weirdo laws.
Not when it comes to tech. You think the USA would let Saudi Arabia force the total shut-down of a USA-based site because they allowed people to make fun of Islam? Come on. Saudi Arabia just quiety blocks sites.
UK doesn’t have enough pull to start extraditing thousands of people for not complying with their weirdo laws.
I agree with you there too. The forum owners here fear Ofcom pressuring their hosts to force compliance, not extradition. I think its misguided and unlikely (especially for small arms of the fediverse) but it is what it is.
A public enforcement action by Ofcom could make it difficult because payment processors can refuse to work with the site owner, domain registrars could be pressured to suspend the domain, and hosting providers might refuse to provide services.
Who needs this drama?

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