Imgur blocks UK access

[demographic]

Postimg.

 

[Broch]

Personally, I think, using any cloud image site is a risk for you and the forums you post on

 

[Pattree]

@demographic Yep. That shows up on my iPhone.

 

[Nice65]

Nord VPN gets round it. Didn't when set to a default Argentina, but set to US (I chose Dallas) the pics show.

 

[Billy-o]

I don't blame the companies, they do what they do according to their own reasons. But the UK Govt. reliance on foreign-owned data/cloud services could leave them unstuck,
If either the UK makes silly demands or, say, Trump or the US tells them to. e.g. Bezos, as owner of the New York Times, restricted their previous reporting ability to comment or criticise Trump/US Govt. for fear of what he would do to the Amazon business/model.
From the point of personal data access/protection of your own data, (as opposed to that held by 3rd parties) reliance on cloud storage for disaster recovery and records (e.g. as Imgur) alone is not enough.

It'd be good if the UK, or just Europe in general, were to sink a lot of funds into developing their own large language model. Devise a commonly owned AI, then Musk, Zuckerberg, Altman etc. can go whistle

 

[slowworm]

Personally, I think, using any cloud image site is a risk for you and the forums you post on

The news was eventually covered by the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo

If you need age checks to post/see photos the I wonder how long until forums like this one are forced to do the same?

 

[matarius777]

The censorship in China and N. Korea used to worry me, and here we are.

Just read of a couple who had to get their young kids to show them how to use a VPN to get around it.

Exactly! I remember all the things we used to say about East Germany and Russia back in the 70s, the Stasi, state control, spying on its own citizens etc. but, like you say, here we are! It’s just so sad.

 

[Broch]

I really don't think we are comparing like for like. I am all for protecting children from being exploited and I am all for there being rules about the gathering and use of personal information - those are the things Imgur are railing against.

In this country, we are free to criticize and complain about our politicians, our police, and even our royalty, in public.

 

[nigelp]

The news was eventually covered by the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo

If you need age checks to post/see photos the I wonder how long until forums like this one are forced to do the same?

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[Chris]

Why on earth would that happen? Imgur hosts pornographic images and adult only content.

You need to be over 18 to buy alcohol or top shelf magazines. What’s the fuss about?

Imgur doesn't do that within it's terms of service, they banned pornographic content on there years ago. https(REMOVETHIS)://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/articles/31844016762779-Explicit-content-on-Imgur

The problem here is that the government are saying that they must do proof of age checks just in case someone uploads something deemed as adult. Which you could do on this forum or any other forum or service which allows user uploaded photos, even though it's against the rules.

Your comparison with alcohol or top shelf magazines doesn't work here.

 

[nigelp]

Exactly! I remember all the things we used to say about East Germany and Russia back in the 70s, the Stasi, state control, spying on its own citizens etc. but, like you say, here we are! It’s just so sad.

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[nigelp]

Imgur doesn't do that within it's terms of service, they banned pornographic content on there years ago.

The problem here is that the government are saying that they must do proof of age checks just in case someone uploads something deemed as adult. Which you could do on this forum or any other forum or service which allows user uploaded photos, even though it's against the rules.

Your comparison with alcohol or top shelf magazines doesn't work here.

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[Chris]

They say that but it’s used to post images to Reddit adult only sub reddits.

You could do that with any image hosting site or web server, including this one.

 

[slowworm]

Why on earth would that happen? Imgur hosts pornographic images and adult only content.

I'll take your word for it, from my point of view I've been blocked from seeing pictures of wildlife.

The ICO seem to be going after it because it hasn't implemented safeguards for children, not because of the content. I'd like to know more details but it would seem possible the same safeguards will be required for any site that allows access to children.

As for VPNs, yes they can be used and are used a great deal by children.

 

[nigelp]

You could do that with any image hosting site or web server, including this one.

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[nigelp]

I'll take your word for it, from my point of view I've been blocked from seeing pictures of wildlife.

The ICO seem to be going after it because it hasn't implemented safeguards for children, not because of the content. I'd like to know more details but it would seem possible the same safeguards will be required for any site that allows access to children.

As for VPNs, yes they can be used and are used a great deal by children.

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[Chris]

Unless you ran your own server and image hosting service (like Imgur), you would be bound by the rules of the hosting company. They would cut you/this site off from being hosted because it would break the rules of service.

The rules of the image hosting company Imgur state that you're not allowed to host explicit content and if it's reported to them they remove it and ban you.

 

[nigelp]

The rules of the image hosting company Imgur state that you're not allowed to host explicit content and if it's reported to them they remove it and ban you.

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[Chris]

Thats good then.

So we're agreed that they shouldn't have the government force them to verify ages just to view the website which explicitly bans explicit content. Good stuff.

 

[nigelp]

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