Imgur blocks UK access

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Interestingly, EOS Magazine (the UK based magazine for Canon Camera users) has just taken down it's online forum because it couldn't justify the necessary resources to make sure it could monitor and take action over the content to satisfy UK laws. Nothing to do with age verification, all to do with content.
 
Interestingly, EOS Magazine (the UK based magazine for Canon Camera users) has just taken down it's online forum because it couldn't justify the necessary resources to make sure it could monitor and take action over the content to satisfy UK laws. Nothing to do with age verification, all to do with content.

What content are they talking about that they need to monitor to satisfy UK laws?
 
Well, it's a photography magazine, so I guess there are a lot of photos. I haven't gone through the exact laws but my understanding is they are concerned about 'the incitement to violence' type rules.

Ah right. Photographing protests and the like?

Would hope that photography and journalism would be exempt from these things.
 
Could there be a wider message in this decision?

Britain used to be a major market force together with various combinations of nations throughout its history.

Is this the first indication that in global markets, the British market place is too small to be influential and our attempts to influence can simply be sidestepped, our Island avoided?
 
Could there be a wider message in this decision?

Britain used to be a major market force together with various combinations of nations throughout its history.

Is this the first indication that in global markets, the British market place is too small to be influential and our attempts to influence can simply be sidestepped, our Island avoided?
“First” indication? I don’t think it’s the first, just that you (or I) didn’t notice earlier ones much.
 
20 US states have banned adult content sites.

You still have freedom of expression and if you want to view adult only content you can either do age verification or use a VPN (just not a free one that actually tracks you!)
It’s not the porn sites I’m bothered about, it’s the fact that the government now has the power to block any site it doesn’t agree with, and it’s only going to get worse. We seem to be heading into an era where individuals are monitored whether they’ve done something illegal or not.
 
Anyway - this thread is moving into politics so I'll back off now.
I'm sure there's more than a hint of politics in the bans and the implementation of them.

Anyway, Mr Claycomb started the thread so it's his fault. (Can a mod mod a thread on over zealous government modding...)
 
Indeed, it’s Imgur that have decided not to bother with age verification, it’s not the government blocking it.

Varusteleka and many other European companies refused to import to the UK after Brexit, with Varu it was knives, but many companies just couldn’t be bothered to work out the VAT. We are a small marketplace in the UK.
 
But the rules are meant to apply to everyone, mainly including those who don't self-monitor. That's the point
 
One only has to look at this digital ID thing.
Indeed!

I signed the petition to say don't bring digital ID in.
The government has responded (quoted below) and basically said 'we are doing this no matter what you think'. Funny I don't remember it being in their manifesto at the last general election, but I suppose these things barely matter nowadays!

Government responded:

We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament to help tackle illegal migration, make accessing government services easier, and enable wider efficiencies. We will consult on details soon.

The Government has announced plans to introduce a digital ID system which is fit for the needs of modern Britain. We are committed to making people’s everyday lives easier and more secure, to putting more control in their hands (including over their own data), and to driving growth through harnessing digital technology. We also want to learn from countries which have digitised government services for the benefit of their citizens, in line with our manifesto commitment to modernise government.

Currently, when UK citizens and residents use public services, start a new job, or, for example, buy alcohol, they often need to present an assortment of physical documents to prove who they are or things about themselves. This is both bureaucratic for the individual and creates space for abuse and fraud. This includes known issues with illegal working and modern slavery, while the fragmented approach and multiple systems across Government make it difficult for people to access vital services. Further, there are too many people who are excluded, like the 1 in 10 UK adults who don’t have a physical photo ID, so can struggle to prove who they are and access the products and services they are entitled to.

To tackle these interlinked issues, we will introduce a new national digital ID. This is not a card but a new digital identity that will be available for free to all UK citizens and legal residents aged 16 and over (although we will consider through consultation if this should be age 13 and over). Over time, people will be able to use it to seamlessly access a range of public and private sector services, with the aim of making our everyday lives easier and more secure. It will not be compulsory to obtain a digital ID but it will be mandatory for some applications.

For example, the new digital ID will build on GOV.UK One Login and the GOV.UK Wallet to drive the transformation of public services. Over time, this system will allow people to access government services – such as benefits or tax records – without needing to remember multiple logins or provide physical documents. It will significantly streamline interactions with the state, saving time and reducing frustrating paperwork, while also helping to create opportunities for more joined up government services. International examples show how beneficial this can be. For instance, Estonia’s system reportedly saves each citizen hours every month by streamlining unnecessary bureaucracy, and the move to becoming a digital society has saved taxpayer money.

By the end of this Parliament, employers will have to check the new digital ID when conducting a ‘right to work’ check. This will help combat criminal gangs who promise access to the UK labour market in order to profit from dangerous and illegal channel crossings. It will create a fairer system between UK citizens and legal residents, crack down on forged documents, and streamline the process for employers, driving up compliance. Further, it will create business information showing where employers are conducting checks, so driving more targeted action against non-compliant employers.

For clarity, it will not be a criminal offence to not hold a digital ID and police will not be able to demand to see a digital ID as part of a “stop and search.”

Privacy and security will also be central to the digital ID programme. We will follow data protection law and best practice in creating a system which people can rightly put their trust in. People in the UK already know and trust digital credentials held in their phone wallets to use in their everyday lives, from paying for things to storing boarding passes. The new system will be built on similar technology and be your boarding pass to government. Digitally checkable digital credentials are more secure than physical documents which can be lost, copied or forged, and often mean sharing more information than just what is necessary for a given transaction.
The new system will be designed in accordance with the highest security standards to protect against a comprehensive range of threats, including cyber-attacks.

We will launch a public consultation in the coming weeks and work closely with employers, trade unions, civil society groups and other stakeholders, to co-design the scheme and ensure it is as secure and inclusive as possible. Following consultation, we will seek to bring forward legislation to underpin this system.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Click this link to view the response online:


This petition has over 100,000 signatures. The Petitions Committee will consider it for a debate. They can also gather further evidence and press the government for action.
 
Indeed!

I signed the petition to say don't bring digital ID in.
The government has responded (quoted below) and basically said 'we are doing this no matter what you think'. Funny I don't remember it being in their manifesto at the last general election, but I suppose these things barely matter nowadays!
The first thing they say in that reply to the petition is that it will curb illegal immigration. Even my Labour MP, who I wrote to, telling her I didn’t agree with digital id and I’d signed the petition, absolutely agreed that it wouldn't do a thing to curb it. Their reply also tries to claim it will help all the people who don’t have passports or driving licences as alternative id. Well, most of the people I’ve come across who don’t have such things, also don’t possess the smart phone that would be a pre-requisite for having a digital id, basically because they’re too poor to buy a smart phone (which, unlike the previous, simple phones, need to be replaced every five years or so, or the apps stop working because they’re no longer supported and there are no more security updates), and too poor to go abroad or drive, so both those so called reasons are null and void. It’s just a further intrusion and attempt to control our lives. As for the part about police not stopping people and demanding their id, why would they need to when your mourner movements will be constantly monitored anyway through the id app?
 
why would they need to when your mourner movements will be constantly monitored anyway through the id app?
I am still in the process of finding out about this. How will the ID track your movements? Will you be expected to use it when you are in shops making payments for instance?

Reason I ask is that in Canada, some kind of gov't produced photo ID (usually driving license) is required for things like getting on a domestic flight. Technically (actually, not even technically) you should have your driving license on you when you are driving and can be fined if you can't produce it there and then. And, your driving license will do for any number of formal identifications. Usually though, people just ask for your phone number if they want to check something about an account, or similar.

Your movements can be tracked that way, assuming it is recorded. Your debit/credit card and phone are much easier ways of following your movements, assuming the government/police can get hold of that information. So, if you put your ID on your phone in the wallet app, maybe that will make tracking easier. Is that what's proposed?

Like I said, I don't know a lot about this yet
 
I can’t possibly imagine they’d require you to have an app on your phone at all times.
Would be completely unenforceable, for a start.

If you have a phone on you at all then you can already be tracked 24/7, so an app wouldn’t really help them much more than just carrying a phone does already.

My main concerns around it are the inevitable privacy-unfriendly companies it all gets outsourced to. Most likely American companies, to whom ‘privacy’ is a dirty word.
 
Here is a recent video by a barrister where he discusses the digital ID system.

About a week ago he also made two other previous videos where he discusses the questionable legality of the digital ID system too which are even more interesting than this one.

 

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