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C_Claycomb

C_Claycomb

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Oct 6, 2003
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September 29 2025.
Imgur blocks access from UK in response to UK Online Safety Bill.

Edit. 2 Oct.
The UK's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), said it recently notified the platform's parent company, MediaLab AI, of plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data.
….
The ICO launched its investigation into Imgur in March - saying it would probe whether the companies were complying with both the UK's data protection laws, and the children's code.
Source, BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo, thanks to @slowworm for posting
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Easier to cut the UK off than comply with ID check requirements. No access to site and any photos linked on forum show a banner stating not available in your region.
 
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'Postimage' had a kind of similar problem yesterday, where it was impossible to upload photos onto the site & a simple message popped up 'Not Available'.......I also checked on this forum & the photos uploaded by 'Postimage' were replaced with a blue sticker with 'Not Available' written across.
It appears OK today but something is afoot. (other than 12 inches )
 
There's lots of pressure to use cloud storage but presumably if a firm, or country(Trumpian?), decides it does not like the laws in any specific country? They can do this and all our data held there is lost/unaccessible?

My DR plan envisaged potential breakdown of comms, power etc & loss of access, but didn't consider the provider simply denying access.
 
C_Claycomb said:
September 29 2025.
Imgur blocks access from UK in response to UK Online Safety Bill. Easier to cut the UK off than comply with the scanning and ID check requirements. No access to site and any photos linked on forum show a banner stating not available in your region.
Click to expand...
Ah that explains why I’m getting this on BudgetLightForum.

IMG_2163.jpeg
 
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.
 
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Falstaff said:
There's lots of pressure to use cloud storage but presumably if a firm, or country(Trumpian?), decides it does not like the laws in any specific country? They can do this and all our data held there is lost/unaccessible?

My DR plan envisaged potential breakdown of comms, power etc & loss of access, but didn't consider the provider simply denying access.
Click to expand...
Another way to look at it is that if a small country creates an onerous local law, it’s unrealistic to expect the rest of the world to shoulder the burden.
We have already seen this with GDPR and some US sites simply not allowing access from Europe. We also see it with US and European retailers refusing to ship to the UK because HMRC demanded that every small business in the world that sells to a person in the UK must register and take VAT.

It does suck but it’s not the fault of the companies.
 
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HorseGuy said:
Ahh the gift that keeps on giving. :banghead:
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You mean the gift that keeps on taking away!

I was waiting for the dust to settle around the Online Censoring Bill before I sort out a VPN. I get used to being blocked at looking at shooting related stuff in the states but the last straw was being blocked from viewing a fungi thread, presumably for my own protection.

Anyway, it would be useful to know if anyone can happily view and use this site via a VPN as I gather some sites block some VPNs.
 
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If I use a VPN routed through the UK, I can see the forum post and a link to the imgur image, if I then click on the link I get this message from Imgur - "data":{"error":"Content not available in your region."},"success":false,"status":400}

If however I use the VPN routed through the US then I can indeed view the Images in the thread without having to click on an link.
 
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C_Claycomb said:
Another way to look at it is that if a small country creates an onerous local law, it’s unrealistic to expect the rest of the world to shoulder the burden.
We have already seen this with GDPR and some US sites simply not allowing access from Europe. We also see it with US and European retailers refusing to ship to the UK because HMRC demanded that every small business in the world that sells to a person in the UK must register and take VAT.

It does suck but it’s not the fault of the companies.
Click to expand...

IMG_1381.jpeg
 
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C_Claycomb said:
Another way to look at it is that if a small country creates an onerous local law, it’s unrealistic to expect the rest of the world to shoulder the burden.
We have already seen this with GDPR and some US sites simply not allowing access from Europe. We also see it with US and European retailers refusing to ship to the UK because HMRC demanded that every small business in the world that sells to a person in the UK must register and take VAT.

It does suck but it’s not the fault of the companies.
Click to expand...

Fully agree. I actually wish more of the big companies would do this and force the government to backtrack on the absurd overreach.
 
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It's possibly a bit of a performance on Imgur's part. Lots of private internet companies don't like national governments interfering in their right to facilitate the easy circulation of kiddie porn, racism and threats of violence ... no matter how ineffectively.
 
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Billy-o said:
It's possibly a bit of a performance on Imgur's part. Lots of private internet companies don't like national governments interfering in their right to facilitate the easy circulation of kiddie porn, racism and threats of violence ... no matter how ineffectively.
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Then it's a performance in response to the government's performance. The gov know it'll achieve nothing meaningful, they just want to be seen to be doing something. I'm not being politically partisan FYI, I level the same at the previous government for e.g. the ninja/zombie/whatever it is knife legislation.

Always immense resources wasted in the name of headlines rather than meaningful impact.
 
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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.
 
Lets see if this works then.
DSC00825.jpg
 
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