US tech firms 4chan and Kiwi Farms are now suing Ofcom with a U.S. federal lawsuit. They dub the regulator “The UK’s Industry-Funded Global Censorship Bureau”, accusing it of targeting them for “overtly political reasons.” The online safety act getting quite the reception across the pond…
Ofcom fined 4chan £20,000 for breaching the act last month. Law firms Byrne & Storm and the Coleman Law Firm have been engaged to file suit. Tech lawyer Preston Byrne said:
“American citizens do not surrender our constitutional rights just because Ofcom sends us an e-mail. In the face of these unlawful foreign demands, our clients have bravely chosen to assert their constitutional rights. The Act is a brazen attempt by a foreign country to hobble American competitiveness and suffocate American freedom by exporting the UK’s censorship laws to our shores.”
Meanwhile, Trump is threatening “substantial” tariffs on countries that “discriminate” against US tech with taxes and regulation. Time to fire up those VPNs…
The push to restrict the use of VPNs is already on. Quelle surprise…
Children’s Commissioner for England Rachel de Souza said on Newsnight last night: “Of course, we need age verification on VPNs – it’s absolutely a loophole that needs closing and that’s one of my major recommendations.” This entirely echoes the official Labour line last time this issue came up back in 2022 – as Guido revealed on these pixels…
VPN use has surged since the imposition of the Online Safety Act and Guido recommends that all co-conspirators use one. Approached for comment the government said: “Let’s be clear: VPNs are legal tools for adults and there are no plans to ban them. But if platforms deliberately push workarounds like VPNs to children, they face tough enforcement and heavy fines.” Remember the last time Labour said “no plans”?
Ed Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has a hefty contract with its Virtual Private Network supplier. Despite what Labour ministers say on the airwaves after the Online Safety Act VPNs are crucial for cybersecurity and used widely…
That includes in government departments. Guido’s FoI unit asked DESNZ what VPNs it used and was told the “department uses Zscaler, which provides a suite of secure access services
including VPN functionality.” Meanwhile Peter Kyle is begging you not to use one…
Zscaler advertises its VPN technology as even more secure than what is on offer to the public: “Don’t let your legacy virtual private network (VPN) slow your business down. Transform your modern, distributed environment with zero trust network access (ZTNA) that’s secure, fast, and easy to deploy.” Comes at a price – for the taxpayer…
DESNZ has an ongoing contract with the provider worth £2,170,000 which runs until the end of the month. That’s just in time for renewal. Unless Kyle steps in…
Marc Andreessen, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists, personally reached out to Downing Street last week to complain about the censorious Online Safety Act. Following widespread backlash against the legislation which has already blocked memes, Wikipedia articles, and a picture of Starmer’s head on a baby’s body…
According to the FT, Andreessen even called for Starmer to slap the wrist of Peter Kyle after he insisted critics of the Act were “on the side” of sex offenders and Jimmy Savile. Since that attack line came from Number 10 itself, Andreessen’s suggestion will probably fall on deaf ears…
More in Common released polling last night on the Online Safety Act. Brits have concerns…
A majority (66%) are concerned that harmless information is age-restricted wrongly. A higher 71% say immigration criticism is being unfairly blocked…
On the other side of things a majority of the public correctly identifies that young people can bypass age checks anyway through VPN use – which has skyrocketed – and that personal information uploaded can be hacked following verification processes. As Peter Kyle and Labour push the bill to further extremes Brits are increasingly likely to turn against it…
Newly promoted Tory frontbencher Neil O’Brien has had a video on families blocked on social media act under the Online Safety Act. This will keep happening…
O’Brien – Shadow Minister for Policy Renewal and Development – filmed a piece with Phoebe Arslanagić-Little who works with the Boom campaign to encourage people to have more kids. A baby featured in the video which is a common reason for blockage under the Online Safety Act. Blocking family values…
The video features such heretical observations as:
“Parents are more likely than those not raising children to be struggling financially and behind on their bills and mortgage payments. We are a country where increasingly it’s wealthy people who are having children and poorer people who just can’t afford to do so. And as I discovered when I was trying to access it, getting IVF on the NHS is a total postcode lottery.”
Opposition politicians are now frequently having their content blocked. There’s a name for that…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
