Online Safety Act (UK)

[Starscream_UK]

I'm sure the owners admins etc are super busy with all sorts of stuff. I doubt running Lit is easy ofc

But yes, advance notice would be the best

Best switch my VPN on again then...

 

[artuksa]

Does anyone know if this will affect UK based users?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceq7ye3q2zwo

It's coming into force next week with the aim of making it harder to access adult content. Since Lit includes adult content (not just stories either), I am assuming it will. I don't know how this works or if sites and site owners are obliged to do something or be locked out for UK users. I've no idea how that woudl even work.

hello there, am sure it will be easy to bypass, let's see, only a few days to go

 

[Sundayschild]

Even my work wifi knows already and won't let me access lit. For sure this will recognise

 

[Anastasia1999]

Even my work wifi knows already and won't let me access lit. For sure this will recognise

Tut tut tut young man!!

 

[Sundayschild]

Tut tut tut young man!!

 

[Sundayschild]

To be fair - work used to give me a lot more ahem..freedom in earlier days

 

[Anastasia1999]

Being able to access lit everywhere and all the time would take the shine out of it for me personally.

I never have time to scratch at work.

 

[Sundayschild]

Being able to access lit everywhere and all the time would take the shine out of it for me personally.

I never have time to scratch at work.

Sometimes you need to go back after lunch with a smile on your face

 

[Anastasia1999]

Sometimes you need to go back after lunch with a smile on your face

Pint of Guinness in the pub does that. I am easily pleased. LOL.

 

[Sundayschild]

A Dogcollar? Cheers!

 

[Adrian69702006]

I'm a member of LPSG, another adult site which I believe is hosted outside the UK. The other day I went through their age verification process which was very sensible and merely consisted of filling out a declaration to the effect that I was over 18. Mind you, they probably know that I've been a member for 20 years anyway.

 

[Cat]

So in the EU we are also going to be affected.. and it seems that using a VPN might not be enough to do the trick.

Denmark (among some other countries) are in the process of developing an identification app (yuck, so we are scared of the Chinese government because of their social surveillance?! ).

The app should, in theory, be safe.. (yeah right, you have to register with your cpr number, our most personal identification number), and supposedly.. in theory, you need to go through this app to register on any social media, and thereby making sure that no one underage can access sites they are not allowed to.

(Our rules are going to be a bit tight, do not know about other countries.. but as an example: you will have to be 15 to access Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, probably even YouTube and so on, for us it is not only the adult sites that are going to be affected.
Sadly.. I do understand the reasoning behind these new rules.)

But, having a company who is having so much personal sensitive data on every young and adult citizen.
That is always more than a bit scary.

 

[Cat]

This is what is happening in the EU:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1820

 

[RosewoodTulip]

So in the EU we are also going to be affected.. and it seems that using a VPN might not be enough to do the trick.

Denmark (among some other countries) are in the process of developing an identification app (yuck, so we are scared of the Chinese government because of their social surveillance?! ).

The app should, in theory, be safe.. (yeah right, you have to register with your cpr number, our most personal identification number), and supposedly.. in theory, you need to go through this app to register on any social media, and thereby making sure that no one underage can access sites they are not allowed to.

(Our rules are going to be a bit tight, do not know about other countries.. but as an example: you will have to be 15 to access Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, probably even YouTube and so on, for us it is not only the adult sites that are going to be affected.
Sadly.. I do understand the reasoning behind these new rules.)

But, having a company who is having so much personal sensitive data on every young and adult citizen.
That is always more than a bit scary.

I'm definitely in support of a raised minimum age for teens to access social media.

I just feel like there needs to be a fair middle ground somewhere that also protects people's right to privacy.

If I try to log in here next week and it asks for a selfie or bank details or similar as proof that I'm my age then unfortunately that'll be the end of Lit for me. Not that I'm ashamed of anything I do here. But because I need my privacy to be respected and I would not be comfortable with my personal data being locked away or potentially bought at a later date.

I've installed a vpn and hopefully that will be enough. We'll see.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I'm definitely in support of a raised minimum age for teens to access social media.

I just feel like there needs to be a fair middle ground somewhere that also protects people's right to privacy.

Those two phrases are directly contradictory.

Government intrusion in choices of freedom can never be accepted.

 

[Cat]

Those two phrases are directly contradictory.

Government intrusion in choices of freedom can never be accepted.

I am not going to turn this into a discussion, yet I would like to give an example of why the phrase:
"And this is why we cannot have nice things"
- is more relevant than ever!

Most of us with kids knows the hugely successful game platform "Roblox".
A platform for many age groups and people.
- sadly it is more than easy for predators to create accounts, pretend to be kids and do horrible things to our kids.
In a place we thought to be "safe".
(Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and so on, none of them are any better or more safe!)

It is not all about predators:

• Self-harming groups.
• Anorexia groups.
• Explicit sexual content hidden in innocent videos (not fun to talk with your kids about!!)
• Extremely violent clips.
• And the list goes on and on!

With the rise of the manosphere segment and the violence against women, something needs to be done.

(And, while I am an advocate of parents actually engaging, talking and being involved in their kids lives, I am also a hardcore believer of freedom also involves our kids rights to freedom, and not being watched by their parents in their every awake moment!)

But because some people cannot resist their need to do bad things.. we cannot allow total freedom.

Freedom does not exclude responsibility.
And as long as there are individuals who thinks that everything goes on the internet.
Then something needs to be done to protect the weaker groups.

And why should adult sites be any better?

I am sure that there are things going on even here on Lit, that would make most people agree, that it should be possible to find the person behind the username.

So until we figure out how to behave decently on the internet, some safety measures needs to be taken.

(Do not try to convince me that Facebook and the other sites were created for you to be able to arrange a garage sale or invite people to your aunt Sarah's birthday. Those companies cares nothing about you, our kids or the laws of countries.. it is all about the money.)

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Parental responsibility.

'It's the internet, do you know where your children are?'

 

[Cat]

Parental responsibility.

'It's the internet, do you know where your children are?'

(And, while I am an advocate of parents actually engaging, talking and being involved in their kids lives, I am also a hardcore believer of freedom also involves our kids rights to freedom, and not being watched by their parents in their every awake moment!)

I agree, and I will up the ante with:
"Kids deserves freedom as well, freedom to grow up without being harmed, without being exploited, without being watched constantly - Kids need to do stupid things, they need to learn by doing, they need to feel trusted and protected."

Do you want strong, independent and well functioning young adults, or do you want a generation of young people with stress symptoms, dependency issues and low trust in their own capabilities?

Being a parent is the balancing act on a knife's edge.
Kids do not need perfect parents, kids need good enough parents who do their very best to create a place for them to grow up and become better humans than us.

And if that means, that I as an adult need to do things that are a bit uncomfortable.. Then I will have to judge each situation individually:

When is something "Nice to have" and when is something "Need to have" and most importantly: - What am I willing to give for it.

Sometimes we all need to see the bigger picture, this safety control is not about your or mine kinky tendencies being the issue.. it is not about us at all.

- We are just feeling the side effects of other people not doing the right thing.

 

[Tyrantino]

So in the EU we are also going to be affected.. and it seems that using a VPN might not be enough to do the trick.

Denmark (among some other countries) are in the process of developing an identification app (yuck, so we are scared of the Chinese government because of their social surveillance?! ).

The app should, in theory, be safe..

Thank you for the news, Cat. According to the press release you shared, "The frontrunners - Denmark, Greece, Spain, France and Italy - will be the first to engage with the Commission on the technical solution with the aim of launching national age verification apps".

In an earlier stage of the development of this app, I heard some news talking about giving every user 31 tickets per month to access adult sites (regulators thought that 1 per day should be enough). One could always ask for more, but concerns raised on how privacy could be guaranteed in such cases.

 

[BlackFlame112000]

Just get a good VPN service, its a necessity anyways on the internet nowdays, most blocks are easily bypassed

 

[Tyrantino]

Just get a good VPN service, its a necessity anyways on the internet nowdays, most blocks are easily bypassed

I started using it myself several years ago when I was convinced that it is a must to keep you safe from prying eyes.

But for some reason Cat said that using a VPN won't be enough to do the trick...

Cat, can you explain why you think so a little better?

 

[BlackFlame112000]

A VPN will just mask the IP and make it look like your internet traffic is from another country, its fairly easy to bypass on websites when restrictions are placed, apps on the other hand are a notch tougher as they can be requesting a lot more information to locate the user in the back-end and it could range from sim card geolocating, which also can be spoofed cause there's always a way, but it would rarely affect websites, hell a simple DNS change could possibly bypass the stupid website blocking, won't even need VPN's, just depends on the level of effort someone wishes to impose

 

[SubMick]

EXTREMELY invasive.

Becareful of anyone asking to take a selfie!

 

[RosewoodTulip]

A VPN will just mask the IP and make it look like your internet traffic is from another country, its fairly easy to bypass on websites when restrictions are placed, apps on the other hand are a notch tougher as they can be requesting a lot more information to locate the user in the back-end and it could range from sim card geolocating, which also can be spoofed cause there's always a way, but it would rarely affect websites, hell a simple DNS change could possibly bypass the stupid website blocking, won't even need VPN's, just depends on the level of effort someone wishes to impose

I'm sorry if this seems like a silly question. I don't really understand how vpns properly work.

Are you saying that it might not work as well using the Lit app? Because that's how I access it. I don't log in anywhere other than my phone through the app.

 

[BlackFlame112000]

I'm sorry if this seems like a silly question. I don't really understand how vpns properly work.

Are you saying that it might not work as well using the Lit app? Because that's how I access it. I don't log in anywhere other than my phone through the app.

I don't know what the LitApp is lol,?
I don't use Lit on my mobile

If you have a link to it, I can look into it a bit lol