UK Online Safety Bill

[JGittes]

This is mainly for UK residents but may have further implications. The UK now has a somewhat controversial bill in the House of Lords called the Online Safety Bill. Among other things, it will require age verification to access websites deemed inappropriate for underage viewers.

There hasn't been much discussion in the UK press regarding what could be a sticky wicket for Literotica. Have any other UK residents read a more detailed analysis of the bill? More analysis has been directed toward the bill's supposed anti-censorship (anti-cancel culture) aspects. I've seen only one article mentioning the age verification issue, which was discussed as a major problem for sites like Literotica.

I have no interest in debating the political aspects of the issue, just the practical possibilities for Literotica.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've seen Wikipedia pointing out that they would refuse to collect age info so would be effectively banned from the UK.

My feeling is that a) the legislation is unlikely to pass the Lords, because they actually have some members who understand such legislation and have watered down previous similar attempts like the Extreme Pornography bill.

And b) even if it did come into force, it would be unenforceable, simply down to the numbers of sites it might be applied to, and the fact that the sites would be based outside the UK. I don't think making face-sitting videos illegal has limited the numbers that Brits can see in the slightest. (quick Google proves Pornhub's content is still accessible...)

Lit is a tiny traffic site compared to most porn sites. It won't be the one picked to make an example of - there's not enough visual porn, I don't think. Words don't tend to be as threatening (sites can point to worse available on Amazon or in bookshops) - and Lit does have moderation on the forums, where the social.media requirements would apply.

The Bill is three Secretaries of State ago now - I would lay money on it being watered down further. Or being delayed until after the next election...

 

[ElectricBlue]

A quick look suggests the proposed bill is aimed at visual content, not written. Also, Lit Isn't hosted in the UK. Panic slowly, would be my suggestion.

 

[AlinaX]

Sadly the UK government is powerful enough to ignore the Lords if they want to, and they do love a power grab. They might even pretend it's a way to prevent trans-cultist propaganda from queering our youth...

 

[EmilyMiller]

There hasn't been much discussion in the UK press regarding what could be a sticky wicket for Literotica.

I have nothing useful or informed to say about this question. But referring to a porn site being on a sticky wicket is possibly the most British thing ever!

Yes I have been to a cricket match (see I even know it’s a match, not a game!). It is apparently possible to teach Americans some basic things .

Em

 

[HordHolm]

Where they run into difficulties is the cross-border issue. How they could enforce data collection on a non-UK entity is the stumbling block, and I anticipate that this latest measure will die a quiet death just like its predecessors over precisely this issue.

 

[MrPixel]

I'm curious about what happened with the similar situation in Louisiana. I was initially concerned it might have an impact, but I've heard nothing since it was signed into law. As noted above, unenforceable for numerous reasons, tho' the biggest one is a US thing, illegal limit on interstate commerce. First year law student would know that.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Not knowing the English or Louisiana details, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was just an election stunt.

"See, we're doing something about the nasty world. Vote for us. Can't be enforced, but we're not going to tell you that."

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Not knowing the English or Louisiana details, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was just an election stunt.

"See, we're doing something about the nasty world. Vote for us. Can't be enforced, but we're not going to tell you that."

Just like the last half-dozen attempts to regulate the internet?

A quick look suggests the proposed bill is aimed at visual content, not written. Also, Lit Isn't hosted in the UK. Panic slowly, would be my suggestion.

They're trying to address social media forums which spread misinformation or hate, which would be written content - a laudable aim but impracticable. Lit is deemed to have visual porn by mobile phone providers - some of those ads are pretty spicy - so already isn't accessible by phone unless you have WiFi, or authenticate yourself to your phone company as being 18 - they want to see your passport or driving licence.

AO3 content (all text, but contains every kink and underage activity you can imagine and many more you can't and don't want to!) will probably continue to fly under the radar and Lit likewise, because it's also mainly text and the images aren't too bad.

"Something must be done. This is something. Therefore we must do it."

 

[MrPixel]

I do recall a dystopian story - possibly a ST-NG time travel episode - where everybody had (the equivalent of) an Internet license, which could be revoked for violations, which ran the gamut. No license meant no job, at which point you'd be whisked off to an interment region for the unemployed.

We sit back and sneer at these bluenoses trying to do what we perceive as the impossible, but keep in mind that AI removes the bottleneck of human analysis of giga-terabytes of content. I figure on being departed from this mortal coil when this all goes down, but given the current rate of tech development maybe not. Who thought twenty years ago that facial recognition would actually become the invasive monster it is today?

 

[AlinaX]

Ultimately, they don't care if it works or not. It's a stick they can use selectively against those they dislike.

 

[XerXesXu]

Not knowing the English or Louisiana details, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was just an election stunt.

"See, we're doing something about the nasty world. Vote for us. Can't be enforced, but we're not going to tell you that."

Compare your Online Safety Act 2021 with the UK's Online Safety Bill 2023.

The former can be read and understood by any person with reasonable reading ability, the latter's opaque to almost everybody. The gist of both is the same, and similar to the EUs 'Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act)'. Everybody's doing it, and it'll be the future for the Internet when there's common agreement on domestic legislation and mutual enforcement internationally.

Platforms will have a written duty of care, be registered and be regulated. The duty of care will be to minimise defined harms and ensure 'freedom of speech'. Age verification is likely to come, provided it can be free and anonymous. The challenges won't be for Lit, but for the social media giants based in the US. Their constitutional joke was 'To enjoy the freedom of the press, buy yourself a press'. The freedom the press enjoyed, which the individual citizen didn't, was the freedom to censor and exclude voices it didn't like. The social media giants assert they have a press and claim their rights under the constitution. Information v Misinformation. That's being litigated in the US courts at the moment.

That's the big issue. When the time comes, Lit is likely to be spoonfed suitable text to modify and tick box periodic returns to complete.