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If this applies to every site that hosts user generated content then that's nuts. When the internet first started, part of the appeal is that you could just mak
by _fat_santa 4y ago
If this applies to every site that hosts user generated content then that's nuts. When the internet first started, part of the appeal is that you could just make stuff without people looking over your shoulder, asking for forms, etc. Seems that the internet we created today is technically the same as the one from before, but now with governments throwing up red tape at every corner.
Makes me wonder what a site like HN would have to do in order to stay in compliance. While on the one hand HN could make the argument that the site is not geared towards children so this kind of stuff is not a concern, regulations will say: well TECHNICALLY a child could use HN, and TECHNICALLY a predator could message with them, and therefore there is TECHNICALLY a risk, so please pay up $20k/yr for compliance costs.
I use HN as a stand in example for many many sites and services out there. IMO, I don't think it will be that enforceable. Sure the big tech companies will comply, anyone that runs a smaller service outside the UK will just tell the UK govt to kick rocks if they come knocking (what can they do besides blocking the site in the UK).
If this bill gets passed were going to get the following:
- Big tech company scandal over CSAM.
- A heartbreaking story over some small time website owner facing prison time over non-compliance.
- Opinion pieces from the tech community about how it's a terrible idea all around.
- Puff pieces from non-tech outlets that praise the legislation without fully understanding the technical ramifications.
- Flame war between techies and non-techies over competing puff pieces.
- 2Gkashmiri 4y agoright now or say 10 years ago til now, before the whole encrypted chats came into the picture, how many people have been convicted of CSAM in the UK, USA or somewhere else? is it in thousands? millions? if people were not getting convicted left and right before encryption, why is suddenly encryption the #1 enemy?
- jacooper 4y agoBecause its not about the children, it never was.
- carom 4y agoIn addition to this, if they actually cared about children they would up the penalties for crimes. In the US it is 4 years in prison. Let's make it 20 years per image. That is what Maxwell got for literally trafficking children. But hey, let's add some red tape to the internet, mind numbing.
- concordDance 4y agoIs sharing an image as bad as, say, destroying someone's knees? Because 20 years is the kind of sentence you'd get for deliberately doing that.
- slowmovintarget 4y agoWe're also going to get the big companies triggering investigations of smaller up-and-comers to stamp out competition. Better Reddit? Think of the children. Better Twitter? Think of the children. Facebook without the algorithm? Think of the children. Just like what we see with the DMCA. Cheaper toner cartridges? Think of the creatives!
- sirsinsalot 4y agoHonestly this impact can't be overstated. If the bill passes I'm leaving the UK
- ejb999 4y agoI'll admit, I haven't read the entire article - but the obvious question to me - using your example of HN - what authority does the UK have over a website hosted in another country at all? They can pass all the rules they want, but how do they propose to enforce them on a company that does not operate in the UK? If that was possible, wouldn't CCP or Russia be ordering websites all over the world to shutdown to control information they don't like be visible?
- Digit-Al 4y agoOur government can't enforce rules on foreign owned websites, but they can force ISP's to block them.
- jacooper 4y agoWhich is fine, the UK users and economy will be the one losing really.
- voxic11 4y agoBut hackernews does operate in the UK. I have accessed it from there before.
- arlcode 4y agoThe UK government can't influence the US government (or any foreign government at all) to enforce their laws. So companies can choose to comply or not. You and I are probably violating several (severely) punished laws from around the world every day but the respective authorities can't do anything about it.
- 7952 4y agoI wonder if it could apply to internal company systems. Like the corporate SharePoint or file server. And a lot of those kind of systems have external users also. If a client uploads some data do I have to scan it for illegal content?
- muyuu 4y agoover the last 10-15 years there has been an open war on the early, wild internet model - not just from governments (early on it was just the so-called autocracies, now it's pretty much all of them) but also from Silicon Valley/Big Tech themselves this will set a massive barrier for all but a few whitelisted giant entities to host user-generated content, and then it will be massively censored and used to prosecute people
- FateOfNations 4y ago> Makes me wonder what a site like HN would have to do in order to stay in compliance. Easy answer: geoblock the UK.