6 ms·

I wish Wikipedia would take one for the team, and go dark in the UK. (And I'm in the UK). Wouldn't work with somewhere like China, but the UK might still be ca

• afavour 1y ago
  [flagged]
  • EasyMark 1y ago
    I can't imagine that working for even more than a couple of days. If it did we have much bigger problems than access to Wikipedia and would like be looking at the beginning of civil disobedience and war as I doubt wikipedia would be the only freedom of speech site.
• dboreham 1y ago
  This has been happening for years but if you're in the US you don't realize. For example I can't access my local Montana newspaper web site from the UK "because GDPR" (even though the UK isn't in the EU).
  • pverheggen 1y ago
    There is a UK GDPR, it’s the same framework but adopted under UK law: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-and-the-eu/data-protection-and-the-eu-in-detail/the-uk-gdpr/ https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-and-the...
  • seszett 1y ago
    I don't remember the exact details now but that was mostly out of spite from presumably one entity (or a handful at most) that owns many US local newspapers though. They're not subject to GDPR anyway as they explicitly don't target EU users as customers, they just wanted to put pressure, pass a message to the EU. And as you can see they didn't even bother updating their block after Brexit.
  • lopis 1y ago
    There are several US news websites that are completely blocked in the EU and UK since GDPR came into effect, because it was easier than caring about data collection. Probably many of them adapted since then, because everyone realized GDPR has no teeth and most websites that are not global platforms are not compliant.
    • FMecha 1y ago
      The ironic thing is that in the UK/imgur case: >The ICO also confirmed that companies could not avoid accountability by withdrawing their services in the UK. Wonder if it could also apply to American news sites (and Japan's 5ch/2channel, I was told they engage in this as well).
      • landl0rd 1y ago
        No, they claim they can't "avoid accountability" by withdrawing services in the UK. What Imgur cares about is where its staff live and work and pay taxes, which is America. The odds that America will cooperate in going after Imgur if they just block the UK go from slim to none.
        • account42 1y ago
          More importantly, the US might let the UK go after US companies for the business they do in the UK but they sure as hell won't let the UK go after US companies that explicitly don't do business in the UK.
• smashah 1y ago
  At this point, the UK government is beyond shaming. On the contrary, it shame and record-breaking unpopularity seems to empower them. I wouldn't put it passed them to require the digital ID to access the internet passed curfew.
  • Blahah 1y ago
    *past (in both cases)
  • gambiting 1y ago
    Tbf, well implemented digital ID would be much preferable to the idiotic situation that we're in now. The emphasis on well implemented.
    • reorder9695 1y ago
      That would require trusting a government such as the British one to implement it well. That's far too big an ask for them, so the current situation is preferable.
      • gambiting 1y ago
        Tbf, the team behind .gov websites has been exceptional and I think that part of the digitization of government services has been done really well. So I think it's definitely possible - the question is will the government do that, or will they pay someone few billion quid for an off the shelf solution from a company owned by someone's uncle/brother/cousin that will be a flaming mess.
        • gortok 1y ago
          It’s not the technical expertise that is the concern. It’s what the UK government has shown time and again when they ask for more data: they use it for previously denied-aims to expand their surveillance state. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mass_surveillance_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mass_surveillance...
• heavyset_go 1y ago
  Never underestimate the power of spite
• SanjayMehta 1y ago
  [flagged]
  • scott_w 1y ago
    Evidence?
    • asimpleusecase 1y ago
      https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-04-28/debates/2E70C054-1672-4660-9088-4D4DCE6AF45B/ChildRapeGangs https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-04-28/debates/2E7... Rather than jump into the raging press coverage or as some see it raging press coverup - here is a link to debate in UK Parliament that indicates there is an issue.
      • scott_w 1y ago
        [flagged]
        • asimpleusecase 1y ago
          I was providing evidence that there was an issue. Not trying to take a side. You can retract your f**. Yes there is a debate now and it is very open, and there are many reports that it was not so open and people were hurt for a long time. Was that political cover up? Each can decide - but I think the debate shows there was a real issue.
          • scott_w 1y ago
            [flagged]
            • asimpleusecase 1y ago
              Here is the results of the following Google search “uk coverup of rape gangs” and the results https://www.thefp.com/p/muslim-grooming-gangs-cover-up-keir-starmer-elon-musk https://www.thefp.com/p/muslim-grooming-gangs-cover-up-keir-... https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/06/18/the-grooming-gangs-scandal-is-a-stain-on-the-british-state https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/06/18/the-grooming-ga... https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/17/what-is-the-casey-report-on-uk-grooming-gangs-and-why-did-labour-u-turn https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/17/what-is-the-casey-r... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/16/grooming-gangs-in-uk-thrived-in-culture-of-ignorance-casey-report-says https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/16/grooming-gan... https://news.sky.com/story/grooming-gangs-scandal-timeline-what-happened-what-inquiries-there-were-and-how-starmer-was-involved-after-elon-musks-accusations-13285021 https://news.sky.com/story/grooming-gangs-scandal-timeline-w... How the grooming gangs scandal was covered up https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f247768ad7912bdc https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f247768ad7912bdc https://theweek.com/crime/the-grooming-gangs-scandal-explained https://theweek.com/crime/the-grooming-gangs-scandal-explain... https://womenagainstrape.net/statement-rape-and-grooming-gangs-the-key-issue-is-not-race-but-police-corruption-collusion-and-cover-up/ https://womenagainstrape.net/statement-rape-and-grooming-gan...
• OtherShrezzing 1y ago
  Wikipedia gets a lot of donations from the uk. I’m not sure how many Brits would continue putting £10-100/mo into a charity that explicitly doesn't operate in their borders.
  • piker 1y ago
    Any stats on this? I'd be surprised if the number of Brits putting £10-100/mo into Wikipedia greatly exceeds 10.
    • tetris11 1y ago
      https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2023-24_Report https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2023-24_Report Best I can find $ 132,466.01 Africa $ 4,902,373.13 Asia $ 49,423,340.29 Europe $106,546,895.77 N.America $ 2,509,299.46 Other $ 6,082,217.76 Oceania $ 944,844.22 S.America
      • philipwhiuk 1y ago
        https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/5005466 https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/ch...
      • piker 1y ago
        It looks from another chart like 21% of revenue is recurring, so $10 million annually for Europe. Convert that to GBP and you get about £7.5 million. Figure that the UK accounts for about 15% of the European economy and assume it contributes to Wikipedia at about an equal share. That's about £1.125 million in estimated annual recurring contributions from the UK. You said 10-100/mo, so let's assume £55/mo or £660/year as the mean. That would be about 1,700 Brits, a surprising number.
        • dr_dshiv 1y ago
          I assumed Britain would not be Europe but “other”