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#OnlineSafetyAct

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Alec Muffett<p>Open Rights Group: “The Online Safety Act is coming for Streamers”<br><a href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/115153" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">alecmuffett.com/article/115153</span><span class="invisible"></span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AgeVerification" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AgeVerification</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafety</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/censorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>censorship</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ifcom" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ifcom</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/streaming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>streaming</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/surveillance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>surveillance</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/vpns" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>vpns</span></a></p>
alecm<p><strong>Open Rights Group: “The Online Safety Act is coming for Streamers”</strong></p><p>Basically: ANYBODY WHO IS STREAMING will need to be age verified to make sure that they are not a child, otherwise they will be banned from receiving comments and audience interaction.</p><p>Video: </p><p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@openrightsgroup/video/7552914119741984022" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.tiktok.com/@openrightsgroup/video/7552914119741984022</a></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/age-verification" target="_blank">#ageVerification</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/censorship" target="_blank">#censorship</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/ifcom" target="_blank">#ifcom</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety" target="_blank">#onlineSafety</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety-act" target="_blank">#onlineSafetyAct</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/streaming" target="_blank">#streaming</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/surveillance" target="_blank">#surveillance</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/vpns" target="_blank">#vpns</a></p>
Alec Muffett<p>The Guardian uses — and then hides/recants — photos of schoolgirl in article targeting fearful parents; perhaps we need a better conversation?<br><a href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/115116" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">alecmuffett.com/article/115116</span><span class="invisible"></span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ChildSafety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ChildSafety</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafety</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/guardian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>guardian</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/instagram" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>instagram</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/meta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>meta</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/privacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>privacy</span></a></p>
alecm<p><strong>The Guardian uses — and then hides/recants — photos of schoolgirl in article targeting fearful parents; perhaps we need a better conversation?</strong></p><p>If, like me, you’re a parent, there’s a good chance that you woke up on Saturday to outraged fellow parents on various group chats, <a href="https://archive.ph/cfpjw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">sharing a story from the Guardian</a>:</p><blockquote><p>Exclusive: Instagram pictures of girls as young as 13 were posted to promote Threads site ‘as bait’, campaigner says</p></blockquote><p>…with a very bait-like photograph immediately beneath / as part of the share-card, that I strongly suspect contributed to the article’s viral appeal:</p><p>The article cites an anonymous man — identified only as the “Campaigner” or “Recipient” or “Instagram user” — <a href="https://archive.ph/cfpjw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">who (for the moment, ignoring the rest of the article) we learn</a>:</p><blockquote><p>Meta&nbsp;has used back-to-school pictures of schoolgirls to advertise one of its social media platforms to a 37-year-old man, in a move parents described as “outrageous” and “upsetting”. </p><p>The man noticed that posts encouraging him to “get Threads” […] were being dropped into his&nbsp;Instagram feed featuring embedded posts of uniformed girls as young as 13 with their faces visible and, in most cases, their names. […]</p><p>The recipient told the Guardian the posts felt “deliberately provocative and ultimately exploitative of the children and families involved”. […]</p><p>The man who received the posts said that as he was only sent promotional posts of schoolgirls – there were no boys in school uniform, for example – there appeared to be “an aspect of sexualisation”. […]</p><p>The 37-year-old Instagram user from London who received the posts and asked to remain anonymous said: “Over several days I was repeatedly served Meta adverts for Threads that exclusively featured parents’ images of their daughters in school uniform, some revealing their names. As a father, I find it deeply inappropriate for Meta to repurpose these posts in targeted promotion to adults.”</p><p>He said he had not posted or liked any similar images before he was sent the schoolgirl pictures.</p><p>“To me, showcasing such content as trending or popular feels deliberately provocative and ultimately exploitative of the children and families involved, putting their online safety at risk.”</p></blockquote><p><strong>So what’s wrong here?</strong></p><p>First up: I have to give credit to the journalist, Robert Booth, for at least attempting (<em>“any similar images</em>“) to recognise that <strong>IF YOU CLICK ON STUFF THEN THE ALGORITHM WILL TRY TO SERVE YOU MORE OF THE SAME STUFF.</strong></p><p>This is why you get so many people, hooked in an hate/love outrage loop, saying: <em>“My feed is nothing but fascism and I hate it, I keep on clicking on the links and checking and yes, social media is serving me nothing but evil content!”</em> — the solution to which is (a) <em>don’t click on the links</em>, and (b) find a pulldown menu option saying something like <em>“Show Me Less Of This”</em> (or, <a href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/114576" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>“Show Me More Of This”</em></a>) which should be the hallmark of a good algorithmic feed-based platform.</p><p>What Robert / the Campaigner presumably <em>don’t</em> consider — and certainly don’t mention — is that this algorithmic boosting happens <strong>in real time</strong>, so much so that you can be scrolling sideways in a gallery and it will be working out what to show next you on the basis of what you engaged with only moments before, caching its decisions temporarily (until you scroll away for an extended period) in order to maintain consistency.</p><p>This is less a matter of long-term profiling than <em>“if you’ve engaged with this, then maybe you will engage with that”</em> which — like it or not&nbsp;— is a standard sales tactic around the world: <em>would you like to supersize that choice</em>?</p><p>So my personal feeling is that if the Campaigner is the sort of person to click on stuff that outrages him, then he’s going to get a lot more outraged and that’s kind of where everyone is at the moment.</p><p>Secondly: Meta <em>are</em> telling the truth. The images are public, and under the terms which people use Instagram &amp; Threads, they may be used for such. </p><p>If you don’t like it, make the images private and share them only amongst friends.</p><p>So… let’s dig into <em>privacy</em> for a bit. Back to the article:</p><p><strong>Privacy versus Unstated Expectations</strong></p><p>Meta and all the other big platforms have recently been roasted by the Online Safety Act, causing them to lock down access to childens’ accounts — or at least that what politicians want you to believe, however a lot of the constraints to keep kids safe online are years if not 1+ decades old.</p><p>But what if it’s the parent who posts the photograph?</p><p>So I was <a href="https://archive.ph/cfpjw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">reading the Guardian article</a> on my Android phone, and out of curiosity I tapped and held-down the big central button — thereby launching <em>Google Lens</em> and <em>Google Image Search</em> — and I circled the image which the Guardian had chosen to post the article with.</p><p>This immediately (<em>“Images Similar To This”</em>) led me to mother Sarah Dart’s <a href="https://www.threads.com/@sdart23/post/DOORf0BiOn8" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">posting on Instagram — which is public and visible to the world</a> — with approving comments from (presumably) her circle of friends:</p><p>…although with immediate, critical and crude <em>“don’t post private pictures”</em> commentary on the related automatic reposting to Threads.</p><p>If we pick through the article focusing on commentary that is probably attributable to Sarah:</p><blockquote><p>[Image Caption] The mother whose Instagram picture of her 15-year-old daughter was used in a post advertising Threads said she had ‘no idea’ it would be used as a promotion.</p><p>[The mother] said she posted the picture to a public Instagram account. The posts of their children were highlighted to the stranger as “suggested threads”. […]</p><p>The mother of a 15-year-old whose picture was used in a promotional post that featured a large “Get Threads” button said: “For me it was a picture of my daughter going to school. I had no idea Instagram had picked it up and are using it as a promotion. It’s absolutely disgusting. She is a minor.”</p><p>She said she would have refused consent and “not for any money in the world would I let them use a girl dressed in a school uniform to get people on to [its platform]”.</p><p>With 267 followers, her Instagram account usually had modest reach but the post of her child attracted nearly 7,000 views, 90% from non-followers, half of whom were aged over 44 and 90% of whom were men.</p></blockquote><p>My perspective is that Sarah’s wants are absolutely fair, but it seems odd to me that she posted a photo — <em>one of such quality that for some reason the Guardian photo editor picked it up to illustrate the story</em> —&nbsp;and shared it with the world rather than just with a circle of friends. Sarah has had a Threads account since November 2024 but it has little content, so it could be that she forgot that her Threads account exists and that this was essentially an unpleasant surprise… but <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sdart23/p/DOOReZjCBQl/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">the photo is still public on Instagram</a> and it’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/218182521/exeter-devon/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">tagged with the location of Exeter</a> — so anyone could stumble across it via that means, too.</p><p>One of the other things you find from Sarah’s Threads account is that Robert created his own and reached-out to her:</p><p>…which — reading his other posts — then means that you can find the names of all the other people he reached out to:</p><p>Let’s ignore the joint failures of operational security and of source protection — the Guardian are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">generally pretty good</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/help/insideguardian/2022/may/30/guardian-launches-tor-onion-service" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">at that stuff</a>, maybe Robert just needs a refresher — but these messages lead us to Jade, Lau, and Katie, who all have private Instagram accounts, some of whom actively use their Threads accounts for typical purposes, and one or more of whom (or their partners) are cited:</p><blockquote><p>One mother said her account was set to private, but the posts were automatically cross-posting to&nbsp;Threads&nbsp;where they were visible. […]</p><p> The father of a 13-year-old who appeared in one of the posts said it was “absolutely outrageous”. The images were all of schoolgirls in short skirts with either bare legs or stockings.</p><p>“When I found out an image of her has been exploited in what felt like a sexualised way by a massive company like that to market their product it left me feeling quite disgusted,” he said. […]</p><p>Another mother whose post of her 13-year-old was used in a promotional post said: “Meta did all of this on purpose, not informing us, as they want to generate content. It’s despicable. And who is responsible for creating that Threads ad using children’s photos to promote the platform for older men?”</p></blockquote><p>It’s interesting to observe that the parents have apparently been approached by Robert with the frame <em>“Threads [is] using children’s photos to promote the platform for older men”</em> as if this was an intentional marketing tactic, as opposed to <em>“Some Guy Clicked On A Schoolgirl Photo And Was Served More Of The Same”</em> — which would be less outrageous.</p><p>What I <em>would</em> strongly criticise Meta regarding is that they’re not nagging people enough about the existence of crossposting between Instagram, Threads and Facebook itself. </p><p>As a heavy Threads user I get frequent popups along the lines of:</p><blockquote><p><em>Do You Wish To Keep Sharing Your Threads Posts Into The [Mastodon, ActivityPub] Fediverse?</em></p></blockquote><p>…but there’s far less (some, but <em>far less</em>) of this for mutual sharing between Meta-owned platforms — <em>Instagram to Threads, Instagram to Facebook</em> — probably because it’s not such a significant unaddressed legal risk when posts are automatically re-shared <em>within</em> the Meta ecosystem.</p><p>But Robert is (with his photo editor) not doing that, and worse I feel like his whole article is actually framed to convey a subtext along the parodical lines of:</p><blockquote><p><em>Exclusive! Meta are actively attempting to grow Threads readership and engagement by attracting pervy men via posting sexualised pictures of young girls dressed in school uniform in short skirts with either bare legs or stockings. Photos like, for example, this one: [illustration]</em></p></blockquote><p>That the Guardian have slightly recognised this hypocrisy <em>may</em> be illustrated by the fact that they <a href="https://archive.ph/u40S8" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">subsequently changed the headline image to a stock photo</a>; however this may also be a belated attempt to preserve the privacy of Sarah and her daughter — a young woman who has her own, private Instagram account.</p><p>As ever, Baroness Kidron gets a shout-out:</p><blockquote><p>Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer and campaigner for children’s rights online, said: “Offering up school-age girls as bait to advertise a commercial service is a new low even for Meta.</p><p>“At every opportunity Meta privileges profit over safety, and company growth over children’s right to privacy. It is the only reason that they could think it appropriate to send pictures of schoolgirls to a 37-year-old man – as bait – Meta is a wilfully careless company.”</p><p>She called on the regulator Ofcom to consider if measures, introduced this summer to prevent unknown adults connecting to children, make clear that “companies cannot offer sexualised images of children as bait to unknown men”.</p></blockquote><p>…but, but, but, the photos were <em>posted by the parents</em>, and the “Campaigner” is the one who “sexualised” them:</p><blockquote><p>[he] told the Guardian the posts felt “deliberately provocative and ultimately exploitative” […] there appeared to be “an aspect of sexualisation”</p></blockquote><p>Who is the wilfully careless person in this scenario, and who is the wilfully sexualising one? Not the parents? Not the guy who is so offended that he has to keep clicking thorough to establish (quote) <em>“parents’ images of their daughters in school uniform, some revealing their names”</em>?</p><p><strong>Lessons</strong></p><p>Trying to wrap this up:</p><ol><li>If parents post pictures of their kids, publicly, to platforms the primary purpose of which is to share images widely … then these photos, posted from parental (i.e. <em>adult</em>) accounts, will be shared widely and without the protections that would have been applied had the child posted their own stuff around their own circle.</li><li>Expecting pictures that are posted to such platforms to remain somehow “private” on the grounds that (paraphrase) <em>“not many people follow or are interested in me”</em> is not merely unrealistic, it’s antithetical. Some experts refer to this as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context_collapse" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>“context collapse”</em></a> but more simply it’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewi_KNMs2rg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">living distractedly in your own little world until you walk into a tree</a>.</li><li>If you want something to be private, make/keep it private. That’s what privacy means. </li><li><em>Example:</em> If parents want to share photos privately amongst relatives, then use an end-to-end encrypted messenger tool such as WhatsApp or Signal, and turn on disappearing messages so the pictures are trashed after a reasonable time, if not actively saved.</li><li>Ironically, the Online Safety Act means that parents posting pictures of their kids in some ways is more risky than kids sharing photos amongst themselves. The parents have fewer guardrails and less awareness than the kids themselves, and then they blame choices on the platforms.</li><li>Although platforms do need to remind people about federation and automated resharing more often, because sometimes people forget or fail to understand.</li><li>The question of whether <em>“all public content”</em> on Instagram should be “fair game” to include in “recommendation boxes” is a thorny one: this is not like TikTok where people are using the “#fyp” tag to compete for the privilege of being recommended, but also recommendations may be “from friends” rather than merely “popular” and thus demanding content be nominated by posters for inclusion may undermine the whole point of the recommendation mechanism.</li><li>Absolutely nobody is talking about the good things that the Internet does any more&nbsp;—&nbsp;connecting family, friends, people, all that is washed away in fear of abuse and exploitation.</li><li>The Guardian have been derelict: they should not be posting the parents’ pictures of the kids, THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTING SCREENCAPS OF THE ADVERTS DEEMED AT FAULT — so that we can judge the pictures in their proper context, and we could sense how (or: if) they were targeted. Reporting hearsay generated by an outraged “Campaigner” who has been clicking on links, is not worthy of coverage.</li></ol><p><strong>Experiment</strong></p><p>As an experiment, as a parent, and subsequent to my clicking for this investigation around the Guardian article, I scrolled down my Instagram feed to find my Threads recommendations, and what did I find?</p><p>…and if you click through you find a Threads posting with 4 Million views and some savage child-protection commentary from Threads users:</p><p>How are you, dear reader, going to feel about this? </p><p><em>“stop posting your minor children on the internet?”</em></p><p><strong>Elsewhere</strong></p><p>I’m not the only person discussing this:</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1nlrlwm/parents_outraged_as_meta_uses_photos_of/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1nlrlwm/parents_outraged_as_meta_uses_photos_of/</a></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/child-safety" target="_blank">#childSafety</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/guardian" target="_blank">#guardian</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/instagram" target="_blank">#instagram</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/meta" target="_blank">#meta</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety" target="_blank">#onlineSafety</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety-act" target="_blank">#onlineSafetyAct</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/privacy" target="_blank">#privacy</a></p>
Graham Smith<p>50 Cyberleagle blogposts since June 2018 on online harms, the UK Online Safety Bill and now the <a class="hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://bsky.app/search?q=%23OnlineSafetyAct" target="_blank">#OnlineSafetyAct</a> are far too many for anyone to read. So, featuring a pithy extract from each one, here is a compendium. Enjoy. Alternatively, read and weep.<br><br><a href="https://www.cyberleagle.com/2020/02/an-online-harms-compendium.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">An Online Harms Compendium</a></p>
Graham Smith<p>50 Cyberleagle blogposts since June 2018 on online harms, the UK Online Safety Bill and now the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> are far too many for anyone to read. So, featuring a pithy extract from each one, here is a compendium. Enjoy. Alternatively, read and weep. <a href="https://www.cyberleagle.com/2020/02/an-online-harms-compendium.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">cyberleagle.com/2020/02/an-onl</span><span class="invisible">ine-harms-compendium.html</span></a></p>
Derick Rethans<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://social.openrightsgroup.org/@openrightsgroup" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>openrightsgroup</span></a></span> My MP finally replied to an email I sent about the <a href="https://phpc.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a>. But only to the email I sent through your campaign (the To address was one you generated).</p><p>I had heavily modified it, but it doesn't seem I have a copy of it to see whether the reply actually answered any if the points in it (I suspect not). How can I see what I wrote?</p>
Tom Stoneham<p>Oh FFS! Do politicians not understand anything? While the <a href="https://dair-community.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> is busy f**king up the internet in the name of <a href="https://dair-community.social/tags/SaveTheChildren" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SaveTheChildren</span></a> , the same government is giving instructions on how to evade such surveillance for anyone who has something worth hiding.</p><p><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/mi6-launches-new-drive-to-recruit-spies-including-russians-13433714" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">news.sky.com/story/mi6-launche</span><span class="invisible">s-new-drive-to-recruit-spies-including-russians-13433714</span></a></p>
Light<p>Daily reminder for Brits:<br><a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/722903" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">petition.parliament.uk/petitio</span><span class="invisible">ns/722903</span></a><br><a href="https://noc.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a></p>
Neil Brown<p>When it passed, I promised myself that I wouldn't get too involved in the mess which is the <a href="https://mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a>.</p><p>Well that turned out well, didn't it....</p>
École des Bro-Arts<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/@MattTurmaine" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>MattTurmaine</span></a></span> Ah, perhaps you might have an answer to this question! The server you're using right now, like most of Fediverse, allows pornography and has no form of age verification. Does it have a "significant number" of UK users, for purposes of the <a href="https://woof.group/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a>? We've been trying to get Ofcom to offer guidance on which, if any, Fediverse instances are now illegal in the UK, and they keep declining to say.</p><p><a href="https://blog.woof.group/announcements/updates-on-the-osa" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">blog.woof.group/announcements/</span><span class="invisible">updates-on-the-osa</span></a></p>
Graham Smith<p>'FAQs a Million': my latest Cyberleagle blogpost on the <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a>. If you were at the University of Sussex 'Future of the Online Safety Act 2023' event in June, this will be familiar territory. <a href="https://www.cyberleagle.com/2025/09/faqs-million.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">cyberleagle.com/2025/09/faqs-m</span><span class="invisible">illion.html</span></a></p>
SOC Goulash<p>It's been a packed 24 hours in the cyber world! We've got major arrests, critical vulnerabilities, nation-state activity, and a deep dive into AI's evolving role in both defence and attack. Let's get into it:</p><p>Scattered Spider Takedown &amp; TfL Attack Details 🕷️</p><p>- UK law enforcement, in coordination with the US DOJ, has arrested two teens, Thalha Jubair (19) and Owen Flowers (18), linked to the notorious Scattered Spider group.<br>- Jubair is charged with involvement in at least 120 network intrusions, extorting over $115 million from 47 US entities, including a breach of the US federal court system.<br>- Investigators traced Jubair's activities through cryptocurrency transactions used for gaming gift cards and food deliveries to his apartment, highlighting operational security failures.</p><p>📰 The Hacker News | <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/uk-arrest-two-teen-scattered-spider.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thehackernews.com/2025/09/uk-a</span><span class="invisible">rrest-two-teen-scattered-spider.html</span></a><br>🕵🏼 The Register | <a href="https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/scattered_spider_teen_cuffed/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">go.theregister.com/feed/www.th</span><span class="invisible">eregister.com/2025/09/19/scattered_spider_teen_cuffed/</span></a><br>🗞️ The Record | <a href="https://therecord.media/scattered-spider-unsealed-charges-115million-extortion-breached-courts-system" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">therecord.media/scattered-spid</span><span class="invisible">er-unsealed-charges-115million-extortion-breached-courts-system</span></a></p><p>Russian Airport Website Hacked ✈️</p><p>- Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest air hub, reported its website was knocked offline due to a cyberattack.<br>- While airport operations remained unaffected, this incident follows other disruptions in Russia's aviation sector, including a system failure at KrasAvia and a major Aeroflot outage claimed by pro-Ukrainian groups.<br>- The attack highlights ongoing cyber warfare targeting Russian critical infrastructure since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.</p><p>🗞️ The Record | <a href="https://therecord.media/russia-pulkovo-airport-st-petersburg-website-hacked" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">therecord.media/russia-pulkovo</span><span class="invisible">-airport-st-petersburg-website-hacked</span></a></p><p>Russian APTs Turla and Gamaredon Collaborate in Ukraine 🇷🇺</p><p>- ESET researchers have documented the first technical evidence of collaboration between two Russian FSB-linked APTs, Gamaredon and Turla, in attacks against Ukrainian entities.<br>- Gamaredon's tools (PteroGraphin, PteroOdd) were observed deploying Turla's sophisticated Kazuar backdoor, with Gamaredon potentially providing initial access for Turla's targeted espionage.<br>- This convergence suggests a strategic alignment, likely intensified by the ongoing conflict, focusing on high-value targets within Ukraine's defence sector.</p><p>📰 The Hacker News | <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/russian-hackers-gamaredon-and-turla.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thehackernews.com/2025/09/russ</span><span class="invisible">ian-hackers-gamaredon-and-turla.html</span></a><br>🗞️ The Record | <a href="https://therecord.media/russian-spy-groups-turla-gamaredon-target-ukraine" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">therecord.media/russian-spy-gr</span><span class="invisible">oups-turla-gamaredon-target-ukraine</span></a></p><p>Iranian UNC1549 Targets Telecoms via LinkedIn Lures 🎣</p><p>- The Iran-nexus cyber espionage group UNC1549 (aka Subtle Snail) has infiltrated 34 devices across 11 telecommunications firms in Europe, Canada, UAE, UK, and US.<br>- The group uses sophisticated LinkedIn job lures, posing as HR reps, to build trust and deliver the MINIBIKE backdoor via DLL side-loading from fraudulent domains.<br>- MINIBIKE is a modular backdoor capable of extensive reconnaissance, credential theft (including Outlook and browser data), and persistence, with C2 traffic proxied through Azure cloud services for stealth.</p><p>📰 The Hacker News | <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/unc1549-hacks-34-devices-in-11-telecom-firms-via-linkedin-job-lures-and-minibike-malware/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thehackernews.com/2025/09/unc1</span><span class="invisible">549-hacks-34-devices-in-11-telecom-firms-via-linkedin-job-lures-and-minibike-malware/</span></a></p><p>Global PhaaS Surge: Lighthouse &amp; Lucid Campaigns 🌐</p><p>- The Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platforms Lighthouse and Lucid are linked to over 17,500 phishing domains, targeting 316 brands across 74 countries.<br>- These Chinese-speaking threat actors (XinXin group) use advanced techniques like homoglyph attacks (e.g., Japanese Hiragana character 'ん' to mimic '/') and specific User-Agent/proxy country checks to evade detection.<br>- Phishing infrastructure is shifting, with a 25% increase in email-based credential harvesting, moving away from Telegram, and leveraging services like EmailJS to bypass self-hosted infrastructure.</p><p>📰 The Hacker News | <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/17500-phishing-domains-target-316-brands-across-74-countries-in-global-phaas-surge/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thehackernews.com/2025/09/1750</span><span class="invisible">0-phishing-domains-target-316-brands-across-74-countries-in-global-phaas-surge/</span></a></p><p>Max Severity Flaw in GoAnywhere MFT (CVE-2025-10035) ⚠️</p><p>- Fortra has patched a maximum-severity deserialization vulnerability (CVE-2025-10035) in GoAnywhere MFT's License Servlet, allowing potential command injection.<br>- This flaw is "virtually identical" to CVE-2023-0669, a zero-day exploited by the Clop ransomware gang two years ago, affecting over 100 organisations.<br>- While no active exploitation is confirmed yet, researchers anticipate it, urging immediate patching or ensuring the Admin Console is not publicly exposed to the internet.</p><p>🤫 CyberScoop | <a href="https://cyberscoop.com/goanywhere-file-transfer-service-vulnerability-september-2025/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cyberscoop.com/goanywhere-file</span><span class="invisible">-transfer-service-vulnerability-september-2025/</span></a><br>🤖 Bleeping Computer | <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fortra-warns-of-max-severity-flaw-in-goanywhere-mfts-license-servlet/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">bleepingcomputer.com/news/secu</span><span class="invisible">rity/fortra-warns-of-max-severity-flaw-in-goanywhere-mfts-license-servlet/</span></a><br>🕵🏼 The Register | <a href="https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/gortra_goanywhere_bug/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">go.theregister.com/feed/www.th</span><span class="invisible">eregister.com/2025/09/19/gortra_goanywhere_bug/</span></a></p><p>Ivanti EPMM Zero-Days Under Active Exploitation (CVE-2025-4427, CVE-2025-4428) 🚨</p><p>- CISA has detailed two malware strains actively exploiting Ivanti EPMM zero-days (CVE-2025-4427, authentication bypass; CVE-2025-4428, RCE) chained together.<br>- Exploitation was observed around May 15, 2025, following PoC publication, with suspected China-nexus espionage groups leveraging the flaws to deploy malicious Java class listeners.<br>- These listeners enable arbitrary code execution, data exfiltration, and persistence, delivered in segmented, Base64-encoded chunks to evade detection. Immediate patching and treating MDM systems as high-value assets are critical.</p><p>📰 The Hacker News | <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/cisa-warns-of-two-malware-strains.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thehackernews.com/2025/09/cisa</span><span class="invisible">-warns-of-two-malware-strains.html</span></a><br>🤖 Bleeping Computer | <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisa-exposes-malware-kits-deployed-in-ivanti-epmm-attacks/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">bleepingcomputer.com/news/secu</span><span class="invisible">rity/cisa-exposes-malware-kits-deployed-in-ivanti-epmm-attacks/</span></a><br>🕵🏼 The Register | <a href="https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/cisa_ivanti_bugs_exploited/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">go.theregister.com/feed/www.th</span><span class="invisible">eregister.com/2025/09/19/cisa_ivanti_bugs_exploited/</span></a></p><p>Critical Entra ID Flaw (CVE-2025-55241) Could Grant Global Admin Access 🔑</p><p>- A researcher discovered a critical flaw (CVE-2025-55241) in Microsoft Entra ID that could have allowed access to almost every tenant worldwide via undocumented "Actor tokens."<br>- The vulnerability in the legacy Azure Active Directory Graph API failed to validate originating tenants, enabling cross-tenant authentication as any user, including Global Admins, without logging.<br>- Microsoft has swiftly mitigated the issue, confirming no abuse was detected, but the potential impact underscores the severity of identity-related vulnerabilities in cloud environments.</p><p>🕵🏼 The Register | <a href="https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/microsoft_entra_id_bug/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">go.theregister.com/feed/www.th</span><span class="invisible">eregister.com/2025/09/19/microsoft_entra_id_bug/</span></a></p><p>ChatGPT "ShadowLeak" Bug Exfiltrated Gmail Secrets 📧</p><p>- OpenAI patched a critical "ShadowLeak" flaw in ChatGPT's Deep Research assistant that allowed attackers to steal Gmail secrets with a single, maliciously crafted email.<br>- The attack hid instructions in white-on-white text or CSS within an email, which the AI agent would dutifully follow when summarising the inbox, exfiltrating sensitive data to an attacker-controlled server.<br>- This server-side execution bypasses traditional security controls, highlighting new risks with AI agents accessing private data and the need for robust input sanitisation and agent access controls.</p><p>🕵🏼 The Register | <a href="https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/openai_shadowleak_bug/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">go.theregister.com/feed/www.th</span><span class="invisible">eregister.com/2025/09/19/openai_shadowleak_bug/</span></a></p><p>China's GoLaxy AI Persona Army for Information Warfare 🇨🇳</p><p>- Leaked documents from Chinese company GoLaxy reveal a chilling new approach to information warfare: an army of AI personas designed for intimate, surgical persuasion.<br>- These aren't crude bots but highly realistic, adaptable digital identities, crafted using scraped social data and generative AI (DeepSeek) to build psychological profiles and shape narratives.<br>- The documents show dossiers on 2,000 American public figures and thousands of influencers, with operations already active in Hong Kong and Taiwan, signalling a new frontier in cognitive warfare.</p><p>🗞️ The Record | <a href="https://therecord.media/golaxy-china-artificial-intelligence-papers" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">therecord.media/golaxy-china-a</span><span class="invisible">rtificial-intelligence-papers</span></a></p><p>FBI Warns of Fake Crime Reporting Portals 🛡️</p><p>- The FBI has issued a warning about cybercriminals impersonating its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) website to conduct financial scams and steal personal information.<br>- These spoofed sites often use slightly altered domains (e.g., icc3[.]live) and may even display legitimate-looking warnings to trick victims.<br>- The FBI advises users to always manually type www.ic3.gov, avoid clicking sponsored search results, and never share personal info or send money to individuals claiming to be from the FBI or IC3.</p><p>🤖 Bleeping Computer | <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-warns-of-fake-fbi-crime-complaint-portals-used-for-cybercrime/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">bleepingcomputer.com/news/secu</span><span class="invisible">rity/fbi-warns-of-fake-fbi-crime-complaint-portals-used-for-cybercrime/</span></a></p><p>ChatGPT Can Now Solve CAPTCHAs with Prompt Engineering 🤖</p><p>- Researchers have demonstrated that ChatGPT-4o can be tricked into solving complex, image-based CAPTCHAs by using cleverly worded prompts and "staged consent."<br>- This bypasses the chatbot's policy prohibitions, raising serious questions about the long-term reliability of CAPTCHAs as a human-proving security mechanism against increasingly capable AI systems.<br>- The technique involved initially "training" the LLM on "fake" CAPTCHAs in one chat, then transferring that context to an agent chat to solve real ones, highlighting the evolving threat of prompt injection.</p><p>🕵🏼 The Register | <a href="https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/how_to_trick_chatgpt_agents/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">go.theregister.com/feed/www.th</span><span class="invisible">eregister.com/2025/09/19/how_to_trick_chatgpt_agents/</span></a></p><p>Future of CVE Program in Limbo Amidst CISA Debate 📋</p><p>- The future governance of the globally critical CVE Program is being debated, with CISA asserting its leadership role following a recent funding scare.<br>- CISA released documents outlining its vision for a CISA-led, vendor-neutral program, arguing against privatisation due to potential conflicts of interest and national security risks.<br>- However, CVE Program board members have formed the CVE Foundation, advocating for a globally supported, collaborative model with CISA as one of many contributors, questioning CISA's historical role and financial transparency.</p><p>🗞️ The Record | <a href="https://therecord.media/cve-program-future-limbo-cisa" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">therecord.media/cve-program-fu</span><span class="invisible">ture-limbo-cisa</span></a></p><p>MI6 Launches Dark Web Portal "Silent Courier" for Spy Recruitment 🇬🇧</p><p>- The UK's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has launched "Silent Courier," an upgraded dark web portal on the Tor network, to securely recruit foreign informants globally.<br>- The initiative aims to attract individuals with sensitive information on global instability or hostile intelligence activity, providing anonymous direct contact with MI6.<br>- Instructions are available in eight languages via YouTube, advising potential sources on secure access methods, including using clean devices and VPNs where Tor is blocked.</p><p>🕵🏼 The Register | <a href="https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/09/19/mi6_darkweb_portal_upgrade/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">go.theregister.com/feed/www.th</span><span class="invisible">eregister.com/2025/09/19/mi6_darkweb_portal_upgrade/</span></a><br>🗞️ The Record | <a href="https://therecord.media/mi6-darkweb-portal-recruit-foreign-spies" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">therecord.media/mi6-darkweb-po</span><span class="invisible">rtal-recruit-foreign-spies</span></a></p><p>Automating Alert Triage with AI Agents and Confluence SOPs 🤖</p><p>- Tines has released a pre-built workflow that automates security alert triage by leveraging AI agents and Confluence SOPs, aiming to reduce MTTR and analyst fatigue.<br>- The workflow uses AI to classify alerts, automatically retrieves relevant SOPs from Confluence, creates structured case records, and orchestrates remediation actions across various security tools.<br>- This solution integrates with platforms like CrowdStrike, AbuseIPDB, Okta, and Slack, providing consistent handling of alerts and automated notifications to on-call teams.</p><p>📰 The Hacker News | <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/how-to-automate-alert-triage-with-ai.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">thehackernews.com/2025/09/how-</span><span class="invisible">to-automate-alert-triage-with-ai.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/CyberSecurity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CyberSecurity</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ThreatIntelligence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ThreatIntelligence</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Vulnerabilities" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Vulnerabilities</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ZeroDay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ZeroDay</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/RCE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RCE</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/APT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>APT</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Ransomware" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Ransomware</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ScatteredSpider" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ScatteredSpider</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Ivanti" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Ivanti</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/GoAnywhere" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GoAnywhere</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/EntraID" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EntraID</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ChatGPT" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ChatGPT</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AI</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Phishing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Phishing</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/PhaaS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PhaaS</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/DataPrivacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DataPrivacy</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/COPPA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>COPPA</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/CVE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CVE</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/QuantumComputing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>QuantumComputing</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/InfoSec" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>InfoSec</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/CyberAttack" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CyberAttack</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/IncidentResponse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IncidentResponse</span></a></p>
Alec Muffett<p>Stuff that you don’t see on Reddit in the UK because you aren’t age verified<br><a href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/115105" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">alecmuffett.com/article/115105</span><span class="invisible"></span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AgeVerification" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AgeVerification</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafety</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/censorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>censorship</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/reddit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>reddit</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/surveillance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>surveillance</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/vpns" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>vpns</span></a></p>
alecm<p><strong>Stuff that you don’t see on Reddit in the UK because you aren’t age verified</strong></p><p>From groups which are not normally NSFW:</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/daddit/comments/1nl9lv1/whats_the_most_creative_way_your_kid_has_hit_you/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/daddit/comments/1nl9lv1/whats_the_most_creative_way_your_kid_has_hit_you/</a></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/age-verification" target="_blank">#ageVerification</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/censorship" target="_blank">#censorship</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety" target="_blank">#onlineSafety</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety-act" target="_blank">#onlineSafetyAct</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/reddit" target="_blank">#reddit</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/surveillance" target="_blank">#surveillance</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/vpns" target="_blank">#vpns</a></p>
Paris Marx<p>Social media was once positioned as the great connecting force that would improve our world. If it ever did that, it certainly isn’t now.</p><p>We must rein in these platforms, and deceptive narratives aimed at stopped regulation isn’t helping. Age restrictions are an experiment worth trying.</p><p><a href="https://disconnect.blog/social-media-causes-more-harm-than-good/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">disconnect.blog/social-media-c</span><span class="invisible">auses-more-harm-than-good/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/tech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>tech</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/digitalrights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>digitalrights</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/socialmedia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>socialmedia</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/regulation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>regulation</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/onlinesafetyact" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>onlinesafetyact</span></a></p>
Alec Muffett<p>With the Jimmy Kimmel saga, the media is learning what happens when you give a mouse a cookie | CNN Business<br><a href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/115102" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">alecmuffett.com/article/115102</span><span class="invisible"></span></a><br><a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/FreeSpeech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FreeSpeech</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/JimmyKimmel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>JimmyKimmel</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafety" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafety</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/censorship" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>censorship</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/privacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>privacy</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/surveillance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>surveillance</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>trump</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/vpns" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>vpns</span></a></p>
Ret<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/@MattTurmaine" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>MattTurmaine</span></a></span> this is an entirely false equivalence and I think you know it. <strong>Parents</strong> should be in charge of their kids, not Ofcom or AV providers.</p><p>This act is also restricting access to important LGBTQ resources, political discussions and more. </p><p>It is having a chilling effect on freedom of expression. </p><p>It is destroying online diversity and further pushing UK users into US-owned, politically-weaponised mega-platforms like Facebook and X. </p><p>It is putting innocent users of adult content at risk of life-ruining data breaches (your government has failed to regulate the wild-west Age Assurance marketplace). </p><p>Ofcom - an unelected quango - is acting as arbiter of what is and is not artistic work, freedom of expression, or pornography.</p><p>This is an incredibly authoritarian piece of legislation, and - I'm sorry - you shouldn't be proud of it.</p><p>Please follow the <a href="https://furry.engineer/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> tag and educate yourself on the other side of this.</p>
alecm<p><strong>With the Jimmy Kimmel saga, the media is learning what happens when you give a mouse a cookie | CNN Business</strong></p><blockquote><p>Spoiler alert: The mouse has some more demands</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/19/business/media-business-trump-kimmel" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/19/business/media-business-trump-kimmel</a></p><p>The same thinking can and should be applied to British online safety regulation.</p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/censorship" target="_blank">#censorship</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/free-speech" target="_blank">#freeSpeech</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/jimmy-kimmel" target="_blank">#JimmyKimmel</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety" target="_blank">#onlineSafety</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/online-safety-act" target="_blank">#onlineSafetyAct</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/privacy" target="_blank">#privacy</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/surveillance" target="_blank">#surveillance</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/trump" target="_blank">#trump</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/vpns" target="_blank">#vpns</a></p>
Matt Turmaine<p>We wouldn't let a child get behind the wheel of a car and drive down the street, we wouldn't let a child go into an off licence and buy booze. The <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/OnlineSafetyAct" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineSafetyAct</span></a> affords protections to children in the virtual world, just as we expect them to be in the physical world.</p>