This week's net.wars, "Negative externalities", watches Texas police use license plate data to search for a woman they think might have self-managed an abortion; pushes back on a report that suggests a publicly funded NHS period-tracking app is a better idea; and notes the passage of the UK's new data bill weakening citizens' rights over their data: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/06/13/negative-externalities/ #NetWars #UKpolitics #Abortion #DataBill #Privacy
ukpolitics
The proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group starts tomorrow.
This is a dangerous escalation in the criminalisation of political dissent in the UK.
It’ll increase surveillance, particularly under the Prevent Duty, and censorship under the Online Safety Act.
Read our blog ⬇️
#palestineaction #freedomofexpression #preventduty #ukpolitics #ukpol #protest #palestine #freespeech
Bluesky will be age-gating content for UK users. It’s your privacy that pays.
The UK Online Safety Act has unleashed an unregulated market in age verification.
That we have to do these intrusive checks with countless providers for different platforms is dangerous.
https://www.theverge.com/news/704468/bluesky-age-verification-uk-online-safety-act
#onlinesafetyact #ageverification #ageassurance #privacy #dataprotection #data #biometrics #onlinesafety #ukpolitics #ukpol #bluesky
Parts of the Internet are going dark for UK users since the Online Safety Act heaped weighty duties on platforms.
Sites are geoblocking the UK, overmoderating content, age-gating access or shutting down completely.
We need your help to track how content is being censored 🫵
Use our tool to report a site that's shutting down or restricting access to UK users as a result of the #OSA.
➡️ https://www.blocked.org.uk/osa-blocks
#OnlineSafetyAct #onlinesafety #censorship #freespeech #ukpolitics #ukpol
The bigots are screaming that a few thousand Afghans have been let into this country.
Afghans that made the mistake of helping out the British and now the ungrateful British Peasant would rather they died in Afghanistan than 'pollute' their precious culture of Fish and Chips and lying to children about our history
#Afghanistan #RefugeesWelcome #Fascism #Xenophobia #Racism #UKPOL #UKPolitics
It was only a matter of time before this happened.
This government is falling apart and it's all it's own fault for standing for nothing more than the Rich.
Did Labour really think all these MPs they kicked out or silenced would just sit around and take it without doing something themselves?
https://leftfootforward.org/2025/07/zarah-sultana-and-jeremy-corbyn-to-found-new-political-party/
Age verification is creating an information desert.
The Online Safety Act sets every UK user to child as default.
Teenagers? Blocked. Adults? Content denied unless we do age checks with unregulated companies.
It's not just porn! News on Gaza and Ukraine is being scrubbed from view, threatening #freedomofexpression as well as #privacy ⛔
#OnlineSafetyAct #onlinesafety #OSA #palestine #gaza #ukraine #reddit #ageverification #ageassurance #censorship #ukpolitics #ukpol
Edited 105d ago