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Articles for Category Tag - Censorship

Government Hints at Climbdown Over UK Online Safety Bill

21st September, 2022 (26 Comments)

The UK Government’s new Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan, has signalled that the mess of complex and confusing legislation that is the Online Safety Bill (OSB), which seeks to tackle “harmful” internet content (i.e. via website blocks by broadband ISPs, fines and other sanctions), is likely to be softened before it returns to parliament.

TalkTalk and Virgin Media Block Penny Mordaunt’s “unsuitable” Website UPDATE2

14th July, 2022 (12 Comments)

The endless debate over the UK government’s bloated and incoherent Online Safety Bill (OSB) took another twist today after the Open Rights Group (ORG) pointed out that two of the largest broadband ISPs, Virgin Media (VMO2) and TalkTalk, were blocking access to MP Penny Mordaunt’s website as “unsuitable for children“.

Rights Holders Force UK Mobile Operators to Block Piracy Sites

12th July, 2022 (10 Comments)

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has announced that its long-running campaign, which uses the High Court to force major UK broadband ISPs into blocking websites that are suspected of facilitating copyright infringement (internet piracy), is being extended to mobile operators – starting with EE (BT).

Ofcom Sets Out UK Internet Censorship Plans Under Safety Bill

6th July, 2022 (19 Comments)

The UK communications and media regulator, Ofcom, has today set out their plans for putting the mess of complex and confusing legislation – that is the Online Safety Bill (OSB) – into practice, which aims to tackle “harmful” internet content through website bans by broadband ISPs, fines and other sanctions.

Government Moves Forward with UK ISP Internet Snooping System

27th June, 2022 (58 Comments)

The UK Home Office and the National Crime Agency (NCA) appear to be making progress on the development of a new internet snooping system and database, which could soon require broadband ISPs and mobile operators to provide various agencies with access to view a log of your online activity.

2022 Queens Speech Covers Digital Infrastructure and Internet Safety

10th May, 2022 (10 Comments)

Prince Charles has today carried out the State Opening of Parliament event – formally still referred to as the “Queen’s Speech“, which sets out the UK Government’s agenda for the coming session. The speech contained no real surprises, but it did include and reiterate some bills that will impact broadband infrastructure and internet safety.

Censorship Blocked Website Message by UK ISP

Future UK Trade Deals May Add Piracy Website Blocks by ISPs

9th May, 2022 (15 Comments)

In a sign of things to come, it’s interesting to note that the recent free trade agreement between Australia and the United Kingdom included measures that require both sides to provide injunctive relief for website blocking by broadband ISPs – targeted at sites that are found to be facilitating internet copyright infringement (piracy).

Russia Sanctions Add Shock Internet Censorship Twist for UK ISPs UPDATE2

30th April, 2022 (41 Comments)

Broadband and mobile providers were on Friday subjected to a shock twist after the Government – without consultation – amended the Russian sanctions legislation to require that – “a person who provides an internet access service must take reasonable steps to prevent a user of the service in the [UK] from accessing … an internet service provided by a designated person.”

A Quarter of UK Parents Use Content Filters from Broadband ISPs

30th March, 2022 (14 Comments)

A new Ofcom report has found that 61% of parents are aware of the existing network-level internet filtering (Parental Control) tools provided by big UK broadband ISPs, yet only 27% have actually chosen to use them. Meanwhile, 6% of children have circumvented parental controls and 5% used a proxy server to avoid them.

Censorship image of hands bound by rope by 123rf (133819162)

Internet Censorship Beckons as UK Online Safety Bill Hits Parliament

16th March, 2022 (29 Comments)

The UK Government’s controversial Online Safety Bill, which will task Ofcom with clamping down on “harmful” online content (hate speech, bullying, terrorism, conspiracy theories etc.) by threatening such providers with web-blocks, fines and possibly even jail – if they don’t enforce the rules, has today been introduced to parliament.

Error message concept. Alert, attention notification. Important reminder

Government Extends UK Online Safety Bill to Tackle Scam Adverts

8th March, 2022 (15 Comments)

The UK Government has today announced that their controversial new Online Safety Bill (OSB) will be extended to add a new duty, which aims to bring fraudulent paid-for adverts on social media and internet search engines into scope, whether they are controlled by the platform itself or an advertising intermediary.

Censorship and forbidden speech warning sign uk internet

Gov Confirm Measures to Tackle Anonymous UK Internet Trolls

25th February, 2022 (29 Comments)

The Government has today confirmed that they will add two new duties to the Online Safety Bill (OSB), which will act to crackdown on the anonymous online abuse that occurs on the largest social networks. The wider bill also tasks Ofcom with tackling “harmful” internet content through website bans, fines and other sanctions.

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Cybersecurity and Human Rights Groups Warn UK Against Encryption Ban

9th February, 2022 (3 Comments)

Some 50 leading security, human rights and technology experts have put their names to a new letter that accuses the UK Government of “misleading the public” with a “scaremongering” campaign against the use of end-to-end encryption on the internet, which helps to keep everything from financial transactions to messaging secure.

Gov Confirms Second Try at UK Internet Age Verification System

8th February, 2022 (23 Comments)

The Government has today confirmed that the new Online Safety Bill will, among many other changes, have another go at introducing a controversial internet age verification system, which will target “all websites” that contain pornographic content. Sites that fail to comply will be blocked by broadband ISPs and mobile operators.

High Court Orders Big UK ISPs to Block Cyberlocker Website

7th February, 2022 (18 Comments)

The High Court has ordered six of the UK’s largest broadband ISPs – Sky Broadband, BT, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and EE – to block customers from accessing a website called Mixdrop, which is described as a “cyberlocker” that facilitated internet piracy (copyright infringement) by allowing users to stream or download TV and film content.

Gov Extend UK Online Safety Bill via New List of Criminal Content

4th February, 2022 (17 Comments)

The Government’s new Online Safety Bill (OSB), which tasks Ofcom with tackling “harmful” content online through website bans, fines and other sanctions, has today extended the legislation via a new list of “criminal content” (e.g. online drug and weapons dealing, people smuggling, revenge porn, fraud etc.) for tech firms to remove as a priority.

DCMS Committee Finds Online Safety Bill Gets the Balance Wrong

24th January, 2022 (1 Comment)

A new cross-party UK report from the DCMS Select Committee has warned that the Government’s new Online Safety Bill (OSB), which will task Ofcom with tackling “harmful” content online, fails to get the balance right and “neither protects freedom of expression nor is it clear nor robust enough to tackle illegal and harmful online content.”