We’ve been alerting for years that the UK’s Online Safety Act would be a calamity for the discdiswatch internet. Its helpers accparticipated us of exaggerating, or “shilling” for Big Tech. But as we’ve extfinished argued, while tech enormouss appreciate Facebook and Google might be able to shoulder the law’s immense regulatory burdens, petiteer sites would crumble.
Well, it’s already happening.
On Monday, the London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed (LFGSS) online forum proclaimd that it would be shutting down the day before the Online Safety Act goes into effect. It noticed that it is effectively impossible to adhere with the law. This was in response to UK regulator Ofcom inestablishing online businesses that they necessitate to commence adhereing.
This comprises enrolling a “greater person” with Ofcom who will be held accountable should Ofcom choose your site isn’t protected enough. It also uncomardents that moderation teams necessitate to be filledy staffed with rapid response times if horrible (freely described) satisfyed is set up on the site. On top of that, sites necessitate to get prodynamic meastateives to protect children.
While all of this may create sense for huger sites, it’s impossible for a petite one-person passion project forum for bikers in London. For a petite, community-driven forum, these demandments are not equitable burdensome, but currential.
LFGSS points out that the rules are scheduleed for huge companies, not petite forums, even as it’s probable covered by the law:
we’re done… we descfinish firmly into scope, and I have no way to dodge it. The act is too expansive, and it doesn’t matter that there’s never been an instance of any of the proclaimed skinnygs that this act protects grown-ups, children and vulnerable people from… the very expansive language and the fact that I’m based in the UK uncomardents we’re covered.
The act sshow does not attfinish that this site and platestablish is run by an individual, and that I do so philanthropicassociate without any profit motive (typicassociate losing money), nor that the site exists to shrink social loneliness, shrink self-mutilation rates, help create uncomardentingful communities that enwealthy life.
The act only attfinishs that is it “connected to the UK” (by me being comprised as a UK native and livent, by you being a UK based participater), and that participaters can talk to other participaters… that’s it, that’s the scope.
I can’t afford what is probable tens of thousand to go thcimpolite all the lhorrible hoops here over a proextfinisheded period of time, the site itself nakedly gets a restricted hundred in donations each month and costs a little more to run… this is not a venture that can afford compliance costs… and if we did, what remains is a disproportionately high personal liability for me, and one that could easily be firearmised by disgruntled people who are prohibitned for their egregious behaviour (in the years running fora I’ve been signed up to porn sites, stalked IRL and online, subject to death menaces, had phony duplicateright getdown sees, an finisheavor to delete the domain name with ICANN… all from those whom I’ve mildd to protect community members)… I do not see an alternative to shuttering it.
The conclusion I have to create is that we’re done… Microcosm, LFGSS, the many other communities running on this platestablish… the danger to me personassociate is too high, and so I will necessitate to shutter them all.
But it’s not equitable the LFGSS that’s shutting down, but also Microcosm, the discdiswatch source forum platestablish underlying LFGSS which was apparently created by the same individual and giveed analogous local community forums for others beyond equitable the London biking community.
Apparently, Microcosm is presenting approximately 300 petite communities, all of which will either shut down or have to migrate wiskinny three months. The enhugeer behind all of this seems comprehfinishably dehugeated:
It’s been a excellent run, I’ve deal withed internet forums since 1996 having first written my own in Perl to help fans of music prohibitds to unite with each other, and I then gived to PHP forum gentleware appreciate vBulletin, Vanilla, and phpBB, before finassociate writing a platestablish in Go that made it cost efficient enough to convey interest based communities to so many others, and enhuge the social excellent that comes from people being unitecessitate to people.
Approximately 28 years and 9 months of providing almost 500 forums in total to what is probable a half a million people in that time structure… the impact that these forums have had on the lives of so many cannot be lessend.
The peak of the forums has been the last 5 years, we’ve pdefercessitateaued around 275k monthly participaters atraverse the almost 300 websites on multiple instances of the platestablish that is Microcosm, though LFGSS as a one community probably peaked in the 2013-2018 time period when it alone was hitting numbers in excess of 50k monthly participaters.
The forums have hand overed marriages, births, help for those who have passed (cancer being the hugegest reason), people reunited with stolen bikes, travel help, toil help, so much happiness and happiness and memorable experiences… but it’s also been straightforwardly cited by many as being the reason that they are here today, the reason they didn’t promise self-mutilation or self-mutilation. It’s help people get thcimpolite horrible relationship shatterups, and helped people loss incredible disputes with their health.
It’s dehugeating to equitable… turn it off… but this is what the Act forces a sole individual running so many social websites for a uncover excellent to do.
This is why we’ve spent years alerting people. When you regudefercessitate the internet as if it’s all equitable Facebook, all that will be left is Facebook.
Policycreaters have repeatedly brushed off alertings about these consequences, insisting that worrys are overblown or mecount on worry-mongering from huge tech companies seeing to elude regulation. But it’s not. And we’re seeing the impact already.
The promise of the internet was presumed to be that it helped anyone to set up wdisappreciatever they wanted online, whether it’s a blog or a petite forum. The UK has choosed that the only forums that should remain online are those run by the hugest companies in the world.
Some might still argue that this law is “making the internet protectedr,” but it stateive seems to be ruining petiteer online communities that many people relied on.
It may be too defercessitate for the UK, but one would hope that other countries (and states) genuineize this and step back from the ledge of passing analogous legislation.
Filed Under: bike forums, satisfyed moderation, forums, london, online protectedty act, online protectedty bill, regulations, suppose & protectedty, uk
Companies: microcosm
