UK's Online Safety Act has made 'absolutely no difference,' kids say

Children have told England's Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, that the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) "has made absolutely no difference" to their ability to access harmful content online. More than a year after the OSA's key child protection duties took effect, de Souza told MPs and peers that young people had …

[Dan 55]

The Chair and Chief Executive of Ofcom are both from the ancien régime so were chosen to warm their respective seats, and they are doing that job perfectly well.

[MaChatma CoatGPT 2.0]

UK's Online Safety Act has made 'absolutely no difference'

Of course it hasn't. It was never anything to do with the kids.

[elsergiovolador]

Re: UK's Online Safety Act has made 'absolutely no difference'

But look how many civil servants have cashed in their wages on this nonsense.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: UK's Online Safety Act has made 'absolutely no difference'

OSA - failed

Ofcom - failed.

Another ‘No shit Sherlock’ moment at UK Government.

She’ll be telling us that the social media ban for kids is also garbage next. Maybe they should have just joined the US States Meta class action. They’d at least have gotten a couple of billion dollars of fuck off money.

[wolfetone]

Someone pointed out that platforms like Facebook, Instagram etc, will tear down a video containing footage of a Premier League football match within minutes. But can't, apparently, do anything to other harmful content on there.

That one comment does more to explain the problem and how fucking useless Ofcom, OSA, and the rest are at the actual problem. But, as has been said above, it was never anything to do with the kids.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

Link: https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/03/31/big-tech-has-not-enforced-australias-social-media-ban/5227691

Yup.....UK.....Australia.......lawmakers SHOUT "We are doing something"....................

.....and absolutely nothing at all happens!

Online Safety......nothing!

PREVENT...........nothing!

Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/katherine-theodotou-rspca-cat-raid-court-met-police-b3022774.html

......but when the RSPCA want a cat "rescued"......six cops turn up and break doors down!

Sigh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

....and you forgot............

Clean rivers.............nothing!

[Elongated Muskrat]

Re: Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

i think you might need to clean your keyboard, the '.' key appears to be stuck, rendering your comment night on unreadable.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

I had a coworker who insisted on answering email in all lower case with ..... between each sentence. It took far longer to read than I expected. All those ..... kept my brain wondering what, exactly, was in between the sentences that he'd left out.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

Not that I mind people copying my style ...... imitation being the best form of flattery etc. ...... but I'm concerned that these comments might be confused with my own ...... from time to time ...... by those less familiar with my views.

[Jamie Jones]

Re: Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

Oh, I thought it was a "fill in the blanks" quiz!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

@Jamie_Jones

OK.....but don't complain when the cops break YOUR DOOR down

in search of an "abused" cat!!!!!

[Jamie Jones]

Re: Yup..."We are doing something".....and 80% of kids worldwide saw no difference

Awwww. Will that be because I didn't score highly enough on your quiz?

Never mind, I'll make them a nice cup of tea. That door needed replacing, anyway.

And whilst we all sit around the table singing sea shanties, my extremely loved and pampered cats will no doubt show off the way they always do.

By the way, that story you posted is really disgusting and genuinely upsetting.

[Anonymous Coward]

"De Souza said she was "really cross" that there was no hard evidence showing the OSA had meaningfully changed how social media platforms operate". Is this De Souza being "really cross" because no one has looked for any evidence, or Is this De Souza being "really cross" because evidence has been looked for and but it does not show the OSA has had any affect. Its a very important difference.

The first option is De Souza being "really cross" because no one has looked into it, I have no problem with this other that its probably because its hasn't been asked for yet and everyone is busy doing other things that De Souza has asked for.

The second option is De Souza being "really cross" because the evidence doesn't show what she wants it to, and we all know that bad things happen when people in power decide that the evidence is wrong because it doesn't say what they want it to

[Doctor Syntax]

Well, the article starts off by quoting actual evidence: children saying it's made no difference to them so your first option can be ruled out. The remainder, however, splits into two: no changes have been made o change have been made but the kids worked round them anyway.

It's just another example of the fact that no plan survives contact with reality.

[Jason Bloomberg]

no plan survives contact with reality.

Not helped by the fact the plan was fundamentally flawed from the very start as it provided no mechanism for anyone to notify Ofcom of sites which were not in compliance with the OSA when it was felt they should be.

It is therefore not surprising there is plenty of harmful and age-inappropriate material out there with kids having no problem accessing it, or being exposed to it.

[Anonymous Coward]

The only problem with that argument is that age does not equal maturity. If you're going to do this strictly by age, then what are medical students supposed to do while they wait for their 18th birthday? A second question is whats the difference between naked people and every other mamalian species on the planet?

[Anonymous Coward]

whats the difference between naked people and every other mamalian (sic) species

For the most part, the same as the difference between non-naked people and every other mammalian species.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: whats the difference between naked people and every other mamalian (sic) species

Your pets wear clothes and relieve themselves in a room with toilette facilities?

[Doctor Syntax]

I doubt there are many medical students under 18. I'm pretty sure all those larval doctors I met in my student days were the same age as I was.

[Sam Lowry]

"I doubt there are many medical students under 18."

Oi! I matriculated aged 17. Had to spend the next 7 months lying to my bank just to get a chequebook and cheque guarantee card.

I'm reasonably sure my peers would have been pretty f*ckin vocal about it if we'd been subject to age-related content controls.

Sad thing is, my daughter (still 15) and her mates know the workarounds and stay on social media. They are not speaking up, protesting to government. They realise the futility of that. But they are pissed-off and feeling rather patronised — and they will be voters one day.

What's that line from le Carré? "Daddy thought he could beat the sin out of me. But you knew better, didn't you, Mr Smiley? You beat it further in. And that's what scalphunters are made of. Isn't that right, Mr Guillam?"

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>I matriculated aged 17.

Most of us started doing it a lot younger, but it's noting to be ashamed of.

[Blazde]

She appears surprised that with limited resources Ofcom have gone after the low-hanging fruit of never-ending randosmut.xyz porn sites instead of cracking the difficult cases of the big tech company platforms backed by huge legal budgets followed occasionally by eventual passive-aggressive compliance.

We might observe that this was predictable beforehand, and that she will remain furious until her aims are achieved. That is, the day the internet is turned off.

[Anonymous Coward]

as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

Don't use social media personally, it's toxic poison from my perspective

However - Did she talk to any ACTUAL children/teens/adolescents ? (Other than ones coached to say what she wanted to hear )

Or did she just do what all the crusading "child safety campaigners" seem to do and go only with what THEY want to hear?

She's already chucking the toys out of the pram over being told no because the law prohibits then from disclosing the information to her, her "statutory powers" are not a my way or the highway do as I command godmode and it wouldnt surprise me if there are serious concerns over her cherry picking data from the risk assessments and it being "leaked" to her friends in various groups for them to further cherry pick

Why is it the children's commissioner is always some crusading prude completely out of touch with actual kids?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

I know these kids. Um, I've worked in the areas we're talking about, around Lambeth, Lewisham, I know their problems, I know their frustrations, lack of community facilities, I know their parents...and in my opinion, Professor Duff's suggestion that we should cut off their goolies is the only solution.

(I propose an age verification system based on knowing Monty Python, NTNON and Red Dwarf memes)

[Throg]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

Downvotes (and verification failure) presumably from people who don’t know what NTNOCN is.

Or bots I guess?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

Or are Constable, now home secretary, Savage

[Blue Shirt Guy]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

NTNOCN is one of those things that kinda lingers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

It was an awesome show. I guess a modern reboot would have to be NTTOCN.

[ChoHag]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

I know what it's not.

[DuncanLarge]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

Ahem

I was born in the 80's and "raised" by my family. I put that in quotes as today, we don't raise kids.

I was taught exactly what my responsibilities were, where I should stand in regard to respect and society. Raised to understand the law and my place in it etc. I was raised to be a member of a functional society.

As I have grown into an adult I see that society has decided to just not bother. Maybe it is lazyness, maybe it is the usual adults gaslighting themselves that the kids are superior as they are now "digital natives" while I was the generation that apparently instinctively knew how to set the VCR.

No I bloody didnt. I just read the manual and pressed the buttons to confirm what it said!

Children are what WE make them to be. WE are their creators and shapers. What and who they become happens AFTER that, as they are given more adult responsibility. But what I see is the attitude that these days we seem to just "let them develop" by themselves.

And thus we get the issues with underage sex and gangs and more. We gave them the keys and they made up their own rules, now we wake up and moan about the doughnuts in the parks and stuff?

Take the keys back. Or at least realise the mistake and never give them to the younger kids that will replace the unruly ones, we will just have to deal with them as they grow up and make a mess as adults.

I tried the "let it be alone and grow" method with the garden. For several years now I have had tomato plants that just seem to be wild and not producing what they did when I went out there every day and properly managed them.

Basically, all these "kids are bored" and "kids have problems" wishy washy things boil down to that, a stand off approach where the kids have literally been left to wander about and do their own shit that creates shitty issues for them where you have to pick up the pieces and this is taken as... normal.

To fix this we need to return to the better days, where we raised kids correctly. Growing up I had zero confusion where I was, who I was, what was happening and why. I certainly didnt have this "teen angst" crap I hear about where I should have raged against the world and stayed in be all day. I was up at 6/7am every day, to get the most of the day. I was perfectly fine to see a problem and locate the solution via multiple sources of information, most of which were the foundation I had been given as a nipper by family members telling me things not to do otherwise I'd get a smack. I never smoked, stole or broke the speed limit. The worst I did was break the plug chain in the bathroom when I was annoyed at someone at school once but I fixed it and nobody was the wiser.

When I go out now at 45 I'm actually pretty apprehensive with kids and teens. They are loud and brash and have zero sense of morality whee in groups. They will entertain themselves to get a laugh simply by trying to trip you up in the street. and the older ones stink of whacky baccy and the even older ones are popping out their own kids and talking to them as if they were down the trashy greasy spoon or back alley pub, and not like they are 6.

Maybe I'm a weird breed, strange genes, but so must my Nephews who I happily can say are doing exactly the same. Like me they are struggling to find time to do anything as they are so busy with hobbies and interests. But even my own eldest Nephew was anxious because of the attacks of social media, so what did my sister and brother in law do? They banned general purpose computers in the boys bedrooms, consoles only. The (internet connected) PC is back where it was when I was a kid, in the living room.

[Rattus]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

I was born in the 1970s.

Drinking under age - check; I worked at a pub from the age of 14

Access to P0rn - check; 'rip mags' were always available, either discarded in the local park, or if you had the (ahem) spunk for it you could buy them from w h smiths, most the Saturday staff couldn't care less about your age

Knowing the rules (and how to subvert them) - I got given a little red book school book by my mother... and was in the scouts (taught me not to break the rules but how to bend them so far as to be meaningless)

NO - I am not going to complain, kids today are just like we were. Only for some reason we look at what they are doing with outrage and look at our childhood through rose tinted glasses

[LybsterRoy]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

First "I just read the manual and pressed the buttons to confirm what it said!" this is also my secret weapon and why I fix lots of computer manuals - ready to RTFM

Second - our local primary school (when I went it was called infants) has a bloody great sign saying it respects children's rights - no mention of responsibilities - no wonder they behave as they do

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

It was the end of capital punishment in schools that caused the rot

[jpennycook]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

hmmm, teenage pregnancy was much higher in the past, as was teenagers getting completely drunk on cheap cider in parks, also anorexia (many news stories of girls dying rather than eating). Joy riding was a big problem, and so were football hooligans (interestingly, some gave up around the time ecstasy became popular, and some turned into far right agitators backed by Elon Musk etc).

You seem to be too young to remember those "good old days". The things that teenagers used to get up to, what was done to them against their will, and the exploitation, would shock you.

[Dinanziame]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

Why is it the children's commissioner is always some crusading prude completely out of touch with actual kids?

Who else would want the job?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

I think all the politicians with an in-touch experience of kids are now lyng low/being made ambassador

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

What about the ones that are rumoured to be in the palace? The man with his own personal chair?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

It's an old joke but a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLB-7xVvSJI

[LybsterRoy]

Re: as the meme says "hello fellow young people"

Brilliant film

[Fonant]

Impossible to enforce

The Elephant in the Room is that the OSA is almost impossible to enforce. Because the WWW and the Internet are international, and Ofcom does not have international powers. I wonder what percentage of the fines Ofcom has levied has actually been paid?

The second Elephant in the Room is VPN and TOR usage. The Internet has redundancy and alternative routing options by design. So it's near impossible to block access to something.

Blocks and fines just don't work. We need to try other methods, such as education and folklore, to minimise the exposure of "bad stuff" to children. Just like we all know not to accept sweeties from strangers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Impossible to enforce

No need for VPNs or TOR. The bigname sites have implemented age checks but I've already noticed lots of previously unknown sites popping up, often with some of the weirder material, which don't care at all. If they have no UK business presence they don't need to care.

As predicted, the OSA has no useful effect.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Impossible to enforce

"The Internet" might be international, but individual websites are obliged to abide by the laws of the countries they are serving content to. We're only just seeing the beginning of a balkanised internet....

[Elongated Muskrat]

Re: Impossible to enforce

If I have a website that hosts something that is, for example, controlled information in North Korea, do I need to abide by North Korean laws? Perhaps I should make sure that my website won't serve content to any IP address that appears to be in North Korea? Hold on while I just redesign the internet for you, should be done in just a minute...

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Impossible to enforce

...do I need to abide by North Korean laws? Perhaps I should make sure that my website won't serve content to any IP address that appears to be in North Korea?

Might be sensible. Or don't visit the DPRK, and beware women waving hankies. But this is the reason behind one of the trade spats between the US & Europe. How dare the EU (and UK) create and implement laws, then expect US corporate citizens doing business in Europe to abide by those laws?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Impossible to enforce

Could be worse, if you want to do business in Canada your website may have to support another language !!!!

Nasty nasty Canadians / Méchant Méchant Canadiens

[Dr Dan Holdsworth]

Re: Impossible to enforce

If a website is serving content that is legal in its home jurisdiction but illegal in another then the other country can scream and shout as much as it wants to no avail (as is currently happening); the foreigners have no power to enforce their law in another country.

[Elongated Muskrat]

Re: Impossible to enforce

Exactly this, except of course when it comes to folks like Donny the Orange and their gunboat diplomacy.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Impossible to enforce

An expectation that the world obeys US laws seems to be common to the entire US political class, along, of course, with an expectation that the US doesn't need to obey the rest of the world's laws.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Impossible to enforce

.. except they do if they are doing business in that country.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Impossible to enforce

And yet the world buys Saudi oil. You may need help.

[phogan99]

Re: Impossible to enforce

Generally it has been the country they're doing business in cause aside from being phyisically in the country, conducting business establishes some jurisdiction. Otherwise good luck enforcing UK law on sites whose only connection to the UK is their site showing up when you go to the URL. Oh Ofcom can waste resources trying, but I suspect they won't get far and probably a middle finger like with 4Chan. Maybe in Australia where they a similar law.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: Impossible to enforce

I think many sites without an Australian presence have implemented the corresponding age checks because they depend on credit card payments for their "premium" (black label ;) content and the payments from AU can be blocked.

Of course the content is available without checks even using a free VPN service like ProtonVPN and the kiddywits know this. Whether they are interested in the stuff that gets the Contessa's knickers in a knot is the question — I suspect on the whole not. Recent tragic events suggest to me that real world sex and relationship education for teens failed as much as the sites that have attracted blame. Nothing changed there since I was a kid.

Perhaps the UK could insert a Data Diode between it and the rest of the internet that requires a £1.00 per day credit card payment to access Facebook, Instagram etc (and £1,000 for X) and VPN services which would more or less implement the age check as most kids younger than 16 don't have credit cards (or access to one) and if they did that they would rather keep the lucre. I am sure Treasury would approve of this de facto paywall… nice little earner. /S

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Impossible to enforce

>a £1.00 per day credit card payment to access Facebook,

Tariffs on imported American filth is the only way for native home-grown smut to thrive.

Save British Porn, make Grumble Flicks Great Again

[LybsterRoy]

Re: Impossible to enforce

WE also need to define what "bad stuff" is. Sex is out but violence seems in, theft seems in... hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

It's changed my behaviour online. If a website wants my ID or face scan then it's either goodbye or VPN. Xbox wanted my ID. Not being funny but I've had my email with Microsoft for just under 30 years so unless I own a time machine I'm over 18. I don't own an Xbox any more anyway so you're not getting it. What's all this verify age sms by phone number about as well? Do kids not have phones? Blizzard asked me to do that on an account I've had for 22 years which already had my phone number on anyway and no it wasn't an email asking me to do it, I'm not stupid, not totally anyway.

[Doctor Syntax]

In other words, it's working as predicted. Not as intended but as predicted by anyone with any background knowledge predicted after a moment's thought.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>Not as intended

Unless it was a cunning plan by the government to raise a generation of cyber security experts, adept at bypassing internet security

[Anonymous Coward]

Likewise it's changed my behaviour - I now use TOR a lot more, Yes, I could 'verify my identity', but I have no desire to do so on random websites that have no need to actually identify me. Plus it normalises oversharing so people are more likely to get scammed and it will promote identity theft.

[Jellied Eel]

It's changed my behaviour online. If a website wants my ID or face scan then it's either goodbye or VPN.

Yep. It's creepy the way things have morphed from 'gimme your mobile phone number so we can flog that to data brokers'.. I mean implement 2FA, which does sweet FA for security when your mobile gets stolen. Now they want to steal my face as well. So I buy my drugs online*. That website recently mandated 2FA, and now has a suggestion that I can somehow make the process easier, or faster by smiling for the camera and using my face to log in. Somehow, I doubt that will actually make anything easier, and have no desire to help with the conditioning or training for facial recognition.

*Online prescriptions

[Anonymous Coward]

That sounds like a different system: passkeys. The facial recognition aspect doesn't leave your device, it's just used to open the vault that contains your certificate (ie a very long, automatically generated, password) and using your device PIN or similar is also viable.

[Anonymous Coward]

"certificate (ie a very long, automatically generated, password)" is so simplified as to be incorrect. The only similarity between certificates and passwords is that both can be used in cryptographic processes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Trust me, I know how certificates work. But we're talking passkeys here and through talking to normal users I've learned to simplify it in that way.

[stiine]

Doesn't? Or shouldn't? There is a big difference.

[Jellied Eel]

That sounds like a different system: passkeys. The facial recognition aspect doesn't leave your device,

That's the flaw with this, and other 'security' systems. Being a genuine greybeard*, I'm also in possession of 3x4K monitors, a mouse, a keyboard and a decent PC that drives them. Which I use for 99% of my online activities. So I guess I could let my mobile try to steal my face**, but it's not going to help me use my PC & browser to log in. I'm guessing their web developers assumed that everyone just uses a mobile phone and will willingly install any old app on their phones, and grant *** access to location, camera, mic, contacts etc and all the stuff data slurpers want 'to make life easier'

* Which is also a problem with facial recognition. Do I shave before registering? Or do I continue with my quest to look like I could be a member of a ZZ Top tribute band?

** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBTwBux0aEU

*** Grant? What am I saying? I mean just click 'OK', because who's going to read 30+ pages of T&Cs on a mobile?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's similar to my situation. And I'm also a greybeard. Particularly for me, I live in an area with good fibre broadband but awful mobile phone coverage - most calls drop out and apps time out trying to connect - so smartphone-based authentication is a non-starter. I've considered wi-fi calling/wi-fi connection for the smartphone but I don't currently have wi-fi, that also having holes in it you could drive a truck through.

[doublelayer]

It could be, with the site having a bad summary of how passkeys work. Or it could be the site actually implementing facial recognition on their side. It happens. A financial institution I did business with was very happy to inform me of their voice print authentication system. I refused quite strongly.

[Anonymous Coward]

Try authenticating when you have the flu.

[Throg]

That’s probably malicious compliance at work. Exactly the same happened with the borked cookie legislation.

The age verification check on my Apple ID worked exactly the way you suggest it should. It took one look at the creation date on my ID and inferred that I must be over eighteen.

[Anonymous Coward]

same here.

I have a youtube account in an alias, with its own gmail, etc, that i have had for more than 14 years. Google still insists that i verify my age, who sets up a gmail account for a 3yo?????, so when i want to view adult stuff, i use bing. I've had all of my google accounts long enough that i didn't have to pick a different name because of it being already in use.

[jpennycook]

Re: same here.

> who sets up a gmail account for a 3yo

Have you not noticed parents who hand their toddlers tablets with YouTube rather than actually interact with them? It's like a modern day laudanum.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: same here.

In 2012? Not likely.

[John Miles]

XBox wanted an ID to access social side - since I had no desire for the social side I've ignored it, seems no issue playing any games installed.

[JimboSmith]

My iPad wanted me to prove I was over 18, I took it to an Apple shop and said why is it doing that? It’s part of the OSA legislation was the eventual reply when they found someone senior enough to know anything. Where about in the OSA does it specify machine based checks? Erm now he’s not sure about that, so we looked online and can’t find anything. I made reference to my satellite box, my laptop running Mint, my non Apple phone, my Android tablet etc. all of which allow me to access the net without having to verify my age. If you just enter a credit card number then you can verify yourself that way he says. I fail to see why I should give Apple my credit card and told him so. I don’t get anything in return but Apple get my credit card number which I don’t want. He then noticed my Apple account is under Zaphod Beeblebrox and asks if that’s actually my name. I said no, why would I give Apple my real name, which he said millions of people do quite happily. Well that’s their problem not mine, I don’t want your company knowing who I am, what my credit card number is, my passport details, my inside leg measurements etc.

Why is your screen camera covered over? Because I’m over 50 and I don’t like cameras pointing at me from every device thank you. Now, obviously as he said, it’s a head office decision not something decided in store and I said it was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Why can’t I come in and the Apple employee can see I’m a cantankerous old git and they verify my account to say I’m over 18. Head office have not allowed them to do that comes the reply.

[Anonymous Coward]

but why would you buy an Apple device if you wanted to be different?

[JimboSmith]

Ah but I didn’t buy it, it was a gift from a generous relative. it was the first Apple product that I’d owned and I couldn’t understand how controlling they were of something that was expensive and was my property not theirs.

They’re effectively saying, if you don’t tell us what we want to know, we’ll cut off some usability/functionality on your own device, so jump to it

[VoiceOfTruth]

An alternative headline

Dinosaur politician learns kids are smarter than her.

This same dinosaur wants VPNs to be banned, so I give her 0/10 for effort.

I remember maybe two decades ago some idiot Tory MP saying there needed to be lessons in schools teaching kids how to use a browser. That is the level of 'intelligence' in the typical politician.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: An alternative headline

idiot Tory MP saying there needed to be lessons in schools teaching kids how to use a browser

Now had the intention been to teach kids about ad-blockers and advanced Google-fu to find things better (back in the days when Google actually was a good search engine) it would have not been so idiotic. But I doubt it...

[elsergiovolador]

Re: An alternative headline

Imagine what would happen if tractor websites were to require ID checks...

[Not Yb]

Re: An alternative headline

For lo, it would be even more difficult to replace a driveshaft without the appropriate blesséd RFID tag.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: An alternative headline

Having done IT support for uni students, lessons in how a browser works should be mandatory at school. Far too many students cant type a url into a web browser, or worse search for something they should have bookmarked and then use the wrong link.

The academics arent much better tbh.

[Anonymous Coward]

A clue

“Social Media” needs to be universally rebranded for what it is: Adult Content of the toxic variety.

Don’t let your kids near it.

[andy gibson]

Re: A clue

I'm on a number of what might be classed as "boring" special interest groups on Facebook (trains, maps, pubs, my model of car, old railways, tunnels, mine and general underground exploration) where there's no bitching, no fighting, no drama - just likeminded individuals enjoying their hobby like grown ups on a modern platform now that forums seem to be dying out. And it allows me to keep in closer contact with friends and family who live a long way away.

If social medua is a "toxic" to you, then that's probably down to the areas you frequent. Stay out of the curtain twitching local groups, don't discuss politics and religion.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A clue

When I was on Farcebook I used to love the local groups. It was either dodgy person seen in park, dog nappers seen, kids on mopeds/ebikes/scooter or my personal favourite I have a video of dog shitting on the pavement and if you don't come and clean it up I'm posting it. Though the best one was two adjoining area groups when two ladies found out the same man was living with them both separately. He ran a waste disposal business as well that he advertised in both groups. There were 3 stages, discover, denial and then well over 100 comments taking the piss. Add to that the two ladies going at each other with gusto. Lasted 3 whole days. It would have ended at 2 but someone posted asking everyone to stop because the bloke was upset.

You are right though, if you stay away from toxic you don't get toxic. I used to have the odd person I met once or twice that added me then go and post something nasty and it was instant block.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: A clue

So the problem is actually the 'World' part of WWW? If the internet was limited to each individual village it would be fi ne.

I will propose this to the Lord of the Manor at the next Shire Moot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A clue

The problem with the internet my dear friend is that at one time you had to be wise to get on it and get where you needed to go. It wasn't perfect by any means but the village idiots stayed in the village. Then they made it easier and easier. Since then we have gone through three stages, the clown phase where every clown got on, the bot phase which is still ongoing to influence every clown and now we are in the AI phase where every bot and clown are "creating" content. What comes next I cannot imagine. Thankfully there are still some places where common sense prevails but I fear these are slowly disappearing and we will be left with a crusty husk where the internet once was.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: A clue

So rather like airport lounges, once they let the proletariat in.

El'reg is the equivalent of a Dubai 1st Class Lounge

And gopher is like flying private

[Jedit]

"let children opt out of algorithmically ranked feeds"

"... directly addressing concerns raised by de Souza and other UK lawmakers".

But not the concerns raised by intelligent human beings, which are that people - not just children - are opted in to the algorithm by default. You want to regulate social media, that is where you start.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: "let children opt out of algorithmically ranked feeds"

Indeed, make the platforms liable for "suggested" content and things would be a whole lot better and less click-baity. Same for search engines, if it is promoted by advertisement or similar algorithmic process, rather than a simple pattern-match to searched web pages, then make them liable.

[ACZ]

Access to the risk assessments

"The commissioner said Ofcom had refused to share the assessments with her, despite her position as "the most senior safeguarding person in this country for children," and had indicated that it would resist disclosure even if she invoked those powers."

Of course OFCOM has refused - the children's commissioner (or whatever the official title is) is not authorised under S.393(2)(b) so OFCOM *must* refuse to provide access to the risk assessments.

The spectacularly easy fix would seem to be that the Secretary of State makes an order under S.393(3)(i) (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/393)

So why hasn't that been done already? It's not exactly a difficult conversation to have: "Can you issue an order to give me access? If not, why not? I'll be in front of the committee in {x} days, so if you can do it beforehand then I'll be able to express my appreciation..." (and, going unsaid, if you don't then...)

Might there be some kind of arse-covering going on?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

De Souza said she was "really cross"

See these government programs do work.

If there hadn't been those parental advisory stickers on Beastie Boys CDs when she was young, then Ms. De Soiza would have said it was Fscking Stupid

[Throg]

Re: De Souza said she was "really cross"

Sabotaged?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: De Souza said she was "really cross"

Well all the current crop of ranting insane elderly politicians grew up listening to that rock n roll music and it warped their tiny fragile minds

It's only thanks to the efforts of 80/90s DJs deciding to censor records that we are all so fair and balanced

[Anonymous Coward]

Think of the kids?

How about just making facebook stop serving the dodgiest shit possible as adverts. Drugs, cloned credit cards, counterfeit cash, prostitutes and so on are all pushed regulary in their marketplace. I assume its because facebooks malgorithim looks at your friends list, sees what they are doing and serves stuff to you that they are looking for, on the basis that friends generally have the same interests. And yes it does that, otherwise I wouldnt get adverts for curry houses 200 miles away, or divorce lawyers when some of my friends split up messily.

[Throg]

Re: Think of the kids?

It’s simpler than that.

The idea that the algorithm serves you and your interests is about a decade out of date.

Thanks to enshittification, those ads and other content generate the most revenue for Meta, so that’s what you get to see.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Think of the kids?

Strange that with all that technology and economic imperative they generate content you don't want to see rather than the combination of poetry and enlightenment philosophy that would drive your engagement

[Not Yb]

Re: Think of the kids?

Considering the economic incentives, it's not at all strange that they show you the ads that get them the most revenue regardless of whether you were actually an appropriate target..

[elsergiovolador]

Re: Think of the kids?

Not just ads, but also people recording harmful videos disguised as health content. You are eating wrong, you should be taking this, taking that. Oh you are tired? You need this supplement right now. Comment Strength and I will send you my guide how to feel better. You don't feel better? It's your fault! You didn't stick to my programme! Buy this supplement now!

[Andy 73]

At what point...

..will the government stop taking advice purely from groups who only benefit from poorly conceived regulation that serves only to consolidate power with global corporations?

The two main beneficiaries of the OSA have been Facebook and PornHub - both of which have become the only game in their respective towns. So we've handed our moral compass to two American companies with absolutely no interest in the petty social concerns of a tiny foreign nation.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: At what point...

Well if you have a better way, you can promise the deputy PM a $15M/year retirement job, to implement your preferred laws

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At what point...

> The two main beneficiaries of the OSA have been Facebook and PornHub

PornHub won't let you in without an age check, so who still uses it? There are lots of alternatives which don't check, some 'normal' and some very sick.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At what point...

If you're curious, Bing indexes all of them, whereas google doesn't. Whether that's because the sites' robots.txt file blocks the googlebot and not the bingbot, or if it is a conscious decision by google/microsoft, would be a good question to have answered.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At what point...

If you're wanting google to return adult sites, turning off the slightly misleadingly named "SafeSearch" setting will be required.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At what point...

With noscript running and not being signed in, i don't get that option any more.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At what point...

>Bing indexes all of them,

Not sure I want to see the sites that are in Gates / Balmer's saved searches

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: At what point...

Don't worry, they're all over 40 by now.

[Tron]

ISP blocks can work, Parenting can work.

The OSA just screwed the net up for the majority without doing anything to block content from kids, who dodge it.

The UK has no control over US tech. All it can do is censor and block. At a time when being featured on social media is the only thing propping up the highstreet economy.

Give control back to parents, stop censoring our net, and don't employ activists with tunnel vision.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: ISP blocks can work, Parenting can work.

If parents were blocked from Mumsnet - all of this could have been avoided.

Teenagers - do you know what your parents are doing online ?

[Boris the Cockroach]

Next she'll

be really cross to find out the pope's religion, or that bears do it in the woods(and shit too)

We all knew that the online safety act would be a complete pile of poo, because it cant ban VPNs or Tor.

all it did was put a bunch of on-line verification onto regular websites. I have to prove my age on youtube even though the account is 15 years old, and steam is even worse, my and the missus steam accounts are 22 and 21 years old respectively , yet we need to prove our ages (both old enough to know better but both young enough not to care ;) )

However.... want to look at naughty websites? download a browser with a VPN, and enjoy.

[martinusher]

So,e finesse could be useful

When 'kids' is the subject of an article we tend to get a picture of generic elementary school age children. As any parent knows there are kids and then there are kids. They all mature at different rates and ages so you're dealing with a wide range of abilities and maturity and need an approach appropriate for the individual child, not some "one size fits all" approach. They've figured this out with driver's licenses (in the US, at least) where you don't go from "needing careful supervision" to "totally able to drive anything, anywhere at any time" just because you pass a single test. Instead what you're allowed to do is gradually phased in over a couple of years. On-line is different, obviously, but the idea that something that's a suitable barrier for an 7 year old is going to be anything other than a minor nuisance for a well motivated teen (or even pre-teen) is ludicrous. (Anyway, they're likely to have siblings and friends -- its not "Alice in Wonderland", its more like "Lord of the Flies".)

You'd think with all the parents out there people would know better.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: So,e finesse could be useful

>(in the US, at least) where you don't go from "needing careful supervision" to "totally able to drive anything, anywhere at any time"

Although ironically they do go from "not being allowed to walk to school on your own, or your parents will be visited by CPS" to "can get a licence to drive a 5ton F950 pickup monster truck to school" on your 16th birthday.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So,e finesse could be useful

Can I send you my copy of Alice in Wonderland, starring Kristine DeBell?

[Anonymous Coward]

Take A Look At The "Safety" And "Security" Of Personal ID In The USA

Link: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/03/hackers-had-a-live-feed-of-every-id-this-verification-company-scanned-for-over-a-year/

Yikes!

I wonder what is going on in the UK or the EU!

"Online Safety" -- NOT!!

"We are doing something" -- NOT!!

Sigh!!

[KurzweilGeist]

Social Media is toxic

Social Media is toxic. Get your kids off it and take away their smart phones.

[Sam Lowry]

I know this isn't Private Eye but…

[This comment isn't aimed at just this El Reg article, but at journalists in general covering this topic. UK Channel 4 news and the Aussie ABC news spring to mind.]

Can the scribes please inject a bit more background when someone is quoted as extensively as this?

It seems that former Religious Education teacher Dame Rachel de Souza is not simply "really cross" but might also be bearing one:

https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/news/secular-schools-must-allow-children-to-pray-says-childrens-commissioner/

Her calls for "air cover" and muscular government have the vibe of a traditional christian soldier, 'marching unto war'. Or a leading mouthpiece from the 19th-C temperance movement. Or pick-your-own moral crusade.

So she may well have been appointed as Childrens Commissioner, but any notion that she represents an unbiased voice is just bonkers.

Just sayin'. For balance and all that.

[yorksranter]

Isn't the problem very simply that a) the OSA more or less claims universal jurisdiction over the whole world, b) there isn't a Great Firewall of the UK, and c) US courts are not going to buck the First Amendment because otherwise we'll thcream and thcream until we're thick?

[Sub 20 Pilot]

This is reported as though it were ever going to have a different result.

If our wonderous government (or the previous bag of twats) had asked the general public what they wanted regarding online safety the overwhelming response would be:

Stop phone / email spoofing in order to send out scams.

Stop all advertising and junk when requested.

Stop malware and endless shite being thrown at us via all media.

Rein in the tech giants who are facilitating child abuse and hate speech.

What did they do?

Stopped ordinary people from accessing and consuming legal pornography unless they passed their actual fucking ID to some unheard of scammy bunch of shysters with absoluetly no protection or overview.

Pushed ordinary people to look for dodgy websites instead of the previously legal stuff.

Pushed kids to go on the deep web.

They actually make the religious intolerant misfits that pervade the US look normal in comparison.