Rick's b.log - entry 2025/02/09

Rick's Statement on the UK Online Safety Act

Continuing from that, I am going to examine the situation relative to the document about the seventeen categories of harm (PDF) such as terrorism, hate, harassement, child sex, etc.

Notice about what not to post

Please note that while I check this page every so often, I am not able to control what users write; therefore I disclaim all liability for unpleasant and/or infringing and/or defamatory material. Undesired content will be removed as soon as it is noticed. By leaving a comment, you agree not to post material that is illegal or in bad taste, and you should be aware that the time and your IP address are both recorded, should it be necessary to find out who you are.

Short and sweet and to the point. This text is not present on the mobile version of the blog as, really, it ought to be obvious to not be an arsehole online, so I'm not inclined to want to clutter things up with legalese that nobody will read. The desktop version has more space so it's there.

Moderation

Every comment posted generates an email to me. This is an example from the comment that I posted yesterday:

Rick posted a comment on the 20250206 b.log entry. :-)
Link: https://heyrick.eu/blog/index.php?diary=20250206#comments

From: noname -at- given
IP  : 2a01:x:x:x:x:x:x:eda (2a01xxxxxxeda.ipv6.xx.fr)
[!UK ticked]

--8<--------
I've linkified  your link. It's the same one as in the article.
[...snip text...]
--8<--------

"noname -at- given" is what it says when no email address is provided. The email address that you optionally provide is in case I want to contact you directly regarding a point that is raised.
And, of course, I've munged my own IP address.
Suffice to say, I'm notified when comments are posted.

If I feel that a comment is in very bad taste, potentially defamatory, or illegal then it will be deleted. Deletion is performed by way of a small script running on the server that allows me to edit the contents of the file holding comments. There is no audit log, no record of deletion. And adding such a thing isn't really feasible as comments are written to the file in plain text form, they aren't "records in a database". This blog does not use SQL or anything fancy like that.

Lesser infractions like excessive swearing or just being rude may push me to edit the content of a comment (along with an annotation saying that I did so), or in some cases fixing URLs given in text form into something that can be clicked upon. Note well that it is me making URLs by editing the underlying HTML that the comments are built from. Users can only post "text".

I sleep, obviously, like any human trying to pass itself off as vaguely normal. Also I work. In an environment where I don't get to check my phone every five minutes. So there may be a delay between a comment being posted and its removal. That delay could be as much as 12 hours, but would usually be less. It depends upon the time of day and what I'm doing.

Contact details

I'm old-school. There's an email address. It works. Use it. And preferably just text, because this nonsense is just annoying:

If letters and numbers are good enough
for books, they're good enough for email.

Risk assessment

If, on the other hand, you are an actual adult who likes raping actual little girls, then public televised hanging is what you need. Just die.
[I don't think I can be any clearer than that]

In terms of user-provided content, it is text only. It isn't possible to create links, nor to attach pictures. Any links that you may see in the comments were made by me by editing the raw comment data. I've already mentioned this.

The seventeen 'harms'

• Terrorism
  • A series of offences relating to 'proscribed organisations'
    The problem with global politics is that this is constantly shifting. The old saying is that "terrorist" or "freedom fighter" depends upon what side you're on.
    That said, glorifying terrorism is a dick move however you look at it.
  • Offences related to information likely to be of use to a terrorist
    Please define "information likely to be of use". How to pick a lock? The bus timetable? I know you mean things like "how to make Semtex using bleach and three egg whites", but the wording is broad.
  • Offences relating to training for terrorism
  • Other offences involving encouraging terrorism or disseminating terrorist materials
    Fair enough, on both counts.
  • Miscellaneous, more specific terrorism offences
    Definition needed; especially as the UK has been providing military support to Israel which may well make them complicit in the Palestinian genocide.
  • Offences relating to financing terrorism
    ...says the country whose financial instruments were more than happy to deal with huge amounts of Russian cash until it became very clear how international feeling lay.

• Harassment, stalking, threats and abuse offences
  • Offences relating to threats
    Fair enough. Saying "I'm going to kill you" is neither a joke nor a prank and it says a lot about the mentality of the person that would say such a thing, even if in jest.
  • Offences relating to abuse and insults
    Oh, no! You mean I can't call thieving corrupt Tory scumbag bastards thieving corrupt Tory scumbag bastards? That simply won't do!
  • Other content likely to amount to harassment offences (including stalking)
    Yeah, sadly some of my gender can be total creeps.

• Coercive and controlling behaviour
  • Coercive and controlling behaviour offence
    My mother had to put up with such a person. There was no interest then, I doubt there will be now given the pillaging of police financing by those thieving corrupt Tory scumbag bastards ( oops! sorry! ) and... let's just say "The MET" and leave it at that.

• Hate offences
  • Stirring up of racial hatred offence
  • Offence of stirring up of hatred on the basis of religion or sexual orientation
    How can you possibly state such a thing in all seriousness when your national television channels frequently report on the President of The United States doing exactly that? Are you censoring him? Or does he get a free pass because "he's important"?
    Oh, and I would just like to leave this here, we all know what remained unsaid here...
    
    Leave Lies, image found online in a Reddit post.

• Intimate image abuse
  • Offences relating to non-consensual disclosure of intimate images (intimate image abuse)
    Makes sense. To have intimate images implies trust, and disclosing them is about as far from trust as can be.
    That said, I don't get the intimate images thing at all. If the pretty girl/guy is a part of your life, then... you know... appreciate the real thing, not a data representation of it. <shrug>

• Extreme pornography
  • Possession of extreme pornography offence
    Define "extreme".

• Child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA)
  • Offences relating to the making, showing, distributing or possessing of an indecent image or film of a child
  • An offence of possession of a prohibited image of a child
  • Linking to or directing a user to child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
  • An offence of possession of a paedophile manual
  • An offence of publishing an obscene article
  • Sexual activity offences (potential victim under 16)
  • Adult to child offences (potential victim under 16)
  • 'Arranging' together with 'assisting', 'encouraging' and 'conspiring' offences which could take place between adults and/or children (potential victim(s) under 16)
  • Offences concerning the sexual exploitation of children and young people aged 17 or younger
    While I think there should be some leeway in cases like 16 year olds making out with 15 year olds, especially if they're in the same group/class/etc; I think I have already made my feelings on adults sexually abusing children quite clear already.

• Sexual exploitation of adults
  • Causing or inciting prostitution for gain offence
  • Controlling a prostitute for gain offence
    "Prostitution for gain"? Isn't "sex for money" the basic definition of what prostitution is? I guess for a better definition of what "prostitution for gain" means, we would need to ask a Tory MP.

• Unlawful immigration
  • Offences relating to illegal entry into the UK
  • Facilitating unlawful immigration to a member state or to the UK
    If only there were legal ways of entry that didn't involve brown envelopes...
    ...that being said, why does everybody want to go to a country with failing services, structurally unsafe public buildings, and actual shit in the rivers, not to mention the wonderful wonderful weather?

• Human trafficking
  • Human trafficking offences
    These sorts are scum. People are people, not objects. Something you could do well to remember given that the UK in 17xx was the world's biggest slave trading nation; something the UK carried out between 1562 and 1807. Yes, two hundred and forty five years.
    That's not to say human trafficking today is okay, it isn't and it never was, but stones and glass houses... try apologising like you mean it.

• Fraud and financial offences
  • Offences relating to false claims to be authorised or exempt for the purposes of carrying on regulated activity
    What the hell does that even mean?
  • Fraud by false representation
    Wahay! So no more adverts on TV then? Brilliant!
  • Fraud by abuse of position and participating in fraudulent business carried on by sole trader etc.
    Fraud by abuse of position? <side-eyes the Tories>
  • Other financial services offences
    Oop, shit, bye London, was nice knowing ya.
  • Fraud related to misleading statements or impressions about investments
    You mean those ones on TV? Or all that crypto-scam nonsense advertised in apps? Won't miss them.
  • Offences related to articles for use in fraud
    Whatever that means.

• Proceeds of crime
  • Offences related to proceeds of crime
    I don't know...it seems that if one is careless they go to prison but if one is audacious enough they get elected to public office.

• Assisting or encouraging suicide
  • Assisting or encouraging suicide offence
    Nope, you're going to have to do way better than that blanket statement given that there are people in horrific pain that just want to end it but cannot do so by themselves. I consider myself both lucky and glad that my mother's demise was fairly rapid. It would have been extremely traumatic if she had to suffer years of hell at the end as her body ravaged itself.
    While I fully accept that taunting and pushing a teenager or vulnerable adult to kill themselves should carry a heavy penalty; we need to have a grown-up discussion about end of life care and elective termination. Me, personally, I fully believe in quality of life, not quantity. What's the point in being alive if you are unable to be up and about and instead writhe in pain that is barely touched by heavy doses of morphine, not to mention a constant supply of different RNs that don't know you, think the dosage indicated is a typo, and proceed to dose out a fraction of what is required. Yes, I speak from experience. I used to work in nursing homes. We need to have a grown-up discussion about end of life care and elective termination.

• Drugs and psychoactive substances
  • The unlawful supply, offer to supply, of controlled drugs
  • The unlawful supply, or offer to supply, of articles for administering or preparing controlled drugs
  • The supply, or offer to supply, of psychoactive substances
  • Inciting any offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
    The only drugs around here are tea, sugar, and chocolate.
    Maybe linguine. Does linguine count as a psychoactive substance? Hmmm... crap... that's me done for then...

• Weapons offences (knives, firearms, and other weapons)
  • Offences relating to firearms, their parts, ammunition, including air guns and shotguns
  • Offences relating to 3D printing instructions for guns and gun parts
  • Knives offences
  • 'Offensive' weapons offences
  • Imitation firearms offences
    I'm not an American, guns just don't do it for me, you know?
    What's an 'offensive' weapon? One that snarks about how you couldn't even hold a bread knife correctly?

• Foreign interference
  • Foreign interference offence
    You know, I'd take this a lot more seriously if you took the threat of Elon Musk seriously. But, then, you all seemed to turn a blind eye to the huge amounts of foreign influence and money that prop up right wing campaigns that gave us such joys as Brexit, the vast influence of foreign money on large amounts of the UK press (in essence foreigners telling your citizens how to think), and in the recent American elections various MPs on both sides going over to cosy up and campaign in the US.
    In other words, piss off you utter contemptible hypocrits.

• Animal welfare
  • Offence of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal
    There's one word too many in that sentence.

Did I miss anything?

Storm damage

The first was to the big mass of weeping willow out front.

It's actually a bit massive, isn't it?

Don't look up!

The second was to... was this an old cherry? I don't recall. It wasn't growing straight and the wind just pushed a little too hard.

Of all the trees, why this one?

Oh, and the plastic chair fell over. ☺

Your comments:

Please note that while I check this page every so often, I am not able to control what users write; therefore I disclaim all liability for unpleasant and/or infringing and/or defamatory material. Undesired content will be removed as soon as it is noticed. By leaving a comment, you agree not to post material that is illegal or in bad taste, and you should be aware that the time and your IP address are both recorded, should it be necessary to find out who you are. Oh, and don't bother trying to inline HTML. I'm not that stupid! ☺
As of February 2025, commenting is no longer available to UK residents, following the implementation of the vague and overly broad Online Safety Act. You must tick the box below to verify that you are not a UK resident, and you expressly agree if you are in fact a UK resident that you will indemnify me (Richard Murray), as well as the person maintaining my site (Rob O'Donnell), the hosting providers, and so on. It's a shitty law, complain to your MP.
It's not that I don't want to hear from my British friends, it's because your country makes stupid laws.
 
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