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The Great Firewall of... the UK

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Easy-X
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Joined: 08 Mar 2019
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PostPosted: 17:14 - 30 Sep 2025    Post subject: The Great Firewall of... the UK Reply with quote
The Starmtroopers have been busy:

Imgur blocks access to UK users after regulator warned of fine


tl;dr Ofcom threatens Imgur, Imgur says "fuck you!" and now we have "image not available in your country" all over the forum Sad

"Imgur's decision to restrict access in the UK is a commercial decision taken by the company and not a result of any action taken by Ofcom," an Ofcom spokesperson told the BBC.

Ah, so Ofcom is blameless Rolling Eyes Imgur has just blocked UK IP addresses so if you want to see any existing images on the forums, fire up a VPN or wait a few years for the Labour and Conservative parties to be deleted.
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Polarbear
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Joined: 24 Feb 2007
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PostPosted: 18:15 - 30 Sep 2025    Post subject: Reply with quote
Surely the government are going to have to ban VPN's, especially free VPN's if they hope to have any control over ̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶p̶o̶p̶u̶l̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ pornography. I knew nothing about how to access VPN's but just a question on here and I have one up and running for nothing.

I've never used Imgur but I'm going to have a look now it's closed!!!
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Easy-X
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Joined: 08 Mar 2019
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PostPosted: 19:58 - 30 Sep 2025    Post subject: Reply with quote
The official government line is "please don't use VPNs or it'd make the whole exercise pointless!" Laughing

If you're 17, the government won't allow you any pr0n but they will let you vote Thinking
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Ste
Not Work Safe



Joined: 01 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: 23:50 - 30 Sep 2025    Post subject: Reply with quote
Polarbear wrote:
I've never used Imgur

Yes you have.

Plenty of images in posts on BCF are hosted on Imgur. Millions of images are uploaded to Imgur every single day and those images are displayed on other websites.

For people to notice the scope of the online safety act, we need big websites like Wikipedia to block access form the UK.
Easy-X wrote:
If you're 17, the government won't allow you any pr0n but they will let you vote Thinking

Hand

It's not just those who're under 18, it's anyone who isn't willing or is unable to provide approved ID.

The next target for the online safety act is livestreaming.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/category-1-10-weeks/consultation-online-safety---additional-safety-measures/main-documents/consultation-additional-safety-measures-30-july-2025.pdf?v=403587

"Providers should ensure that users are unable to do the following in relation to a one-to-many livestream by a child in the UK:
a) Comment on the content of the livestream;
b) Gift to the user broadcasting the livestream;
c) React to the livestream;
d) Use the service to screen capture or record the livestream;
e) Where technically feasible, use other tools outside of the service to screen capture or record the livestream."
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Ayrton
World Chat Champion



Joined: 02 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: 12:03 - 01 Oct 2025    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mad I was wondering why some images on my car project thread on another forum were coming up with that error. I'll have to spend an hour going through and changing them to some other host.

The country really has gone to shit
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Ste
Not Work Safe



Joined: 01 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: 12:57 - 01 Oct 2025    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ayrton wrote:
I'll have to spend an hour going through and changing them to some other host.

And when that host makes a commercial decision to restrict access in the UK rather than going along with the online safety act?
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Easy-X
Super Spammer



Joined: 08 Mar 2019
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PostPosted: 16:15 - 01 Oct 2025    Post subject: Reply with quote
Last week Ofcom were officially "served" in the 4Chan vs Ofcom case. It'll be weeks before they formulate an official response but I expect the Starmführer will be breathing down their necks so I doubt they'll cave with this initial challenge.

I keep coming back to the Communist paradigm: if you can't control a thing you must destroy it, both outcomes are perfectly valid. With that in mind, the actions of the current government, Ofcom and all the other petty bureaucratic make a lot more sense.
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