Is the UK Online Safety Act going to affect ECF in any way?

[UncLeJunkLe]

Sorry I don't know where to post this question.

I have been reading that the UK's Online Safety Act is going to shut down a lot of independently-owned online forums run by UK folks/organizations. This biking forum announcement is stating they will be shutting down their forum because of it.

I'm pretty sure ECF is hosted on US-based servers but being that ECF is run by a UK organization (I presume), will ECF be affected by this in any way?

I'm not sure if that person running that biking forum is just having a knee-jerk reaction to a law that won't really affect him, but being that ECF is a vaping forum, I wonder how and if it will affect ECF.

 

[zoiDman]

I believe that vaping.com is a US Corporation.

 

[Izan]

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I believe that vaping.com is a US Corporation.

"It doesn’t matter where you or your business is based. The new rules will apply to you (or your business) if the service you provide has a significant number of users in the UK, or if the UK is a target market."



Cheers
I

 

[zoiDman]

...

"It doesn’t matter where you or your business is based. The new rules will apply to you (or your business) if the service you provide has a significant number of users in the UK, or if the UK is a target market."



Cheers
I

They can say that a Rule applies to you, but without a straightforward way to Enforce it, it Isn't all that meaningful.

I've skimmed thru the Government Guidance for this "Moral Standard" when it was being drafted. And again now. I'm still not super clear just where things Start. And where things End.

I mean, If your a Cooking Forum who's only real controversy is whether or not to substitute Vegetable Shorting with Butter in Crescent Rolls then I guess None of this really applies to you. Verses a Hard Core ......... with a downloadable Hookup App.

Those ends of the Spectrum seem definable. It's all the stuff in the middle that I'm Not Sure about?

"Laws" like this have that Unassailable Promised of "saving the children". Allbeit they are always kinda thin on just How Many actual children will be save? Or even what "saving" is.

They also hold a Tremendous Power for Abuse.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I believe that Vaping.com is a US Corporation.

Well I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure ECF was started by a UK based individual and that after the new tobacco-related USPS regs went into effect vaping.com switched to selling strictly to the UK. Though now I see vaping.com seems to be catering to the US again. Trying to prove this with archive and no luck so I must be mistaken, though i do see popups to choose between US and UK in archives.

Regardless, this forum as a whole never really catered to UK vapers so if such a law is even enforceable I'm guessing ECF is safe. But I don't see how such a law can be effectively enforced, especially for forums that don't cater to adults-only subjects, like biking lol.

 

[zoiDman]

...
Regardless, this forum as a whole never really catered to UK vapers so if such a law is even enforceable I'm guessing ECF is safe. But I don't see how such a law can be effectively enforced, especially for forums that don't cater to adults-only subjects, like biking lol.

I see No Real Reason why the ECF would effect by this "Online Safety Act".

The ECF hase 18+ Requirement for participation. And there isn't even Swearing allowed let alone Porn or Violent Images posting.

Not sure what that Bike Forum dude is about? But it seemed kinda subject that he would feel the need to have to close a bike forum if all he was into was bikes?

 

[retired1]

I've been in the forum biz since before the Interwebz took off. My first "forum" was on a Wildcat system way back in the 80s. Even back then, trolls would try to find ways of creating issues for owners in an attempt to get them taken down. This hasn't changed much through the years, and now with the Internet being truly global, one country's laws can create a minefield of issues that would take a team of lawyers decades to figure out.

Yes, the owner of ECF hails from Merry ol' England. And generally, I don't think we have much to worry about here, with one tiny little exception. We may need to go back to a absolute no drug talk policy and kill the wacky tobacky section of ECF. Yeah yeah yeah, I can hear it already, ECF is for adults only. Since when has an online policy been adhered to by kids under the age of 18? Until such a time that the UK (and other countries) relax their views on the use of weed, that could very well be the way some get sites taken down (at best) or the owners prosecuted (at worst).

For now, it's business as usual.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I've been in the forum biz since before the Interwebz took off. My first "forum" was on a Wildcat system way back in the 80s. Even back then, trolls would try to find ways of creating issues for owners in an attempt to get them taken down. This hasn't changed much through the years, and now with the Internet being truly global, one country's laws can create a minefield of issues that would take a team of lawyers decades to figure out.

Yes, the owner of ECF hails from Merry ol' England. And generally, I don't think we have much to worry about here, with one tiny little exception. We may need to go back to a absolute no drug talk policy and kill the wacky tobacky section of ECF. Yeah yeah yeah, I can hear it already, ECF is for adults only. Since when has an online policy been adhered to by kids under the age of 18? Until such a time that the UK (and other countries) relax their views on the use of weed, that could very well be the way some get sites taken down (at best) or the owners prosecuted (at worst).

For now, it's business as usual.

Personally I think it's just much ado about nothing, especially for a non-adult-oriented forum. But I never looked into it that much. I think you're right about the weed cannabis being a possible issue.

Internet being truly global, one country's laws can create a minefield of issues that would take a team of lawyers decades to figure out.

Like that GDRP law. Far as I know that's only an EU thing but seems like very site has that cookie notice whether or not it's tied to the EU. I get it that someone from the EU might (and will) access a site from another continent, but I see no reason to cater to every single country's (or whatever's) laws. But I'm not king so what do I know. I personally find it annoying that every site I visit I have to click that notice away.