Imgur blocked in the UK

[RealOliveTraybake]

For all those applauding the online safety act in recent threads, AIBU to say they are reaping what they sow?

Imgur has just blocked all UK users from accessing it's site, and Imgur is just the tip of the iceberg.

Several UK forums I use rely on Imgur for posting images as hosting them themselves is too expensive. It's going to make large parts of the internet considerably less functional.

Oh awesome. What's next, will MN get blocked because of some of the photos on the health board? Or even the NHS website? Some very reasonable websites were ISP blocked when childproof measures were introduced a few years ago to stop children accessing porn, eg STI information websites and about contraception iirc.

What's next, will MN get blocked because of some of the photos on the health board? Or even the NHS website?

No.

Wow the internet literacy is low on this thread.

Imgur aren't just blocking images of porn they are blocking all images. It's easier for them to just geoblock the whole of the UK than try to filter out the images that need to be age restricted in the UK (e.g. porn) versus those that are open in the UK (e.g. kittens).

As someone upthread said, a lot of sites use Imgur for image hosting so web browsing from the UK is going to have lots of black boxes instead of images. The rest of the world is not going to change how they host images just to make Ofcom happy.

Imgur aren't just blocking images of porn they are blocking all images. It's easier for them to just geoblock the whole of the UK than try to filter out the images that need to be age restricted in the UK (e.g. porn) versus those that are open in the UK (e.g. kittens).

So just let the kids see the porn? Is that your argument?

The internet literacy on this thread is indeed low

She was just explaining what happened. Not arguing for letting kids see porn.

He was making rather a lot of assumptions. The literacy - internet and otherwise - is subject to the language barrier and the different cultural expectations between the UK and the US.

"I've never heard of this website so it must be porn or something"

Not if you use a VPN.

The online safety act is ridiculous I am surprised people still think it will stop kids seeing porn!

The kids are still seeing porn. The kids in year 7 top set IT will have a vpn installed on a boys phone by the time morning registration has ended. So many parents don’t even check their kids text messages never mind stop them installing apps.

And some parents just don’t care if their kids use vapes or watch porn. Someone’s older brother will log in for them and the lads will share the imagery.

It is Doris and Dave who won’t be able to see what’s really happening in the U.K. on X and that was the point of the online safety act.

So many people spectacularly missing the point here.

Anyone who uses the internet regularly is going to find that they can't see many of the images posted there. Every single Brit who's a reasonably enthusiastic internet user would need to get a VPN. And that's simply not going to happen.

It's not always practical to use a VPN for every device I use to access the internet, and tbh there's an awful lot of internet users who either don't know how to use a VPN, are accessing the internet via machines they don't have control over such as at work or the library, or will just not bother going through an extra hoop just to post on NicheHobbyForum.com, and then that expertise is gone.

Edited because I didn’t read the post properly.

Why don't YOU block the porn from YOUR kids, rather than relying on the state. That's YOUR job.

I use the Internet regularly, and haven't noticed any lack of content.

I take the point about legitimate users being a bit pissed, but hey, if it protects children, so be it. There will always be outliers. Change is inevitable (other than from vending machines).

The thing I am really worried about is if anything happens to Steam in the UK as a consequence of this act. I have 20 years of PC games in my library.

I've seen a few YouTube videos suggesting Steam are struggling to implement this act (e.g. for games that have adult content in them).

I really hope they don't end up just doing a blanket block on the UK.

Of course they won't, the revenue loss would be huge.

A gap in the market might open up for an image-hosting site that doesn't host porn.

I don't know how that would be run but the inventive is there.

Wasn’t there a site that banned porn about 5 (?) years ago then basically everyone left and put their photos (porn and kittens and everything in-between) somewhere else?

A famous photo site but I can’t remember the name.

I noticed this this morning, trying to view a webpage that must have the images hosted on imgur, it rendered the website unusable.

Since the block was only put in place a few hours ago, you're unlikely to have noticed the changes yet

Meh

Are you thinking of tumblr?

I honestly can’t remember, possibly it was that one!

How about... Parents control what kids see.

I couldn't access an alcohol addiction support site without online verification the other day. It wasn't even for me it was to send to a reluctant friend who is definitely not going to be putting her face up for everyone to associate with that.

Ditto a psoriasis group.

The UK is a cork in the ocean I strongly suspect steam will end up blocking us.

I miss the days when adults weren't made to pay the price because other people couldn't possibly not give their kids smart phones.