UK's new internet laws, are we going to lose our anonymity, and become as heavily censored and monitored as China, North Korea, Russia etc?

[Bleaney]

As I said - this all happened DECADES ago and I didn't hear too many people shouting about privacy issues.

Are you referring to some kind of discussions or proposals, or an official parliamentary bill to start trying to enforce age verification for anyone accessing mature content in the UK, all happening decades before the Act came into force?

I don't doubt it, I'm just surprised that I didn't hear anything about it, until Labour recently completed the process of making the OSA law. And then suddenly everyone had no choice but to know about it all too well.

Although I do know that the conservatives started the Act ball rolling while they were in power, and these things take time.

I stopped watching the MSM news several years ago, as I found the the combination of the constant scaremongering, selective presentation of the facts, and a clear attempt to set the agenda as to what the population was supposed to be thinking about certain topics of the moment, to be quite transparent and unbearably patronising. And this isn't even mentioning yet the preference for anything of a negative, depressing, saddening, or horrific nature to be shown. Yes I know these things are happening in the world, but for the sake of my mental health I switched off. The news was becoming more and more of a depressing and Orwellian state propaganda machine.

I know there are options that claim to be free of biases. I probably should investigate further.

Fringe alternatives like GB News are clearly not the answer either. With an obvious heavy tilt to the right, along with a heavy pinch of conspiracy theories. Any of Neil Oliver's broadcasts seem to about 90% conspiracy and 10% highly perceptive and piercing truth. There is always a kernel of truth in his broadcasts, but way too many unverified rants. Maybe if he addressed that balance he'd have much more credibility. Can't fault his passion and fervor, but he needs to sort things out imo, or go back to making programs about Scottish history and fossils. I don't think the BBC would have him back now though. He's probably got himself blacklisted with his anti MSM stance. I'm fully on board with that, just not with the far fetched conspiracy theories.

 

[Bleaney]

Looking back at the thread my post made no sense atol which is even more embarrassing ..I'll stay out of political discussions and concentrate on the need for hard drugs ,even some soft ones would do this morning. Feeling sick .I think it won't be long before hair of the dog time

I wouldnt be so hard on yourself / myself. You were drunk. It is allowed. (Unless they are also planning an Act of parliament about posting online while drunk or UTI of anything else lol)

Easy to get a bit mixed up under the circumstances.

Yeah hair of the dog sounds like a good idea, but pregabs also work very well for the headaches and the general lousy feelings that hangovers cause.

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

Are you referring to some kind of discussions or proposals, or an official parliamentary bill to start trying to enforce age verification for anyone accessing mature content in the UK, decades before the ACT came into force?

I don't doubt it, I'm just surprised that I didn't hear anything about it, until Labour recently completed the process of making the OSA law. And then suddenly everyone had no choice but to know about it all too well.

Although I know the conservatives started the ball rolling while they were in power, and these things take time.

I stopped watching the MSM news several years ago, as I found the the combination of the constant scaremongering, selective presentation of the facts, and a clear attempt to set the agenda as to what the population was supposed to be thinking about certain topics of the moment, to be quite transparent and unbearably patronising. And this isn't even mentioning yet the preference for anything of a negative, depressing, saddening, or horrific nature to be shown. Yes I know these things are happening in the world, but for the sake of my mental health I switched off. The news was becoming more and more of depressing Orwellian type state propaganda machine.

I know there are options that claim to be free of biases. I probably should investigate further.

Fringe alternatives like GB News are clearly not the answer either. With an obvious heavy tilt to the right, along with a heavy pinch of conspiracy theories. Any of Neil Oliver's broadcasts seem to about 90% conspiracy and 10% highly perceptive and piercing truth. Maybe if he addressed that balance he'd have much more credibility. Can't fault his passion and fervour, but he needs to sort things out imo, or go back to making programs about Scottish history and fossils. I don't think the BBC would have him back now though. He's probably got himself blacklisted with his anti MSM stance. I'm fully on board with that, just not the far fetched conspiracy theories.

For all the faults of 'mainstream media' (and there are many), at least they're held accountable to a degree. Whereas social media accounts and other 'alternative sources' don't have the same obligation.

There's easily as much dark political propaganda - far more, in all likelihood - coming from 'alternative sources', much of which can be traced back to Russia and China or in some cases just individuals monetising controversial content.

I had to stop reading some messages from friends regarding Russia / Ukraine and Israel / Gaza because they'd gone right down the 'anti-west' and antisemitic rabbit holes, swallowing loads of content that can be debunked by either a Google search or just plain common sense.

This bullshit that was spread over here recently is just one example of what some people's algorithms are pumping into their brains. And it was widely believed to be fact.

 

[4DQSAR]

Are you referring to some kind of discussions or proposals, or an official parliamentary bill to start trying to enforce age verification for anyone accessing mature content in the UK, all happening decades before the Act came into force?

I feel that horse has somewhat bolted. Te point is most nations have quite strong laws when it comes to opening a humple letter LEGALLY to the point where even now the police have to obtain a search warrent and show probable cause i.e. if they ask for a search warrent based on the fact it may be terrorist corespndance only to discover it's concerning some other class of crime, it cannot be used as evidence.

Now, not only is digital communication reead as a matter of course (which we KNOW) but there IS no logal protection given. It's very simple given sufficent time to 'discover' a 'secret message' within any series of E-mails if one as the 'compute to do so'. Take every seventh word and read it in Welsh, how obvious! But that's ALSO possible and you cannot prove a negative.

The fact nobody passedd laws when E-mails became common was no accident. Politicians were 'advised' that if they just do nothing, they ger to read all those naughty terrorists communications.

Meanwhile terrorists use book code or something equally impossible to decode without the 'key'...

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

You have far too much faith in our calibre of terrorist.

Most organisations are totally infiltrated and have been for years. Hence the fact that only 'lone wolf' (Islamist / Nationalist) or lone wolf / rogue cell (contemporary IRA / UVF) actions tend to slip through.

However shitty this country gets, the intelligence services are most definitely on top. They actually RUN some of the groups.

But the way the conspiracy theory world works, they're omnipotent and omniscient when it involves your own activities, but clueless when it comes to suppressing others.

 

[Shady's Fox]

Google's plan to restrict sideloading on Android has a potential escape hatch for users

Android will block users from sideloading apps made by unverified developers next year, but we may have found a workaround.

www.androidauthority.com

Read.

Then sign the petition

Sign the Petition

Stop Google from limiting APK file usage

www.change.org

Part of me thinks that these already in-beta updates are available to whoever was idiot enough to accept software phone updates.

Otherwise is strange how is gonna be implemented because you can disable atm Play Protect and install either a AV of yours or simply none at all. And Play Services aren't automatically to update at least on my phone.

anyhow on a android once you get hacked they can just unistall the AV directly, just sayin..

So future could be custom ROM's but for now I think this portal has a shortcut.

I got a Samsung S24+ for who has "red ears"

 

[Bleaney]

It should be up to parents to act as guardians as appose to a government who only cares about the present and immediate future of themselves and there cronies. It's part of growing up to experiment and push boundaries.how many top UK politicians have admitted to trying class a drugs and smoking cannibas at university it never stopped them from grabbing the reigns of power at the very top level of world politics. They probably weren't even teenagers ,fully grown adults .if they did say they were teenagers for PR they were lying, which of course is second nature to someone with that much inner drive to reach the top .

Yes I agree with your first point.

Things have certainly moved on since Bill Clinton declared during his first pre-election campaign that he had tried cannabis in his youth, before pathetically semi-withdrawing the statement the next day, by adding "but I didn't inhale."

Since then I gather that a number of high profile American politicians, including Barak Obama, have admitted to being quite heavily into cannabis in their youth. Astonishingly even some of the Bush clan have also 'come out of the closet' as partakers of cannabis. (Edit - several more sources online backup the claim of Obama's use of cannabis at high school and uni. It seems less clear which of the Bushes have. Jeb seems certain and it seems that "Dubya" has tacitly acknowledged marijuana usage. There were a number of other high profile names too. The cannabis situation in America is certainly a lot more progressive than it is the UK.

It didn't go so well for Rory Stewart during his run for the leadership of the tory party a few years ago, when he admitted to having tried Opium when he went traveling in his youth. I suspect his competitors in the leadership race had unearthed that and would leaked it, so he was forced to 'fess up. His ratings tanked. I doubt he'd ever have won anyway.

But yeah things seem to have improved in America, but it seems that we're becoming much more conservative and controlling over here sadly.

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

We're at the stage where we have front bench politicians doing celebrity DJ sets. 'Youth culture' is no longer very youthful.

Rock and roll is getting into its mid seventies and people are still paying to watch the likes of The 1975 scrape the barrel so hard that you fear for their fingers.

The only thing slowing us down from legalisation is the perennial psychosis link article.

 

[Bleaney]

We're at the stage where we have front bench politicians doing celebrity DJ sets. 'Youth culture' is no longer very youthful.

Rock and roll is getting into its mid seventies and people are still paying to watch the likes of The 1975 scrape the barrel so hard that you fear for their fingers.

The only thing slowing us down from legalisation is the perennial psychosis link article.

It starts to get embarrassing and cringy at a certain point.

When Blair's Labour party first swept to victory, seeing the likes of John Prescott and others stiffly and self-consciously "dancing" to "Things Can Only Get Better" the sentiment might have been on point, but it was still an awful and cringy spectacle..

Similarly when David Cameron said that The Smiths were one of his favourite bands, I think that sent out all the wrong sort of shock waves.

Whether that was true or not, we all know that most politicians will do or say anything for the sake of winning any votes. I can't see any way in which Cameron could possibly have genuinely related to Morrisey's lyrics, but he might have liked the music, or more likely cottoned on to the fact that they were one of the 'cool' bands of his era, and so professed a liking for them as many people do. Just for the sake of trying to be seen as "in."

I really don't know about The 1975. I guess they have quite a good name, but I've tried to listen to a couple of their tracks, and they just sounded like any typical daytime radio 1 pop crap.

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

You're exactly right about the 1975. But they're inexplicably very popular. People must really love beige.

We also have business software advertised in a 'youth' paradigm, with several performers roped in to help make the sale. All the danger of youth culture has been totally subsumed. We're even advertising to to the 'roadmen'. Big tent. Everybody's in. Give us your cash.

 

[lost weekend]

It starts to get embarrassing and cringy at a certain point.

When Blair's Labour party first swept to victory, seeing the likes of John Prescott and others stiffly and self-consciously "dancing" to "Things Can Only Get Better" the sentiment might have been on point, but it was still an awful and cringy spectacle..

Similarly when David Cameron said that The Smiths were one of his favourite bands, I think that sent out all the wrong sort of shock waves.

Whether that was true or not, we all know that most politicians will do or say anything for the sake of winning any votes. I can't see any way in which Cameron could possibly have genuinely related to Morrisey's lyrics, but he might have liked the music, or more likely cottoned on to the fact that they were one of the 'cool' bands of his era, and so professed a liking for them as many people do. Just for the sake of trying to be seen as "in."

I really don't know about The 1975. I guess they have quite a good name, but I've tried to listen to a couple of their tracks, and they just sounded like any typical daytime radio 1 pop crap.

He was probably listening to it on the many times he was smoking cannibas or snorting coke .

 

[lost weekend]

Not that you need any drugs to listen to the smiths .my top 5 bands .seen morrissey about a year ago ,honestly when he sang how soon is now I nearly shat my pants .

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

Not that you need any drugs to listen to the smiths .my top 5 bands .seen morrissey about a year ago ,honestly when he sang how soon is now I nearly shat my pants .

The Smiths are definitely up with the very best eighties bands. It doesn't matter how much of an auld panto xenophobe dame Morrissey can be these days, they were a perfect combination of musicians.

Still love a lot of Morrissey solo; again, he had flag shagging moments but the talent was still there.

Funnily enough, Moz was still being treated as possibly THE biggest Manchester icon around the early 2000s, largely by fey indie kids. He made a local festival appearance and thousands were captivated. I happened to know some of his racial foibles back then, but nobody I told either believed or wanted to believe.

Brilliant performance. But a few years down the line, most of the apologists have now cancelled him.

 

[GulpingBatteryLiquid]

Last I heard fat, speccy, baldy cunts are not a protected class. Like it or not that makes a big difference. Personally I think rightly so but each to their own

The courts ruled that calling someone bald in the workplace is sex based harassment

Calling a man ‘bald’ is sex-related harassment, employment tribunal rules

Tony Finn, who worked at West Yorkshire manufacturing firm for 24 years, is in line for compensation

www.theguardian.com

Calling a man “bald” is sex-related harassment, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Hair loss is much more prevalent among men than women so using it to describe someone is a form of sex-related harassment, a judgment has concluded. Commenting on a man’s baldness in the workplace is equivalent to remarking on the size of a woman’s breasts, the finding suggests.


The ruling – made by a panel of three men who in making their judgment bemoaned their own lack of hair – comes in a case between a veteran electrician and the manufacturing firm where he was employed.

Tony Finn – who is in line for compensation – had worked for the West Yorkshire-based British Bung Company for almost 24 years when he was fired in May last year. He took the company to the tribunal claiming, among other things, he had been the victim of sex-related harassment after an incident with the factory supervisor, Jamie King.

Finn alleged that during a shopfloor row in July 2019, King had referred to him as a “bald cunt”. The tribunal heard Finn was less upset by the “Anglo-Saxon” language than the comment on his appearance.

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

Not bald and not thinning, and beyond the normal age of onset - also made bald jokes myself - but I have nightmares about going bald. It can be a pretty cruel affliction, especially earlier in life.

It's always been something people joke about, and it's a male thing, so you're expected to just take it on the chin. Is that right? I don't have the experience of being a bald man, but I can imagine it's a sensitive issue for many.

We would (rightfully) be called out for calling somebody a menopausal cow, and it's a similar process that accompanies ageing.

So calling someone a 'bald cunt'? Not cricket. All the best to him.

 

[Shambles]

To be fair, women - especially post-menopausal women - can also go bald so doesn’t really make sense as sex-based harassment.

If anything, it could be argued that pointing out a woman’s hair loss would be far worse as it is less often associated with that sex.

Just saying…

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

Very few women of whatever age actually go bald; you're right that at least 40% experience some hair loss, but it's usually just thinning and hairstyles usually do a good job of covering it up. Actual baldness in women of any age is very rare. Fewer than 1% are at number 5 on the Sinclair scale.

Whereas men tend to lose a lot more / all hair and are often roundly mocked if they even try to conceal it. Look at the way we treat guys with combovers or guys with wigs. It's considered quite acceptable to laugh at that. Would it be considered as acceptable to laugh at a balding woman? Most people would be very sympathetic.

Men pay thousands of pounds for hair transplants, but I'm pretty convinced they'd be (relatively) happy with the amount of hair loss that your average post-menopausal woman suffers.

 

[Shambles]

This is our future. Not even slightly kidding

 

[Bleaney]

I feel that horse has somewhat bolted. Te point is most nations have quite strong laws when it comes to opening a humple letter LEGALLY to the point where even now the police have to obtain a search warrent and show probable cause i.e. if they ask for a search warrent based on the fact it may be terrorist corespndance only to discover it's concerning some other class of crime, it cannot be used as evidence.

Now, not only is digital communication reead as a matter of course (which we KNOW) but there IS no logal protection given. It's very simple given sufficent time to 'discover' a 'secret message' within any series of E-mails if one as the 'compute to do so'. Take every seventh word and read it in Welsh, how obvious! But that's ALSO possible and you cannot prove a negative.

The fact nobody passedd laws when E-mails became common was no accident. Politicians were 'advised' that if they just do nothing, they ger to read all those naughty terrorists communications.

Meanwhile terrorists use book code or something equally impossible to decode without the 'key'...

Yeah I'm aware of Gmail being notoriously bad for scanning people's emails, and doing w/e they like with the data. Probably selling it to advertisers, or legal authorities, or maybe some shady branch of the government if they'd be interested.

There are email providers that claim to hold their users data privacy as their number one priority. The likes of Tutanota and Proton (IIRC) and there are a few others. You can send encrypted emails on Tutanota.

There's also been lots of encrypted messaging services over the years, like Wickr for example, but I think even these are/were semi breakable, and the more secretive apps anyone has, the more likely they are to look suspicious if anyone ever notices.

 

[4DQSAR]

I figure security relies on it's weakest link. I DO know that when used properly, stenography is undetectable to the point that within the US, there is a tool called 'Content Threat Removal' that decodes and then re-encodes images and film footage. No idea how widespread it's use is but it sort of suggests that the only solution is a method that uses a lot of compute.

OT I love it when conspiracy theorists point out that The Vatican City has 'unbreakable' cyphers (ooohh... spooky). Not stopping to think that the Vatican Lbrary boasts some incredibly rare books, many of them hundreds of years old. An old fashioned book cyper remans secure UNLESS you have the text of the book. So a tiny nation with few enginners uses what is has.