Graham Smith
@cyberleagle.bsky.social
IT and internet lawyer. Sceptical tech enthusiast. Reposts and links are not endorsements. All views my own. No posts are legal advice. www.cyberleagle.com
More #OnlineSafetyAct written evidence to the Lords Communications and Digital Committee Inquiry trickling out. 33 submissions published so far. committees.parliament.uk/work/9955/th...
The Online Safety Act: implementation and impact - Written evidence - Committees - UK Parliament
Written evidence submission publications for The Online Safety Act: implementation and impact.
committees.parliament.uk
Three years ago today the UK's Online Safety Act 2023 received Royal Assent. It is safe to say that no-one - supporters (in sorrow) or critics (we told you so) - is happy with the way that it has panned out. 1/3
Three years ago today the UK's Online Safety Act 2023 received Royal Assent. It is safe to say that no-one - supporters (in sorrow) or critics (we told you so) - is happy with the way that it has panned out. 1/3
@jamesrball.com Well done on correctly describing S.230 in your Index piece :-). But when you refer to international 'equivalents', it's worth mentioning that UK/Europe have had distributor-like conditional platform liability for 25 years: neither S.230's full immunity nor full publisher liability.
Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt, "Content moderation, the UK Online Safety Act, and the European Convention on Human Rights" [2026] Public Law 717 WestLaw Link: uk.westlaw.com/Document/IF9...
uk.westlaw.com
Letter from Ofcom on how it thinks its powers to seek "business disruption measures" against platforms under the Online Safety Act could be strengthened committees.parliament.uk/publications... Evidence to MPs committees.parliament.uk/event/27996/... #techpolicy #censorship #siteblocking #openweb
What gets missed about rioting: it's great fun. An essay davidaaronovitch.substack.com/p/the-joy-of...
The Joy of Wrecks
Or why rioting is fun
davidaaronovitch.substack.com
If these are the constraints being alluded to here, are they really a very high bar?
Graham Smith@cyberleagle.bsky.social · 6d agoDawes: "When it comes to things we would like to be able to do in our code, it would be to require platforms to use AI to search for illegal content more than is currently allowed by the Act. The bar for us to require that is very high. ...
Transcript of Ofcom evidence to Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee here. committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
Oral evidence - 20 Oct 2026
committees.parliament.uk
Reclaim The Net@reclaimthenet.org · last wk.UK Speech Regulator Ofcom Struggles To Enforce Censorship Law Fines Abroad Ofcom can write the fines, but foreign courts get to decide whether anyone pays them.
Transcript of 13 Oct evidence session now available. #OnlineSafetyAct committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
Oral evidence - 13 Oct 2026
committees.parliament.uk
How odd. The SNCF screen in the Nice Ville station waiting hall is blocked!
This is really, really cool. The URL *is* the document. So you can effectively do word processing in your browser... without it leaving your computer. Or... you can send it to others *in the URL*. This is really fantastic.
Paul Ford@ftrain.com · 2w agoI built a thing. I LOVED making it. It's called TinyLittleOffice. It's a web office suite (word processor, outliner, decks, spreadsheet, calculator, drawing tool, diagram maker, animator, calendar, trip planner) that stores the docs in your URL. tinylittleoffice.com?c=hgmcggn#/v...
Ofcom‘s Online Information Advisory Committee Report makes interesting reading. www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/r...
ofcom.org.uk
New overview of the Online Safety Act from the House of Commons Library. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
The Online Safety Act: An overview
The Online Safety Act 2023 aims to protect people from illegal and harmful content.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk
Liberalism dismantled hereditary rule and ended slavery. Somewhere along the way it started sounding like a boring debating club. It needs a boldness that matches its own history.
The Case for a Liberalism That Dares Again
The tradition that dismantled hereditary rule and slavery can topple the authoritarianisms of today
theunpopulist.net
🔎 Our new report maps how these rules apply to chatbots and what they mean for free expression: tinyurl.com/5bbbm5d9
For anyone interested in platform liability and the eCommerce Directive hosting shields, paras 2.86 to 2.124 and 3.79 to 3.81 are a must-read. lawcom.gov.uk/publication/...
Product liability: consultation paper – Law Commission
Reforming the law
lawcom.gov.uk
I do hope this project will properly kick the tyres and validate (or not) the underlying assumption that the formal evidential presumption has automatically been applied to general computer evidence in criminal cases, and not just take that as read. www.computerweekly.com/news/3666513...
Academics study impact of computer evidence presumption on lawyer perceptions | Computer Weekly
Study to delve into how 25 years of flawed legal presumption has affected perceptions of practitioners
computerweekly.com
I had one of those - when I wasn’t being creative with the chemistry set.
A free 2000 word post on the sad irrelevant history of the 'Zionism is racism' debate davidaaronovitch.substack.com/p/the-anti-z...
The anti-Zionism of fools
On the Corbynising of the Green party
davidaaronovitch.substack.com
The UK's Ofcom opens an OSA probe into Meta over Instagram Instants, launched in May; Meta says it "briefed Ofcom about this feature on a number of occasions" (Reuters) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Meta, TikTok, X challenge UK watchdog over online safety data demands www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
Meta, TikTok, X challenge UK watchdog over online safety data demands
Meta , TikTok and X are challenging British regulator Ofcom over the amount of information it is demanding they provide under Britain's nascent online safety regime.
reuters.com
Meta, TikTok, X challenge UK watchdog over online safety data demands www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
Meta, TikTok, X challenge UK watchdog over online safety data demands
Meta , TikTok and X are challenging British regulator Ofcom over the amount of information it is demanding they provide under Britain's nascent online safety regime.
reuters.com
Ministers seek harder line on ID verification after concerns that screening measures used in Australia have proved too easy for children to circumvent
Social media users face passport checks to enforce under-16 ban
thetimes.com
Refreshingly thought-provoking, well researched piece.
Oxford Internet Institute@oii.ox.ac.uk · 3w agoAs countries roll out their own privacy laws, teen social media bans and age checks, Dr @vickijnash.bsky.social speaks to POLITICO about where the UK's Online Safety Act fits in an increasingly fragmented internet. Read the full article here: www.politico.com/news/magazin...
