Online Safety Act

[icowden]

Wife tried to access Whiskey Exchange website this morning She is buying a friend a vintage bottle for their special birthday. Blocked no access.
Told her to switch on VPN- select USA and instantly able to see website
Online safety bill is interfering in general searches. Oh well she's installing it on her laptops now

That's not a block. That's a temporary issue with their SSL certificate which they have now fixed.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

That’s got nothing to do with the OSA. The error message tells you that.

 

[CXRAndy]

That's not a block. That's a temporary issue with their SSL certificate which they have now fixed.

Vpn sidestepped the issue immediately

 

[glasgowcyclist]

So if you try to access it now, without a VPN, you should still be ‘blocked’, right?

 

[CXRAndy]

So if you try to access it now, without a VPN, you should still be ‘blocked’, right?

Yes still blocked, use VPN unblocked

 

[glasgowcyclist]

If it was blocked as a result of the OSA, everyone in the UK not using a vpn would get the same result.

So why can I see it? 👇

 

[CXRAndy]

If it was blocked as a result of the OSA, everyone in the UK not using a vpn would get the same result.

So why can I see it? 👇

View attachment 10644

Tried Google, tried Duck duck. Same results

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Tried Google, tried Duck duck. Same results

Doesn’t explain why I don’t get your error.

 

[Psamathe]

If it was blocked as a result of the OSA, everyone in the UK not using a vpn would get the same result.

So why can I see it? 👇

View attachment 10644

Cashing through Clouflare. Different connections (particularly from different countries) will be connecting with different CDN servers some will have cached content, others won't. Could happen within the UK (depending on which CDN server happens to be used, could not happen through different countries (VPNs) again depending on which CDN servers are used. Even switching DNS could cause things to change (and using a VPN will normally also be switching to a different DNS).

 

[Ian H]

Doesn’t explain why I don’t get your error.

I suspect it's because he typed 'whiskey' and they don't sell that kind of rubbish.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Cashing through Clouflare. Different connections (particularly from different countries) will be connecting with different CDN servers some will have cached content, others won't. Could happen within the UK (depending on which CDN server happens to be used, could not happen through different countries (VPNs) again depending on which CDN servers are used. Even switching DNS could cause things to change (and using a VPN will normally also be switching to a different DNS).

I fear you’ve taken the words right out of cxrandy’s mouth there. He’ll be furious you stole his thunder.

 

[CXRAndy]

However I spelt it, clicked on the link provided. Maybe it's different Internet provider differences.

Anyway, the workaround is VPN

 

[glasgowcyclist]

However I spelt it, clicked on the link provided. Maybe it's different Internet provider differences.

Anyway, the workaround is VPN

In other words, it’s got nothing to do with the Online Safety Act. 😅

 

[icowden]

However I spelt it, clicked on the link provided. Maybe it's different Internet provider differences.
Anyway, the workaround is VPN

You might want to ensure your browser is up to date. Try accessing using Chrome and Edge - if the problem is on both it's not your browser.
You can also try using developer mode (F12) to disable the cache and force a full reload of the site.

 

[First Aspect]

Seems to be a bit of a joke/farce.

I can appreciate the motives of keeping children from being presented with age inappropriate content but what UK Gov. seems to have achieved is just a mess.

A few aspects in a complex issue that that occurred to me:

1. Parental Responsibility: At what point do parents need to take some responsibility for protecting their children. It seems a bit like giving your child an electric motorbike because their friends all have them and saying "I appreciate it's dangerous but I don't understand it so go have unconstrained fun". Loads of parental controls, loads of help for non-tech parents to learn about controls, etc. When one reads reports that yesterday vast numbers of VPN downloads ... how are kids having access to app stores to download such apps? Parental controls?

Parental controls cant do everything but UK Gov. focus on law is allowing parents to believe somebody else is dealing with the problem.

2. Proof of Age: I don't use porn sites but were I to start using social media no way would I be uploading eg my Drivers License to these sites. Even reliable organisations with IT security teams get hacked and all those proof of IDs floating around the internet is a identity fraudsters Christmas & birthdays all at once. Now even more value in hacking sites - all those lovely proof of IDs. Plus even e-mailing it is inherently insecure - your unencrypted e-mail passing through who knows what servers, chached on who knows what disks.

In requiring one solution UK Gov. have at the same time created a massive security hole.

Loads of other aspects but just 2 above.

Ian

Just download a photo of Piers Morgan and waft it at the camera to do the age check. Everyone already thinks he's a w@nker so it doesn't arouse suspicion.