UK Online Safety Bill... if it passes, I may have to shutter LFGSS

Oliver Dowden is generally next to useless- too busy trying to stuff Museum boards with people that fit the Tory 'Culture Wars' profile. Hopefully your MP will be better.

Although, come to think of it, maybe if needs be we ALL bombard Dowden with emails regarding this, he might take notice? This can't be the only Forum it could impinge on?

I can’t comment on the legislation. The Impact assessment team will be relatively junior officials and at best will be aggregating data / info which will get swept up in some high-level advice to ministers. They won’t sway anything if ministers are minded to pursue, which is why the political route (that @Fox and others suggest) is vital. It’ll be political arguments and ministers being frightened by being bitten by politically difficult unintended consequences. Worth thinking through what those are and using them in any conversations you get with politicians (role of forum in supporting active travel, market place to enable people to sell without profit being creamed off, digital innovation ....). And make common cause with similar forums (I’m not saying fora, sorry Oliver)

The best way to influence a minister is if they think their constituents will be upset or if backbenchers are likely to be concerned. So finding a sympathetic Tory mp would be helpful.

I have a few more thoughts, that I’ll post later

. They won’t sway anything if ministers are minded to pursue,

I work in Scotland so the context might be different with our civil service but...advice from officials (even junior ones) can still be very useful if they echo comments that come from constituents or other political entities.

Yes, sorry - my final thought was that having a trusted stakeholder (representative body or similar) explain how badly drafted draft legislation was likely to have unintended consequences for the sector (and ideally, what would need to be done to rectify) can often be helpful as it helps officials to make the point that this is widespread, will be reported and gives them a solution . There must be some tech bodies that will be commenting for the sector.

@gillies - yes, you’re right. I suppose I’m saying that ministers often need to think that it will annoy people they care about (politically) or impact negatively in an unintended way on enough people that it will make life difficult. So you need the numbers or political sway.

Why can’t teenslain stay and LFGSS leave?

Finally, I can quit lufuguss!!

This can't be the only Forum it could impinge on

I wondered about this also. Is it worth speaking to YACF, Cycle Chat etc to see if a united front could be presented for more impact? (And also Rapha CC & Brixton Cycles - more voices to raise the issue?).

I'm not sure if this is the same but i watch some of Alex Belfields videos on YouTube and he is expecting to have to close soon due to what sounds like similar possibly even the same legislation as this. The way he is getting around it is to run it as a members only subscription site behind a very cheap pay wall then as long as there's nothing criminal going on you can pretty much say what you like?

Some very solid suggestions here. Hit them where it hurts: their capital, be it political, social or financial.

Not to derail the discussion, but this legislation is so out there that I wonder if it’s a diversionary tactic. 🤔

I read through, I suspect an impact assessment is still required.

I was trying to work out if LFGSS might fall under the following exclusion: (page 121, para 20)
(However I expect this is for review or journalistic sites)

Limited functionality services
5
A user-to-user service is exempt if the functionalities of
the service are limited, such that users are able to
communicate by means of the serviceonly in the following
ways—
(a)posting comments or reviews relating to content
produced and published by the provider of the service (or by
a person acting onbehalf of the provider of the service);

The intention of this legislation is to go after facespace and their ilk?
If OFCOM genuinely go after niche sites like ours, we have definitely entered McCarthey era territory.

Honestly, we are big enough probably not to totally ignore it, but small enough not to overduly worry about the same.

Do not attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

They might not be going after us but we could be the collateral they haven’t thought about.

Following.

Do not attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity

Does that go for Tories as well?

No, to Tories, go ahead and attribute both malice and stupidity

I agree. It is still only a draft bill. My experience of these things is that they can change an awful lot prior to royal assent

This - the bill being out in draft is precisely to provoke the sort of conversation we’re having now, so much agreed that the political route is the way to go because that’s the only way changes get made - the stakeholders who are affected are unfortunately saddled with the onus of making their voice heard enough for the policymakers to take notice, but if the voice is heard there’s no agenda to stifle forums like these I’m pretty sure; it’s just information asymmetry we need to address.

@ everybody so should we be writing to all our MPs? What is the Main Thing that this email needs to express? Soz for stupids.

Id like to know too!

If indeed it is something that we can all be hassling our MPs about, perhaps a template letter posted up would be useful?

With you, AlexD ... I'd send it deffo !

perhaps a template letter

Or better still, some bulletpoints so that we all have to write in our own words and the letters won't be easily spotted as being from a template.

Surely this would affect Reddit as well and I've seen nothing posted there.

They're probably not worried ... yet. Though i suspect the big tech companies have the resources to be ready for it, if it ever passed.

If indeed it is something that we can all be hassling our MPs

My Mp is Rees 'I am a cunt' Mogg - I have written to him a couple of times but get fobbed off with incredible bullshit every time. Tory Cock

some bulletpoints so that we all have to write in our own words and the letters won't be easily spotted as being from a template

think this is a v good shout and would also be keen to write and send one.