TheMachineStops

Very sorry, but I've now decided I need to block access to https://newsgrouper.org.uk/ from the UK, starting 16th March. This is because I find it impractical to meet the requirements of the UK's Online Safety Act, which comes into effect then. See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety and https://onlinesafetyact.co.uk/

I've done a fair bit more homework on this, reading some of the guidance, but not all the thousands of pages that Ofcom has produced, and following their online seminars. Unfortunately very many aspects remain vague, and requests to Ofcom to provide clearer guidelines get answers like "It depends on your circumstances", "We can't advise individual sites", "You have to make the judgement", etc..

I'm afraid my conclusion is that trying to comply with the OSA is just too much effort. It's not just the initial risk assessments and policy/system changes. It's also that one is then required to respond to any reports that come in and judge whether that content is really illegal. You are required to remove anything that is illegal under a long list of categories, but also to protect users' right to freedom of speech. It's easy to think of cases where this balance could be very tricky. I simply don't want to get into the business of having to police other people's speech.

Ofcom have stated unequivocally that geo-blocking the UK will put a site outside the scope of the Act. So I put up a simple survey on the newsgrouper site, this appeared for UK users only, and I let it run for two weeks. There was just one question and a space for comments. I got 11 responses, as follows:

    How would a UK block affect you?                    Answers 1: Not Concerned, I can follow Usenet by other means.      1 2: An Annoyance, but not the end of the world.             5 3: Oh No, that would be a disaster!                        5

The comments were generally disappointed, but some also expressed understanding. So blocking UK access would be a real inconvenience to 5 people. I regret that, but they may be able to use one of the other web interfaces to Usenet, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web-based_Usenet#Web-based_sites_and_popularity . Also UK people are only about 15% of my users now.

I have seen comments that having a .uk address is enough to bring a site into the scope of the act. I'm not convinced about that, but to be on the safe side I have reregistered my site as newsgrouper.org with a redirect from newsgrouper.org.uk .

My software is available at: https://chiselapp.com/user/cmacleod/repository/newsgrouper/home so if anyone else wants to take on the job of running an instance that would remain open to UK users, they are welcome to do so.

Check the below for games:

https://pkg-zone.com/details/PKGI00001

https://youtu.be/02-XCE3thUg

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ty7h6880lot7g80

I have a question, why is it that when reddit bans someone the only indication you get is server error?

The support team will be applying a 50% time bonus to all Unlimited Accounts through January 19th.

AITA for not wanting to drop charges on a 10 year old kid that beat up my 9 year old at school?

Some background my kids go to a school where over 90% of the student population are refugees/immigrants. We live in a neighborhood that is the same circumstances as my kids school.

Cut to yesterday. My 9 year old girl was out at recess. She was playing basketball with friends. This bully walked up behind her, pushed her to the ground and when she was getting up the kid kicked her in the head like it was a soccer ball.   My wife went down to check my girl out of school. She'll be ok, I hope, but she has scratches on the side of her face, a black eye and it's swollen.   

School principal said he'd handle it. Later on he called my wife and I separately and asked us to drop the charges because the student doesn't "understand" that what they did was wrong.   I told the principal that if the school isn't going to discipline the bully I will call the police department and files charges. AITA for not wanting to drop charges on a 10 year old kid?

Edit: NO Im not racist. The principal/school admin uses the fact that they are refugees/immigrants to excuse their behavior actions all to often. Principal is retiring at the end of this year.

Update: she does have a minor concussion per ED pa. Keeping an eye on her currently.

In your opinion what is the must have search engine plugins?

Veilid is a peer-to-peer network and application framework released by the Cult of the Dead Cow on August 11, 2023, at DEF CON 31. Seems more promising than I2P.

Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information. 

Clarification: after a bit of research it seems the olfactory section pertains to CCPA California law, many places have olfactory in the privacy policy because it is required by the law. I can't believe we reached a point where we have to put olfactory in the privacy policy, but then again it won't be long before Smell-O-Vision becomes reality.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision

They removed it, archived here: https://archive.ph/YYBuJ

Also have a California ip you get a different privacy policy.

Usenet wiki (unfortunately we don't have one on Lemmy): https://reddit.com/r/usenet/wiki/faq

Two 1 TB blocks on different backbones for $15: https://portal.usenetprime.com/cart.php?a=add&bid=37.

3 TB for $15 (4000+ retention): https://billing.blocknews.net/signup/blockfriday

6 TB for €15 (2800+ retention ): https://www.bulknews.eu/checkout?product_variation=43&locale=en%2F and use the code bf241. Bulknews is on Abavia backbone.

4 TB for $25 (4633+ retention): https://newsgroupdirect.com/member/billing/?plan=ce57&planid=233&yes_tracking=1

500 GB for 10.50 till January 3 (3000+ retention): https://usenet.farm/

The retention might not be accurate, probably larger.