I'm not an expert but I feel like organizations like Wikipedia that are not based in the UK and do not do business in the UK shouldn't fight or comply with this nonsense. If the British government instructs ISPs to block access to Wikipedia, let them, and see the uproar it generates.
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
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I agree they should block all UK ip addresses and issue a disclaimer that this is due to the online safety act. Not being able to access the Wikipedia will make the citizens petition the government to repeal the act.
Agreed. I get that the mission of Wikipedia is to make information available to everyone and purposely cutting off a whole nation from their information goes against their mission. But sometimes Wikipedia should play hardball, and if the UK elected a government that wants to block Wikipedia then the people of the UK shouldn’t get Wikipedia. The people of the UK will need to elect a new government. Or get a VPN. Or both.
I think if they complied that would also go against their mission, because they cannot make information freely available to everyone anymore.
No, I think they should ignore it and let the British government do what they will. Again, they are not bound by UK legislation. Similarly they don't block Chinese IPs because of censorship laws over there.
But we're all weak willed and don't do anything. We're too used to the government doing stupid stuff and getting away with it. Even if we protest, nothing comes of it. We eventually just roll over and comply. It's the the only thing I admire the French for.
I believe Wikimedia has a UK based charity, and they would still get affected by stuff like extradition I think?
Even as an American with everything going on here, this bullshit makes me feel bad for the Brits. How fucked up is that?
I think only the UK does this now, the EU is in planning phase. Even the countries that have dictatorship don't do age verification for Wikipedia. The UK seems to be going through a phase similar to when books were banned because of content and considering that many people read online books this will definitely affect digital book readers.
Ruzzia wanted to ban Wikipedia. It's dangerous to propaganda.
No, the similar law for EU has just been made.
We all feel bad for each other. Europe and North America are going down the fucking toilet fast. We're all implementing authoritarian laws, we're just in varying stages of doing so or prioritising one thing over another.
UK is banning porn sites, wikipedia, and protest, US is deploying the national guard to the streets and has ICE acting like the Gestapo. EU is lagging behind the UK but looks to be on track for implementing the same things. Not to mention the widespread indirect support of a genocide.
Things are bad for us all. But I support the efforts of people everywhere who are fighting to make the future look a little less bleak.
I think neither of us should be throwing stones in either direction right now. But yeah, this isn't great for us at all.
To be honest, we already pitied them for the food and weather.
Off topic but food in the UK, at least in some parts, is pretty good these days. Whenever I return to Canada from the UK it feels like a step down in quality of food. Their supermarkets have some really nice stuff, there is lots of good international food, and the fast food is way better. The bad food stereotype is a hangover from past times I think.
Can't help but notice you didn't refute the part about the shite weather
Mostly the weather is too hot now, but there are also stronger storms and more floods. So still not great, but in a different way from before.
The ruling makes sense as it is based on an assumption that can't be demonstrated. But hopefully some big, high profile website gets sufficiently fucked or pissed off by the law that it blocks the UK/gets blocked by the UK.
Unfortunately the server I use as a VPN is in France which also has some insane rules.
I hope that big, high profile website recognizes that it's in such a position