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UK lawmakers have released the draft Internet Safety Bill, Adding a string of new criminal offenses from cyber flashes to the publication of fraud.
The bill is designed to regulate sites like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube, to protect users from harmful content. It will be overseen by the Ofcom regulator.
“What is illegal offline needs to be regulated online. For too long, big technology has emerged from being a country without the law. The lack of online regulation has left too many people vulnerable to abuse, fraud, violence and in some cases even loss of life,” says Damian Collins. Chairman of the Joint Draft Committee.
“The committee has made recommendations to bring further offenses clearly within the scope of the online safety bill, to give Ofcom the authority in law to set minimum safety standards for the services they will regulate, and to take enforcement action against companies if they do so.” Do not obey. ”
There are a number of new additions. Cyber flashes are supposed to become illegal, along with sending intentionally flashing images to people with light-sensitive epilepsy with the intent to cause an attack.
Pornography sites will be required to keep children away, regardless of whether they host user-to-user content; And content or activities that promote self-harm will become illegal, along with the promotion of suicide. Paid advertising, including scams and frauds, will also be covered by the bill.
Companies will be required to appoint a senior director at the board level or who reports to the board as the “safety controller”, in responsibility when there is clear evidence of recurring and systemic failures that carry a significant risk of serious injury to users. Users will be able to complain to the Ombudsman when they believe the platform has not met the requirements.
The bill receives a mixed reception.
“It is absolutely right that the committee recommended that the online safety law deal with fraudulent advertising,” says Roccio Concha, director of policy and publicity at the Asher Consumer Group.
“It has operated on the basis of the conclusive evidence it has received of the devastating economic and emotional impact on innocent fraud victims, with online platforms with some of the most sophisticated technologies in the world failing to protect them.”
It was also welcomed by the Epilepsy Association and – with reservations that it does not go far enough – by the NSPCC Child Protection Organization.
However, others are less enthusiastic. Privacy and human rights organizations claim that it suffers from over-achievement, and by enabling government intervention in the form of “training”, it sets a worrying precedent.
“It is giving a future authoritarian government exactly the tools it needs to systematically suppress opposition,” said Robert Sharp of the Open Rights Group.
“Meanwhile, these broad measures are also sending a terrible message to non-liberal governments around the world, who will be quick to introduce a catchy ‘government policy’ clause into their regulatory laws.”
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