Hello hello. Update wending its way to the Indie Compliance mailing list now, with the world's least snappily titled listicle: Five things you need if you run a small, low-risk user-to-user service
This contains an update from Ofcom, and the shortest possible summary of the new legal duties
https://buttondown.com/indie-and-community-web-compliance-/archive/2-five-things-you-need-if-you-run-a-small-low/
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Lots of links in the newsletter to explain various risk levels and duties, but something in particular I raise in there is that it would be really useful for someone to do a boilerplate Fediverse risk assessment that could be re-used by others, as I suspect risks will largely be the same.
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oh, PS, lots of people asking if this applies to single user Fediverse instances. I strongly suspect this is a use case that no one at Ofcom has thought of, and I am very unclear how they would keep track of that anyway... (this is not legal advice!)
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@rachelcoldicutt I think @neil had started something on that subject.
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@neil @brunogirin aha, that would be so useful - I have probably a dozen people sitting in my inbox who without be grateful for that.
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@rachelcoldicutt well at least we can try our best to comply. Surely the authorities will not come after the people with fewer legal resources to score career points
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@alberto Yes I think also fair to say that many of those who are (rightly) worried now might be almost overly diligent...
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@rachelcoldicutt lobste.rs is intending to geoblock the UK over this, because the (US-based) owner does not believe that he can take on the risk involved in running a website catering to UK users any more.
The compliance requirements for small sites seem achievable, but if OFCOM turn around and suddenly decide either that you are not a low risk service or that you are not exactly complying with the requirements in the way that they like, the liabilities are impossibly large.
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@rachelcoldicutt Full announcement/discussion: https://lobste.rs/s/ukosa1/uk_users_lobsters_needs_your_help_with
I know many other individual operators of forums are facing the same problem. The benefit of allowing UK-based users seem way less than the risks.
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@krans I think fair to say there has been a failure to engage with people who run communities. Can't promise anything but am trying to escalate this at Ofcom to get some better guidance and engagement and improve the short-term outcomes. If you could add your details to the form linked from the newsletter will be able to keep you updated.
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@rachelcoldicutt LMAOWUT "an online service with fewer than 7 million users"
No, small is fewer than 1k-10k users.
7M is larger than any online service should be, not small.
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@rachelcoldicutt Not criticizing you, just the ridiculous definition of "small".
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@rachelcoldicutt thank you for the benches shout out 😄
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@Edent it is such a good example of something that is in scope but almost certainly doesn't need to be and could be subject to a discretionary exception
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@rachelcoldicutt More progressive enshitification of the world catalyzed by the moron Musk.
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@rachelcoldicutt https://bdnewst20.blogspot.com
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@rachelcoldicutt Has there been any hints from Ofcom that they will delay parts of the rules to give sites more time? Most sites seem to not be ready and may never be ready.
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@TheVampireFishQueen not as yet, but I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility - there are precedents for regulatory discretion, and some scope within the Act for discretionary exemption from the Secretary of State. For that to happen I think there needs to be more of a sense of urgency though - seems v odd to me this not getting more cut through
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@rachelcoldicutt Yeah agreed, I also think there will be delays especially for the age verification and assurance rules (that may come out next week) It just seems like Ofcom not done a good job with communication and the law itself is a confusing mess.
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@TheVampireFishQueen I mean, I have many views about the Act (too many!), but in particular I think there's been a real failure in market engagement and horizon scanning at Ofcom
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@rachelcoldicutt 100% agreed! I just hope this does not end up with more then half the UK internet blocked leading to huge backlash from the public and the UK gov backtracking hard with panic amendments...
Tho I do think the UK will bring the law more in line with the EU DSA sooner or later.
And there also the big possibility of Judicial review and legal challenges turning the law into swiss cheese...
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@rachelcoldicutt "Low risk" compared to, say, the AI startups the government intend to fund? The DPA was enough to make me give up running a community web site. I wasn't willing to pay for the privilege of working for free. This 'initiative' should help keep the fascist-run socials running for a while longer. I despair.
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