4chan and Kiwifarms Sue Ofcom over Attempt to Enforce Online Safety Act in US

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17 points·EarlKing··4 comments

4chan and Kiwi Farms have obtained common counsel and are suing the UK's Ofcom over their attempts to enforce the Online Safety Act against them, two American companies without minimum ties necessary to establish general personal jurisdiction in the United Kingdom.

The censors who want everyone to show ID to be on social media, or anywhere on the Internet, will get their way however they can. If they can't get the states to pass laws to do it, they'll use other countries to do it. If you believe in a free internet, whatever you may think of 4chan or Kiwi Farms, this is something you should support.

Remember: Today it's someone you don't care about. How long until it's your turn? Who will defend you when you won't defend others?

Copy of their complaint: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26076733-govuscourts...

Courtlistener page for those who want to follow along: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71209929/4chan-communit...

Media coverage from 404 Media: https://www.404media.co/4chan-and-kiwi-farms-sue-the-uk-over...

Small discussion (45 points, 6 hours ago, 10 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45043267

Tl;dr can’t 4chan and KiwiFarms block us users? Or the other way around?

I think you mean UK users... and yes, they could, but they're not required to by law, and why should they do so just because some foreign bureaucrat demands they do it?

By contrast, Ofcom could've simply ordered ISPs to null-route 4chan and KiwiFarms and that would've been that. Instead, they decided to do the most ineffectual and imbecilic thing possible... arguably because they're an extortion racket (as implied by the fact that they're mostly funded from fines and fees they obtain from those they prosecute).

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