their entire post is sophistry and wishful thinking, neither of which will work if ofcom decide to go after them
the intention of the OSA is to attempt to regulate user-to-user communications services, of which IRC is one
they're probably right that they're near bottom of the list though
(at least until this blog post ends up on their desk monday morning)
You're right in the sense that they can pursue whomever they want based on whatever interpretation of "significant" they may hold. But it is not Ofcom that ultimately decides on the meaning of the term, that is for a court to decide and that court would likely rely on the same authorities and principles that Libera's lawyers did in their advice.
assuming of course libera don't fold the moment they receive a nastygram ("enforcement notice")
like they did when andrew lee commandeered freenode
The problem is the law is worded in the vaguest way possible and ofcom in exceptionally bad faith have refused to give any clear guidance on what they will and won't prosecute. Our politicians in their arrogance have passed this law, so expect no help from them.
1. Arrest the founders or officers at the UK border if they attempt to enter.
2. Direct UK ISPs to block access to their services.
Let's see if they are so PR-insensitive that they will want to actually do that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK%E2%80%93US_extradition_trea...
Case law is important in the UK because laws are vaguely written and thier specifics are established in court.
By going after entities that can't comply and don't have a big legal budget like 4chan, they can go through the motions and establish that ISP level blocks against non complying companies are okay.
They can then hit progressively more difficult targets until they get to X and tiktok.
1. Do you think that getting the legal advice was a good defensive measure?
(Something to point to, to establish that they were being responsible, if ever challenged.)
2. And do you think that publicizing it was a good idea?
(Probably they are drawing fire on Monday morning, like you said. But maybe it's a plausibly good tactical move because, just speculating here, someone now takes the time to pay attention to who they are, rather than them later land on some poorly-informed list of non-compliants that gets rubber-stamped for action.)