"Issues like the EU’s latest regulatory push or recent U.S. Supreme Court hearings may have dominated recent tech policy headlines, but less attention has been paid to serious legislative tinkering in the United Kingdom that could have global impacts. Despite a high turn-over rate, the government and Parliament have made a series of significant amendments to the already highly controversial Online Safety Bill (OSB). Taken together these changes could significantly change the way the internet is experienced in the United Kingdom, and establish deeply problematic precedents that would further embolden governments around the world. ...

Of the many questions and concerns that the OSB raises, several aspects deserve attention for how they resemble tactics traditionally associated with regimes seeking to increase their leverage over tech companies in order to surveil their populations and censor information – efforts that are also often “justified” in the name of “online safety.” These provisions unnecessarily risk validating and encouraging further government repression and should be reconsidered by the House of Lords. Three aspects in particular deserve to be called out and considered carefully against the UK’s “constitutional” framework and international commitments: extraterritorial application, individual liability, and the use of digital laws to regulate offline behavior. #digital #tech #safety #unitedkingdom #uk #onlinesafety #onlineharm #encryption #surveillance #surveillancetechnology #cybersafety

https://www.justsecurity.org/85358/mind-the-gap-the-uk-is-about-to-set-problematic-precedents-on-content-regulation/

From #Scalability to #Subsidiarity in Addressing #OnlineHarm

"This article contrasts #scalability with #restorativejustice and #transformativejustice approaches to harm, which are usually context-sensitive, relational, and individualized. We argue that subsidiarity—the principle that #local #SocialUnits should have meaningful #autonomy within larger systems—might foster the balance between context and scale that is needed for improving responses to harm."

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051221126041

RT @JoinJax
Thank you for raising awareness of this issue @KensingtonRoyal it is important that no child suffers this - #stopchildtraffic.org #onlineharm leads to #offlineharm #tech #technologyforgood #innovationforgood https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1575900809300430848

Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ groups and sex workers criticize online hate bill | CP24 https://bit.ly/36FlbDR #LGBTQ #FirstNations #OnlineHarm #Bullying #cdnpoli