#UK unveils sweeping #SocialMediaBan for users under 16

https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/15/uk-unveils-sweeping-social-media-ban-for-users-under-16/

#privacy #SocialMedia #AgeVerification #cybersecurity #censorship

#UK may ban #SocialMedia for children under 16

https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/14/uk-may-ban-social-media-for-children-under-16/

#SocialMediaBan #privacy #AgeVerification #censorship

""Every failed attempt to make children safer online is followed by more surveillance and censorship," he said. "Children have rights too and these policies will harm their free expression and privacy rights, and push them into less regulated spaces. Meanwhile the business models driving harms are untouched."

Others questioned whether the measures can realistically be enforced. Mark Jones, an online harms specialist and partner at law firm Payne Hicks Beach, noted that the consultation closed only weeks ago and warned that determined teenagers have a habit of finding ways around restrictions.

"A social media ban only helps if it is genuinely enforceable," Jones said. "If large numbers of young people simply circumvent the restrictions, parents will just lose visibility into where their children are actually spending time online rather than reclaiming any control."

The political case for the crackdown appears relatively straightforward, but the practical one is less so. The government now has to persuade social media companies to enforce the rules and teenagers not to find ways around them."

https://www.theregister.com/personal-tech/2026/06/15/britain-plots-digital-bedtime-after-kicking-under-16s-off-social-media/5255341

#UK #AgeVerification #NannyState #Surveillance #Oligopolies #Censorship #BigBrother #BigTech #Privacy #Anonymity

"Inside the campaign to discredit a key climate science report."
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/11/fossil-fuels-national-academies-climate-science-00897237

"#Oil industry allies are quietly targeting a field of #climate research that could cost #fossilfuel companies billions of dollars. In the crosshairs is a forthcoming report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [#NASEM] that will examine research into the ways corporate climate pollution is intensifying natural disasters…The heightened scrutiny…involves a secretive opposition research group scouring scientists’ emails."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Harassment #USPol #USPolitics

On the subject of age gating, the FCC's proposed "know your customer" (ID for SIM cards) and all the rest of these Internet control and censorship proposals:

What I see happening is that either the entire communications network splits into two pieces that may not even talk to each other, or that the legal Internet collapses entirely as people walk away from ID verified communications.

If it's just age verification, the darknet will flower like never before, you may well find me on Tor-only servers for instance.

If it's also SIM registration I will probably be able to get a foreign data-only tourist SIM and use it in roaming mode.

If that gets blocked I will fall back to wifi-only like prior to 2011. If that too goes away, I will be signing off the formerly open Internet entirely and only using mesh networks, physical media, possibly pirate 2 way radio, and word of mouth.

Under no circumstance will I log into or access any of my previous work on any device linked to me by any kind of ID document. Nor will I use any device, serice, or website asking for one

#AgeVerification #censorship #FCC

Mullvad warns that age-verification rules are expanding worldwide, often requiring ID-based checks that reduce online anonymity. 🔐
The article highlights risks of OS-level enforcement and VPN restrictions, while EU zero-knowledge age credentials may still fall back to identity-linked systems. 🧱

@mullvadnet

🔗 https://mullvad.net/en/blog/age-verification-for-social-media-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-a-free-internet

#TechNews #Privacy #AgeVerification #Surveillance #VPN #DigitalRights #DataPrivacy #OnlineSafety #Censorship #Identity #Freedom #FOSS #Encryption #EU #TechPolicy

#AmnestyInternational Warns That #WorldCup Fans Face Potential Human Rights Violations

https://www.wired.com/story/amnesty-international-world-cup-human-rights/

#football #soccer #sports #privacy #surveillance #protest #censorship #activism #FreeSpeech #politics

The Side That Won the Civil War is Now Banning Books About Why the Civil War Was Fought

Tom Zoellner on the Antebellum Precedent of Trump-Era Censorship

https://lithub.com/the-side-that-won-the-civil-war-is-now-banning-books-about-why-the-civil-war-was-fought/

#books #censorship

Alt...

A group of escaped slaves who have sought refuge at Fort Monroe during the American Civil War. There are seven them in various dress. They are standing in front of a low building and barn.

#Starmer gives tech firms ultimatum to block explicit images on children’s phones

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/08/starmer-tech-firms-ultimatum-block-explicit-images-children-phones

#privacy #censorship #cybersecurity #politics #UK #AgeVerification

How and Why to Fight Back Against #SocialMedia Bans

Several U.S. states are pushing to ban young people from social media entirely. This marks the latest wave of #censorship bills masquerading as “children’s online safety” measures, with states like #Massachusetts , #Idaho , #Minnesota , #NorthCarolina , #SouthCarolina , #Illinois , and EFF’s home state of #California leading the charge.

Just a few years ago, lawmakers supporting age-gating laws insisted their efforts were narrowly targeted at limiting young people’s access to adult content.
#agegating #ageverification
#privacy

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/how-and-why-fight-back-against-social-media-bans

Mainstream Media is Already Lying About Age Verification

It took one day for the word to get out about a forthcoming age verification bill and the lies are already being published.

https://www.freezenet.ca/mainstream-media-is-already-lying-about-age-verification/

#Censorship #News #Privacy #Security #AgeVerification #Canada #journalism #Media #NationalPost #SocialMedia

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i2.2853

I remember a legislative hearing where the congress discussed the need for YouTube to censor all content that questions the veracity of heliocentrism and space programs. Perhaps this paper is following that trend?

#Censorship #FlatEarth #Cosmology #Globalism #Theology #Sociology #FreudianProjection

So I hasn’t realised that Mastodon GmbH (mastodon.social) also runs mastodon.online.

This is troubling, to say the least.

#mastodon #fediverse #federation #censorship #mastodonOnline #mastodonSocial #mastodonGmbH

…Not least of all because the same company that runs the largest Mastodon instance runs more than one instance (why?)

But also the moderation policy that allows for the deletion of people’s posts. (Not even limiting the account or suspending it and asking the person who wrote the post to delete it but moderators outright deleting other people’s posts themselves. That sets a very dangerous precedent.)

#mastodon #fediverse #federation #censorship #mastodonOnline #mastodonSocial #mastodonGmbH

RE: https://veganism.social/@Geri/116537676967800066

Folks, just a quick warning: If you’re against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, avoid mastodon.online.

They deleted two of Geri’s posts.

Geri is a wonderful activist and an inspiration from the UK who has braved arrest to shine a light on Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.

Do give her a follow on her new account as she lost quite a few followers during the migration.

Also, to our friends in Gaza, please don’t create accounts on this server.

#mastodon #fediverse #moderation #censorship #mastodonOnline #israel #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #Gaza #GazaVerified #StopIsrael #FreePalestine

Utah’s VPN Ban Law Goes Into Effect in Age Verification Escalation

Utah is attempting to cover up the failures of their age verification law by effectively banning VPNs.

https://www.freezenet.ca/utahs-vpn-ban-law-goes-into-effect-in-age-verification-escalation/

#Censorship #News #Privacy #Security #AgeVerification #encryption #law #legislation #US #Utah #VPN

"Make no mistake: These kinds of regulations are like a bad cold — they spread fast and are hard to shake. Governments and legislators around the world are constantly peeking over the fence at their neighbors to see what policies they’re rolling out and asking themselves whether they, too, can enact such laws.

You shouldn’t be surprised when more nations ask, If Turkey can do away with that pesky anonymous internet speech, why can’t we? In fact, the sentiment already exists in democratic nations freer than Turkey. In February, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for an end to anonymous posts. “I want to see real names on the internet,” he said. “I want to know who is speaking.” Coincidentally or not, Germany also prosecutes insults to public officials. Not long after Merz’s statements, police investigated a Facebook comment calling Merz “Pinocchio.”

Anonymous online speech is in peril even here in the United States. In 2023, then-presidential candidate Nikki Haley walked back her demand that companies “verify every single person” using their platforms “by name.” The idea was toxic at the time, and she faced backlash among conservatives. But in the years since, that campaign has ballooned. The bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, which enjoys Democratic and Republican support, as well as the constantly growing list of state-level age-verification bills in red and blue states are putting a real strain on Americans’ ability to remain anonymous, whether they are 16 years old or 60."

https://expression.fire.org/p/its-the-end-of-internet-anonymity

#Turkey #Anonymity #AgeVerification #FreedomOfExpression #Censorship #Surveillance

Usenet is an ever-living, Casper the friendly ghost of discussion networks.

Just a friendly reminder that Usenet still exists and access to text newsgroups is still FREE. Access is provided by volunteer sysops around the world. See links below.

Back in its glory days it seems that just about every academic institution had its own Usenet hierarchy of newsgroups.

Linux was revealed to the world via Usenet.

Open source philosophy gained its steam via Usenet.

Usenet is the original free speech network.

Usenet is the original 'social network'.

Simple and free access to text-only Usenet Newsgroups
https://eternal-september.org/

#Usenet #BBS #NetworkNews #EternalSeptember #usenet #nntp #decentralized #censorship #retro #freespeech

+++ Ausics (Australia)

https://newsgroups.ausics.net

https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com

http://news.chmurka.net

http://csiph.com

https://dotsrc.org/usenet

https://www.eternal-september.org

https://news.gegeweb.org

https://news.hispagatos.org

https://news.nntp4.net

https://usenet.ovh

https://www.open-news-network.org

nntp://paganini.bofh.team

https://pasdenom.info/news.html

https://solani.org

The only drawback is this.

There is a troll farm on Usenet. The purpose of the troll farm is to annoy and harass people with fake, lunatic, and disingenuous posts to try to drive them off Usenet. Once you learn to identify such posters, just put them in your killfile spam filter and move on.

Some of the discussion threads are fake, generated by the troll farmers.

Also, if you ever post a good idea on Usenet, the troll farmers will launch a tirade of malicious criticism to try to drive you away.

It's kind of like the Fediverse. Lots of mockingbirds lurk to pounce on any sentiment disapproved by their masters.

Here's the upside. Censorship is almost impossible. If someone wants to see your articles, they will. Unlike the Fediverse, which champions comformity, viewpoint bullying, and mockingbird enforcement hall monitors at the instance level, any Usenet sysop engaging in gratuitous censorship would lose all respect in the eyes of the Usenet crowd.

#censorship #usenet #nntp #freespeech

Free Usenet Hosting Providers

+++ Ausics (Australia)

https://newsgroups.ausics.net

https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com

http://news.chmurka.net

http://csiph.com

https://dotsrc.org/usenet

https://www.eternal-september.org

https://news.gegeweb.org

https://news.hispagatos.org

https://news.nntp4.net

https://usenet.ovh

https://www.open-news-network.org

nntp://paganini.bofh.team

https://pasdenom.info/news.html

https://solani.org

Inform your friends and family about these tools.

#Briar ... https://briarproject.org

"Censorship-resistant peer-to-peer messaging that bypasses centralized servers. Connect via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Tor, with privacy built-in."

#Retroshare ... https://retroshare.cc

"Retroshare establish encrypted connections between you and your friends to create a network of computers, and provides various distributed services on top of it: forums, channels, chat, mail... Retroshare is fully decentralized, and designed to provide maximum security and anonymity to its users beyond direct friends. Retroshare is entirely free and open-source software. It is available on #Android, #Linux, #MacOS and #Windows. There are no hidden costs, no ads and no terms of service."

#RicochetRefresh ... https://www.ricochetrefresh.net

"Ricochet Refresh is an open-source project to allow private and anonymous instant messaging."

#OnionShare ... https://onionshare.org

"OnionShare is an open-source tool that lets you securely and anonymously share files, host websites, and chat with friends using the Tor network."

#DeltaChat ... https://delta.chat

"Delta Chat is a decentralized and secure messenger app."

#Bitmessage ... https://bitmessage.org

"Bitmessage is a P2P communications protocol used to send encrypted messages to another person or to many subscribers. It is decentralized and trustless, meaning that you need-not inherently trust any entities like root certificate authorities. It uses strong authentication which means that the sender of a message cannot be spoofed, and it aims to hide "non-content" data, like the sender and receiver of messages, from passive eavesdroppers like those running warrantless wiretapping programs."

#TorBrowser ... https://www.torproject.org/download

"Protect yourself against tracking, surveillance, and censorship."

#I2P ... https://geti2p.net

"The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) is a fully encrypted private network layer. It protects your activity and location. Every day people use the network to connect with people without worry of being tracked or their data being collected. In some cases people rely on the network when they need to be discrete or are doing sensitive work."

#Hyphanet ... https://www.hyphanet.org/

"Hyphanet is peer-to-peer network for censorship-resistant and privacy-respecting publishing and communication. The original Freenet."

#BitChan ... https://github.com/813492291816/BitChan

"BitChan is a decentralized anonymous imageboard inspired by BitBoard and built on top of Bitmessage with Tor, I2P, and GnuPG."

#DarkMX ... https://darkmx.app

"DarkMX is a new decentralized communication app that utilizes Tor hidden services to allow you to easily have an anonymous, reliable, and censorship-resistant presence on the internet. You can chat. You can share files. You can search other people's files. You can keep a contact list and send private messages to your friends. You can create your own custom .onion site, available to anyone with a Tor Browser."

#Decentralized #TOR #AntiSurveillance #Anonymity #Anonymous #Privacy #Filesharing #Networking #Communication #P2P #F2F #PeerToPeer #Censorship #AntiCensorship #FreeSpeech

I figured out several ways to run DarkMX on a headless server without GUI. This allows me to install it on a remote server without any desktop environment and run the software as a daemon without the GUI.

First I used the X forwarding feature of SSH to pipe the GUI to a local machine. On that machine I did all the configuration inside the GUI. Then I closed the program.

Then on the remote machine I used 'xvfb' to run DarkMX as a nohup'd daemon with a dummy GUI buffer. That way I don't need to be connected to the GUI from a local machine and the application will still run. It also uses less RAM without the GUI.

There are other ways to do this, such as VNC and xpra. I just chose the quickest, dirtiest method in this case.

Why would I go to all that trouble? Well, I don't need to, but there are some people who might need to publish while maintaining strict anonymity. So they would need tools like DarkMX and TOR. For me it's just fun.

DarkMX operates over the TOR privacy preserving network. As a result the location of my peer is hidden and extremely hard to impossible for an adversary to locate. So when I publish something, such as a letter, or paper, or opinion, anyone can download it since censoring it is not viable. It ensures that my speech remains free and available to the general public. Now when I author essays, papers, homiles and such, I can publish them as file shares, and I can publish them simultaneously as a TOR hidden website with the built-in webserver feature. So readers don't need DarkMX to read my files--they can just fire up TOR Browser or use a TOR proxy with their web browser. If they want to snarf a whole directory they can install DarkMX, or use a script to snarf them via TOR.

If you are inclined to fiddle around with installing this software on a headless server, please share the techniques and tools used that suit you.

(DarkMX download site: https://darkmx.app)

#DarkMX #P2P #FileSharing #Anonymous #SelfHosting #TOR #OnionNetwork #Censorship

@selfhosted@a.gup.pe @infostorm@a.gup.pe @darknet@a.gup.pe infosec@a.gup.pe

NEWSCARD Publish and fetch permanent named records via Network News

Newscard creates a decentralized, encrypted, named record paste bin.

[git repo] https://codeberg.org/OCTADE/newscard (use most recent version only)

With a single command, name the card, snarf the file and encrypt it.

With another command, push the encrypted file to the public network.

With another short command, snarf a file from the network.

Only users knowing the name [key] of the record will be able to decrypt it.

If a strong passphrase is used to name the file, it will be very secure.

This is useful for quickly snarfing, encrypting, and publishing a text file:

$~: card enc [passphrase] [file]
$~: card put [passphrase]

It is useful for retrieving a text file with just a key:

$~: card get [passphrase]
$~: card show [passphrase]

If and when you want the general public to access the record just share the keyword.

Newscard uses nine (9) (NINE) layers of encryption with OpenSSL chacha20 cipher.

Newscard generates 9 each of: cipher keys, salts, key iteration parameters.

It would be nice if something like this were added to the ActivityPub protocol, such that keyword[@]host.url would do the same thing. Then secret text records could be stored securely for later retrieval or revelation.

#NewsCard #Pastebin #Usenet #NNTP #NetworkNews #Encryption #Cryptography #Messaging #Anonymity #Protocols #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #BlackHackJack #Censorship #Retro #InfoSec #Ciphers #Codes #FOSS

@infostorm@a.gup.pe @crypto@a.gup.pe @infosec@a.gup.pe @selfhosting@a.gup.pe

Alt...

Playing card of the Jack of Clubs. The Jack is a moustached man in a black top hat and suit in a oval center cameo. The colors are inverted so that everything on the face is black except the lines which are white, like a charcoal cutout picture., giving it a retro digital appearance mixed with retro handicraft vibes.

NEWSCARD Publish and fetch permanent named records via Network News

Newscard creates a decentralized, encrypted, named record paste bin.

[git repo] https://codeberg.org/OCTADE/newscard (use most recent version only)

With a single command, name the card, snarf the file and encrypt it.

With another command, push the encrypted file to the public network.

With another short command, snarf a file from the network.

Only users knowing the name [key] of the record will be able to decrypt it.

If a strong passphrase is used to name the file, it will be very secure.

This is useful for quickly snarfing, encrypting, and publishing a text file:

$~: card enc [passphrase] [file]
$~: card put [passphrase]

It is useful for retrieving a text file with just a key:

$~: card get [passphrase]
$~: card show [passphrase]

If and when you want the general public to access the record just share the keyword.

Newscard uses nine (9) (NINE) layers of encryption with OpenSSL chacha20 cipher.

Newscard generates 9 each of: cipher keys, salts, key iteration parameters.

It would be nice if something like this were added to the ActivityPub protocol, such that keyword[@]host.url would do the same thing. Then secret text records could be stored securely for later retrieval or revelation.

#NewsCard #Pastebin #Usenet #NNTP #NetworkNews #Encryption #Cryptography #Messaging #Anonymity #Protocols #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #BlackHackJack #Censorship #Retro #InfoSec #Ciphers #Codes #FOSS

@infostorm@a.gup.pe @crypto@a.gup.pe @infosec@a.gup.pe

Alt...

Playing card of the Jack of Clubs. The Jack is a moustached man in a black top hat and suit in a oval center cameo. The colors are inverted so that everything on the face is black except the lines which are white, like a charcoal cutout picture., giving it a retro digital appearance mixed with retro handicraft vibes.

Behold! The net cop gives expensive advice! You are basically requiring that I pay for yet another ERC20 cryptocurrency token just to send text messages.

From the Autonomi site:

"WHEN SOMEONE (A PERSON OR A COLLECTIVE) UPLOADS DATA THEY PAY A FEE TO DO SO."

"+1 Million tokens on offer for early contributors."

"MaidSafe are the team behind Autonomi ..."

Newscard has several selling points:

0. It's not for sale. Try that with Autonomi, Maidsafe, and a thousand others.
1. It is free, unlike your suggested cryptocurrency pump.
2. My solution is simple and elegant - naming small text files for retrieval.
3. Newscard uses existing infrastructure already in operation for decades.
4. Many mature client softwares and terminal emulators already exist for the task.
5. Newscard doesn't require investment or payment.
6. Newscard doesn't have an integrated, useless payment system.
7. Newscard is ANONYMOUS and uses The Onion Network by default.
8. Users won't lose their money when using Newscard.

And my Newscard solution doesn't require taking zillions of dollars from people who will likely never see a return on their token investment. Storage token sale schemes are a dime a dozen. I can't believe you think I have the credulity to swallow such a scheme.

For almost two decades running countless crews have claimed that they will, 'decentralize the Internet' if you give them your money.

Newsflash: The Internet already is decentralized. Decentralization is a basic part of the design of the Internet. It already routes around damage and censorship by default. Why do I need to pay for a crypto token for something that already exists? Decentralized Usenet has been in continuous operation for decades. I'm already using the 'decentralized Internet' for the Newscard protocol. I've been using the 'decentralized Internet' since forever! It doesn't need to be decentralized by crypto pump schemes. The Internet is already decentralized.

So we already have a decentralized Internet where data storage is abundant and cheap. And these token pumpers want to set themselves up as gatekeepers so we have to pay them to get the tokens to store our data. That is not decentralization. That is the essence of a centralized monetary gatekeeper!

You accused me of misusing Usenet. Yet I am only doing what people have done with Usenet for decades--posting encrypted messages. I'm not misusing Usenet. You're misusing my patience for cryptocurrency dumps and re-hashed token sales strategies.

#CryptoCurrency #Tokens #Decentralization #Usenet #NNTP #Internet #Censorship #Blockchain