• Quicky@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Bit shit for UK users though since lemmy.zip is blocked for them. Not exactly going to encourage new users from here.

          • Quicky@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I’m not sure that the answer to a government’s regulation of the Internet should be an individual’s blocking of access for an entire country. Seems like 2 sides of the same coin to me.

            • greybeard@feddit.online
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              2 days ago

              This is them, to the best of their ability, complying with UK law. If more people tried to comply, perhaps the UK government would realize how foolish their Online Safety Act is and do something about it.

              • Quicky@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                It’s not actually complying with UK law, it’s removing it from the equation so it doesn’t have to. I don’t begrudge the decision though, it will have been a difficult choice to make. That said, it’s a sledgehammer approach to self-censorship, as a response to an inability to comply.

                Like I say, I don’t have an issue with Lemmy.zip being unavailable in the UK. But I do think it is potentially damaging for Fediverse uptake to promote a default instance that is unavailable to such a large number of users.

                For comparison purposes, the UK easily has the second highest number of Reddit users by country. It is a remarkable decision to exclude that potential market by default.

          • Demigodrick@lemmy.zip
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            1 day ago

            There is no need for us to defederate, the law is around accessing a specific website and the onligations to ensure the content on that website doesnt fall under the OSA.

            It doesn’t matter where that content comes from, just that UK users don’t see specific content. Therefore we don’t show UK users any content.

            That’s kind of a simplified summary, but hopefully makes sense.

            It only impacts lemmy.zip because I am a UK resident and run the site, so am liable under the act. Otherwise I’d do what everyone else has done and ignore it.

              • GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
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                1 day ago

                At the moment, it’s seen more like using a proxy or VPN. UK users connect to fuk outside of the UK, then the messages are relayed to zip. Fuk is UK focussed, so tries to work with the OSA.
                The best analogy is using a UK-focussed email service (wherever it’s actually hosted) to email a non-UK address.

      • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        that is okay feddit.uk is blocked by my default blocklist on the router. I’ve started to add it to the white list a few times but no I think I’ll let fate sort it out.

    • gressen@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      They should direct their concerns to the source of the issue - the ones that put UK in this predicament.

      • Quicky@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Realistically that is never going to happen. The biggest issue the fediverse has is onboarding. People just looking to try out a reddit alternative aren’t going to bother emailing their fucking MP just because the default settings of an app won’t let them sign up. They’ll just give up and go elsewhere.

        If we want to encourage growth, adding additional barriers isn’t the way to do it.

        • Demigodrick@lemmy.zip
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          2 days ago

          I fully agree with you - I’m legally liable though under the act and am not risking fines.

          • Quicky@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Yeah I don’t blame you either. But I do think the default server should be more inclusive than less, particularly at the potential starting point of a user’s introduction to the fediverse.

            • aeharding@vger.social
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              2 days ago

              I could see that argument, but I also wanted to pick the best instance for most people, not necessarily an instance that works in every country with every shitty law. We’re all volunteers here.

              And I might change in the future, or create a way for the app to chose a fallback default instance for a better user experience.

              • Quicky@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                Yep, a region check that sets an alternative default for countries that are blocked by the default server makes way more sense than the default being inaccessible for them.

                • greybeard@feddit.online
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                  2 days ago

                  A region check might be a good way to handle it and load balance at the same time. Pushing people to a larger variety of instances while also making it easy on them. The down side is certainly the overhead of vetting and maintaining the list.