Will 4chan pay its Ofcom fines?
Message board 4chan is refusing to pay fines issued by Ofcom for breaching online safety duties.
Earlier this year, the communications watchdog launched an investigation into the website over concerns it was hosting potential illegal content. And, in June, Ofcom issued 4chan with a “provisional notice of contravention” – a formal warning by a regulatory body – for failing to comply with two information requests...
As we already know, this didn't go anywhere and nobody outside Ofcom seems to have been surprised. As the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre suggests, Ofcom will have to realise that it isn't a regulatory superpower. The question remains though - how did it ever think otherwise?
Speaking to PublicTechnology sister publication Holyrood, the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said: “I’d be cautious about moving forward – and some of this is at Ofcom’s discretion but quite a lot of it is actually later legislation from parliament. The country should not get itself known primarily in tech for regulation. We do need to innovate securely. You can’t just legislate your way to security and safety online. There has to be a whole sort of business culture about it… In tech, there’s no such thing as a regulatory superpower, and we’re about to find that out.”
3 comments:
4chan said no way, no jurisdiction. Ofcom bellyaching alters nothing.
I checked, with great care, and 4chan now requires age verification in the UK. I made my excuses and left.
But this is the Puritan ratchet in action. Ofcom may have no remit to charge for 'offences' by foreign companies but it still carries weight. The desire to micromanage peoples' lives grows fiercer and fiercer.
OfcOm is not worried. They do not pay for this farce. Nobody in that organisation will be any the worse. Probably get brownie points from the current establishment. They do not even have to declare that Lessons Will Be Learned.
Meanwhile, her from Accounts is wondering why she did not have a wizard wheeze stamp duty trick like sister Ange. And also the small matter of scraping together another few billion for Ukraine. There will be tears.
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