Serious question: why are people siding with Imgur here, instead of blaming the company that chose to ignore the laws of the country it operates in?
Imgur's business model is ad sales and tracking users - that inherently requires collecting and protecting data, including vulnerable groups like children. Even if the UK rules are imperfect or possibly overbroad (I haven't read them), if a company choose to operate where a law applies, it's on the company to follow it or to challenge it through the courts, not to blame the regulator after the fact.
Thanks to OSA, service providers have to collect even more data from users, including face scans and IDs. They usually outsource that process to third party companies, which obviously are registered in Cyprus or another shady country. We can expect a massive leak in a near future, and no one will be prosecuted, though you will receive a letter from the government saying: "We are really sorry for the leak of your data, we weren't able to get in touch with the data processing company, so we kindly ask you to revoke your passport and apply for a new one. Stay vigilant as someone might use your identity for illegal purposes".
> including vulnerable groups like children
The "vulnerable group" is proficient at using VPNs. Ironically, the new law affects older generations the most.
That's a fair point, but you have to take into consideration the relevant laws and countries. You also need to take into consideration what it means to "operate" in a country.
>> Serious question: why are people siding with Imgur here, instead of blaming the company that chose to ignore the laws of the country it operates in?
Because if we've learnt anything from the debate around the Online Safety Act, it's that the majority of people are so unbelievably addicted to porn they feel like it's a human rights violation to put up barriers to their access to it. While there are obvious privacy arguments against sharing your ID to access these sites the alternative is just not viewing porn. It's remarkable how unfathomable that idea is to entire generations of people.
Yes. There are legitimate reasons to dislike the law, its implementation, or its impact on privacy. But 99% of people dislike it simply because they are heavily addicted to porn. The fact there have been much more privacy invasive laws introduced in the UK over the last decade which face little widespread outrage is the tell.
I think it's rather that OSA actually visibly affects people in their day-to-day lives whereas other laws don't. I constantly hit age verification pages on Reddit and Twitter and I don't use either for porn. I'm fundamentally against giving Reddit or Twitter or a 3rd party processor my ID just to view content someone somewhere deemed potentially harmful to minors. At least Twitter is done on a post-by-post basis; on Reddit entire subreddits are gated behind age verification.
That's not the point I was trying to make. You believe that almost all people who have issue with the law do so because of porn addiction. You haven't shown any data, it's just your belief, from which you're informing and repeating your world view as fact.
Imgur's business model is ad sales and tracking users - that inherently requires collecting and protecting data, including vulnerable groups like children. Even if the UK rules are imperfect or possibly overbroad (I haven't read them), if a company choose to operate where a law applies, it's on the company to follow it or to challenge it through the courts, not to blame the regulator after the fact.