a good chunk of my life's work may be in jeopardy right now and it's entirely because of my government
for those of you not in the know, there have been reports going around in the last few days of the uk government planning to announce a ban on social media for children under 16. all uk residents may be required to upload identification to third-party services to be able to access social media (and potentially other online services as well). this poses significant concerns for people's cybersecurity, as there have already been multiple instances of data breaches resulting from this exact practice. (1) (2) (3)
there have also been reports of a potential new law in the future that allows the government to scan every uk resident's mobile devices for sexual content, unless they verify their age. which hopefully i dont even need to tell you why that's bad for people's privacy.
i, as a uk resident, rely entirely on the internet to express myself creatively, and im sure the same can be said for a lot of other people in this country as well, so im very concerned about what these new laws could mean for my future. will i be able to keep making and promoting my games? will i able to keep updating this site? will i even be able to keep talking to my friends?? im really not sure on what to do right now, but i know for certain im not giving away any id. they've already shown their incompetence at keeping our data safe.
these new laws are a clear attempt at government serveillence and nothing more. if this weren't the case then they wouldn't affect every adult in the country as well. this was never meant for "child safety".
fuck kier starmer and fuck everyone involved in getting these laws in effect. parents, please monitor what your kids do online