As I mentioned the other day, the UK's "Online Safety Act" came into force recently, forcing everyone to "verify" their age for everything from sending private messages on Bluesky to looking at the nastiest porn you can think of.
Just recently, I have run into age verification gates in multiple places. Discord made me do it to continue accessing channels marked "NSFW", even if there was no actual pornography in there — and then automatically enabled image blurring on "sensitive content" despite me never having given any indication that I might not want to see that. Bluesky made me do it to continue having access to the site's direct messaging feature. And, of course, it's on the porn sites.
It doesn't stop there, though. I went on Mobygames to look something up earlier, and was unable to view the cover for the game Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors on Nintendo DS without putting in my birthday; thankfully I didn't have to provide any "proof", unlike in the other cases mentioned above, but it still specifically mentioned that this was "to comply with EU law". The UK isn't the EU thanks to the shitshow that was Brexit, but I suspect it still gets lumped in with the EU in stuff like this.
Just to be clear, the cover for Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, which I was age gated from viewing immediately, looks like this:
Now, I'm open to anyone who can tell me what, there, exactly, needs age gating. The game itself is violent (and has one character with a massive honking pair of tits), but there's nothing in that cover image itself that is objectionable — and it was specifically this cover that Mobygames age-gated me from being able to see.
Elsewhere online, there are concerns that Wikipedia may find itself age-gated due to the Online Safety Act, due to the fact that the some of Wikipedia maybe possibly might not be suitable for children. It's a fucking encyclopaedia! We were looking up "sexual" in the Collins Dictionary at primary school and tittering at it talking about "penis" and "vagina"; exactly what purpose does plopping surveillance state age verification on a site like Wikipedia serve, exactly?
Well, I've said it already, haven't I. It is — it must be — at least, in part, about surveillance. You already can't speak out in support of certain groups in the Middle East without putting yourself at risk of being branded a "terrorist" and being prosecuted for hate speech. Just imagine the glee the government would probably have at knowing what porn you've been looking at, what knowledge you've been attempting to arm yourself with, who you've been talking to and how you've been communicating with them.
I hate that saying all this makes one sound like a conspiracy nut, but this stuff is actually happening. I don't trust any of these "age verification" services an inch, and everyone in the UK should be very concerned right now, regardless of what they look at online. As has often been said of late — particularly with regard to the currently unfolding Visa/Mastercard situation — it really is the pornographers and the sex workers who are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to this. You don't have to enjoy looking at filth online to be affected by this in the long term; I'd say everyone is looking at a very dark time for the Internet, unless something is done.
You can, at least, make your discontent known, if you're a UK citizen, with this online petition, which has already attained over 400,000 signatures. It's probably worth writing to your MP, too. Beyond that, I don't know. Like I say, it's kind of scary — particularly not knowing where any of this is going to end, and what the longer-term consequences are going to be.
Anyway, this site will continue to exist, and I will continue to say what I want here, so a hearty fuck you to everyone involved with the Online Safety Act, and you can take your "robust but proportionate regulation" (which in reality is anything but) and jam it very firmly up your arse, until it comes out of your nostrils.
Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.
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