Wikipedia need to cut off access to the UK except through VPNs.
I wonder if now is a good time to download all Wikipedia and put it on a spare offline drive…
Kiwix is wonderful for the job. It’s surprising how much of Wikipedia can fit on 128 GB when larger media files are stripped out.
removed by mod
Western fascists do something fascist: “What are we?! A bunch of Asians?!”
Not even Asians, but they are on the way to make mandatory to request every Internet access with personal data and the reasons why. This is what are reallity in North Corea, there the people can use only the local goverment server and content, without access to the open web without the mencioned request in special offices in their city. This is fact and not my fascist opinion, I’m certainly not. People of North Corea are complete aisled from informations of the rest from the world, only through the unique public TV they have which is accessible by the rest of the world, but in NC foreign channels are blocked… No other country in the world, Asian or not, is hermetic like NC. But with the need of an ID to access the fucking Wikipedia, UK is on the best way to emulate NC in the near future.
The west is literally helping identify and kill journalists who are reporting on their genocide.
And it’s not even a new thing. Julian Assange was targeted by the US for exposing their assassination of journalists. No consequences for the assassins. And the UK & EU enthusiastically participated in helping the US in this.
Coincidentally Wikipedia is the only website I can think of that I’d actually be remotely comfortable with having my identity.
Then you’re not thinking like someone who lives under authoritarians. Have you never gone on a Wikipedia journey following links and ended up on “gunpowder” or “list of dictators in the 21st century” or anything else that could get you painted as a “revolutionary” and locked away?
Isn’t the issue that for any economical solution websites enlist 3rd parties to do the verification? It’s those (usually US) companies holding my ID that is the problem.
Will libraries be requiring age verification to access encyclopaedias and other non-fiction material? Because of the children, of course!
Thats not the argument you think it is. Yes many already do and have for years.
I don’t know where you live, but I have never seen a library having age verification for consulting anything.
Only age verification was for a membership card, which is rarely mandatory to consult.
I live in reality and actually pay attention to the shit around me. I also look shit up when people are talking out thwir ass and it obvious they never set foot in a library.
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Brent Council – Library Conditions of Use https://www.brent.gov.uk/libraries-arts-and-heritage/libraries/library-conditions-of-use
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University of Edinburgh – Child Access to the Library https://library.ed.ac.uk/using-library/join-the-library/policy-child-access-library
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Bristol City Council – Library Regulations https://www.bristol.gov.uk/files/documents/244-library-regulations
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Merton Libraries – Terms and Conditions https://libraries.merton.gov.uk/digital-content/libraries/about-us/terms-and-conditions
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Hillingdon Council – Child Safeguarding Procedures in Our Libraries https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/4100/Child-safeguarding-procedures-in-our-libraries
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Surrey County Council – Provision of Public Access Terminals and Wi-Fi in Libraries Policy https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/libraries/your-library/library-policies-and-procedures/provision-of-public-access-terminals-and-wifi-in-libraries-policy-statement
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Milton Keynes Council – Library Parental Consent https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/libraries/library-info/parental-consent
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Waltham Forest Council – Libraries Terms and Conditions https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/libraries/libraries-terms-and-conditions
Did you even read the conversation you’re replying to???
Only the Surrey County Council indicates anything about restricting access to the library on the basis of age, and that is on the basis of not allowing unaccompanied children under 11 into the library
No other link mentions anything about restricting access to nonfiction materials because of age…
Probably asked ChatGPT to make a list of libraries with age verification and didn’t bother to check hahaha
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Here’s one way to fix this that might even overturn the law. Turn off Wikipedia in the UK. Put a big banner up on the homepage that says, we have turned off Wikipedia in your country because of your government. Here’s how to use a VPN to access our content.
Edit: Make it apologetic and conciliatory. Like, we’re sorry, we’ve had to disable Wikipedia in your region because of your government’s draconian policies. If you would like to visit our content, please use a VPN. If you need help learning to use a VPN and then link to a here’s how page
It’s illegal to recommend using a VPN or teach people how to use a VPN in order to get around these age-check laws.
Have a banner with information on why it is blocked, and have the only accessible page be of the Online Safety Act. Then, make that page list what counts as “(teaching) circumvention methods” and say that teaching others how to do those things is illegal. If anyone is truly interested in seeking knowledge and learning, they will be able to figure it out elsewhere
“We do not condone using a VPN to circumvent these restrictions. To make sure you will not accidentally use a VPN we’ve decided to make our article about VPN‘s the only one available in this country.“
The wording on ofcom is “should not” not" must not". It’s not illegal, they just don’t want people to do it and want people to think that it is illegal.
“It is illegal for us to recommend using services like a VPN to bypass these limits. We do recommend you ask your government why they don’t want you to know about these services or have access to free educational content”.
👆They just need to add this as a disclaimer instead.
Imagine what will happen next, will they just ignore that a stupif law have broken wikipedia in the entire UK? Lol, I think at least someone would be concerned.
You got a loicense for that desiring knowledge, bruv?
Currently I cannot edit using my VPN as that is blocked by Wikipedia, so I guess if that remains the case and they are forced to implement ID to edit articles, then I will no longer be able to contribute
Ironically you probably have to identify yourself to Wikipedia to get such an exception…
I don’t know what you mean by “identify yourself”. You need an account with a trustworthy history of editing, at which point you can request the exemption.
That’s a catch-22 for good faith new contributors, of course
Correct, as it has to. In addition to behavior, CheckUsers use IP addresses to help identify sockpuppets. If you could bypass the exemption by just saying “here’s a new account; pls exempt”, it would quickly become common knowledge among sockmasters that all they need is to quickly ask and be accepted days later.
At that point, the block on proxy editing near-completely fails at one of its main functions.
Of course. It’s probably the lesser of two evils, but is unfortunate regardless
Every time you would have made an edit, send a note to a representative in government
