Mozilla, EFF and allies urge UK to stop undermining the open internet
Updated
Updated · PC Gamer · May 6
Mozilla, EFF and allies urge UK to stop undermining the open internet
11 articles · Updated · PC Gamer · May 6
Nineteen groups said the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which cleared Parliament on 29 April, could expand age checks and social media restrictions for under-16s.
They warned feature-level age gates would likely force all users to verify their age, repeating privacy, accuracy and access problems already seen under the Online Safety Act.
The statement also said blunt access bans could block young people from vital information, while ministers continue consulting until 26 May and have shown no sign of repealing existing rules.
With privacy concerns rising, will the UK's new drone and age-gating policies set a global precedent or just create new risks?
With agentic AI causing real-world failures and straining hardware, are current security and infrastructure strategies enough to prevent the next major tech disaster?
As open-source registries struggle financially, could their underfunding trigger the next widespread supply chain attack in the AI era?
The UK's 2026 Online Safety Act: Balancing Child Protection with Privacy and Internet Fragmentation
Overview
In 2026, the UK government is intensifying enforcement of the Online Safety Act to protect children online, focusing on mandatory age verification and safer platform designs. Ofcom has set strict deadlines and issued significant fines to ensure compliance. However, these age verification methods raise serious privacy and security concerns due to sensitive data collection and centralized systems, which also favor large tech companies and burden smaller sites. The resulting patchwork of global regulations fragments internet access and risks excluding vulnerable youth from vital online communities. While public support for age checks is high, many doubt their effectiveness, favoring privacy-conscious alternatives like device-level controls and safety-by-design approaches. Lessons from international experiments highlight the need for balanced, rights-respecting strategies moving forward.