slinkiisu
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I can't even with this government. Digital ID owned by a random third party? Face ID for Wikipedia? And now an outright ban on a fucking image hosting site??
I only hope this November 5th is eventful.
RaxianTheta
"the people should never fear their government , their government should fear the people" - some guy who didn't understand how a TANK works
BurlRavenscroft
Am I happy about this for you and others in the UK? No. Am I happy it hurts Business Daddy? Yes.
Closetnuzzlepuzzla
I see no reason that the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot
SedatedSl0th
I just visited a state that blocked porn. Fuck that. I’ll never go back.
linkdude212
By state, you mean a state within a federation like the United States, or a nation-state?
SedatedSl0th
Sorry, a USA state.
TripleDane
Imgur Its not banned. imgur decided to remove their service from the UK due to the fucked up Laws there.
Same outcome. same people that should get a kick in the groin though.
thegarts
I’m in Italy right now. So far so good. HBO max and paramount+ aren’t allowed
cousteau
Hot damn, it's spreading. Hope it doesn't reach Spain in a long time…
linkdude212
Just visited Portugal. My Max subscription expired while I was there. I went to renew it and saw that they charged €9.99, or just over half the price that I have been paying in the United States. Regardless, let me renew until I was back in the States. Now I'm kind of miffed on what to do about it.
Schau
You lost nothing with it... Imgur is not funny any more.
Rogerwilco1974
And yet here you are.
Schau
Yeah, coz is like the fridge. You open the door to get dissaponted.
Ink41d0
Wait, since when is wikipedia face-ID'd?
slinkiisu
There was an attempt to make it restricted, but that was overturned quickly since it was seen as cutting off access to basic information.
ShyWifeGingerKitten
Any of you ever hear a comedian suggests you should have to post your drivers license and current address along with your comments so you can get punched in the face for being an asshole? Yeah......that's how we got here.
CaptGunpowder
Gotta love centrist governments fighting the good fight on behalf of citizens doing it tough by *checks notes* introducing privacy-nullifying legislation no one fucking asked for?
Ink41d0
Welcome to the 20th century 2, electric boogaloo, with COVID starring as Spanish Flu, the Middle East starring as the First World War alliance dominoes, and Zionism as Nazism.
Ink41d0
Oh, and of course the US KKKonservatives in the background with an ongoing burst into the foreground to inflict greater cruelty and inequality than their usual fare, same as it ever was and ever will be, unless somebody finishes what Sherman started.
khora
Great of UK to push everyone into more secure behavior.
Chamato
i am in the UK right now, on IMGUR.
leviaton
Better not store anything of value on cloud. Any cloud. iCloud. Anything. Encrypt it
RichardPenne
they block vpns in the us
mrgusset
I’m on holiday and browsing Imgur.
Expect it to be blocked again when I get home.
A vpn has been a long time coming.
I’m thinking shark. I’m using multiple services OSes
slinkiisu
Check the other comments to make sure you don't accidentally give the wrong people your money. Also, YouTube sponsors are likely the first ones to roll over for Government Overreach. I'm using Mullvad
mrgusset
Cheers. I took a look the other day and didn’t realise how complicated plans etc have got since the last time I used one.
seriouslessly
Remember this list though:
/gallery/report-just-little-update-about-specific-vpns-who-has-stake-them-vcxZOaP
It may have grown or altered since posting so check for current status of vpn you’re interested in.
OnyxTurret
Wait til they make VPNs illegal too.
spartanliam115
Nearly impossible to do since business and the nhs rely on a vpn style system for security. Also if they did somehow ban vpn you can spoof your ip manually or just get a dark web browser
t9dawg
They can make ISPs block those connections and specify on what accounts. WIll it be perfect no, will it stop most people yes. But banning VPNs puts them on par with russia and politically that's a bad look.
bertchstudio
We likely need to be having serious discussions about how the govts are trying to walk a global community off from each other rather than allow us to remain as globalized as the owning class has always been
pmrvt8021
Im in the UK right now…on Imgur…no vpn
Hrafna55
Check who is the ultimate owner of any VPN before you buy. I had to get a new one for this reason.
seriouslessly
Here is the list:
/gallery/report-just-little-update-about-specific-vpns-who-has-stake-them-vcxZOaP
IgnisInvictus
Wait. Are you freaking kidding me? Wikipedia?!
Hrafna55
The law is badly written. It was introduced by the last government but all of the major parties ending up voting for it so who is responsible is pretty moot.
slinkiisu
That was fortunately reversed shortly after, but the government TRIED to block it.
cousteau
Holly balls, they're fucking with Wikipedia now. That's a line crossed.
FetteredJuvenescence
To be fair, without specific exemptions, the law would just require it by default, since it requires it for all social media sites on which children and adults may be able to interact. Which is... just... everything.
hullabanana
Same boat brother !!
hullabanana
FYI if you have iPhone you can put the vpn widget thing on your swipe screen, I’m not good with the terminology lol. But swipe click, and it’s on. Sure similar on android.
EstoyPoopis
While USA USA USA #1, UK is definitely #2.
astronomygeek7
Why are they doing this again in the UK?
hullabanana
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo.amp
Leaps
Because it is a surveillance state and they are doing what surveillance states do, ever-increasing their surveillance. Got make people afraid of something or they won't keep voting for you.
Minoes
to safe the children of course! or something about control,probably the latter
MrApproved
Not saying it is fascism, but not being able to freely view information or whatever you like on the web seems sus! UK gov just being completely out of touch and under Labour of all parties!
slinkiisu
Labour is just doing their best to make as much money as possible while ensuring Reform gets in power next.
017renegade
It's not banned. It simply can't be assed to implement the shit the government wants.
xj4low
Trade places with you. American here, stuck in Texas of all states.
Exyr
Technically the UK didn't ban imgur. Imgur geofenced the UK because they didn't want to face fines.
voltus
It's a different means to the same result that the UK wanted. The online safety act is designed in such a way that any image board or forum that isn't super heavily moderated is open to some serious legal action from the UK if anything is posted on that breaches I he online safety act.
dashers
Ironically, the only thing outstanding against them at the moment is data protection laws, they don't take measures to ensure your data isn't exploited and sold, which in the UK is especially illegal for children. The fact that they have turned off access doesn't change that previous position, so they're still liable for fines - not that a UK court could do much more than order blocking of a foreign site.
Volpe42
Fines put in place by the UK
TheN8
The finest only exist for those who do not adhere to the law. This was a simple decision by Imgur not to spend shareholders profits serving their 2nd biggest market.
Volpe42
A law that's nearly impossible to properly implement.
TheN8
Absolute fucking nonsense
Volpe42
Found the Tori
Exyr
Correct. But fines do not equal a ban.
TheMilliner
They don’t, but they functionally are, as the intended purpose is to kill the general public’s access to certain websites, and by imposing fines it forces some websites to either fence themselves off or leave entirely if they cannot or will not adhere to the draconic laws being passed.
Sorta like how Sony is ‘banned’ in certain countries because they refuse to adhere to local business laws. It’s how you get rid of something that you don’t want without specific targeting.
Exyr
Right. Medialabs could comply. They just dont want to. That's why its not a ban.
FetteredJuvenescence
Anyone who actually complies is scum, unless they're physically located inside the UK, and even then, they should have considered moving their operation.
TheMilliner
Which effectively MAKES it a ban because now they can’t operate in the UK. It’s not a ban LITERALLY, but it is FIGURATIVELY in a very roundabout way.
Leaps
If the UK said "pay us a billion dollars or we'll fine you a billion dollars", you could still say "they could comply, they just don't want to, it's not a ban".
Do you understand the concept now of how something is practically banned but not technically?
BdrLen
Make sure you get a VPN that isn't owned by Israel.
seriouslessly
Here is the list:
/gallery/report-just-little-update-about-specific-vpns-who-has-stake-them-vcxZOaP
slinkiisu
I'm on Mullvad
teknojo
Face ID for wikipedia?! WTF?
@op What is the reasoning for that?
FetteredJuvenescence
Technically children and adults can talk to each other in the wikipedia "talk" bits on each article. Technically.
astrangehop
Offhand, maybe the illustrated depictions of sex acts? Which is stupid — they're not meant to be tittilating, they look like those "what to do in the event of a crash" pamphlets in airplanes.
voltus
You need to submit biometric data to confirm you are over 18 but congratulations that means you are now logged in and potentially tracked as to what you say or view. Hopefully the rest of the world takes note and stamps it out in their home country before it starts because if this continues with minimal push back you can bet your ass others will try to implement the same.
sigirides
So far I'm managed to avoid all age verification, aside from Steam which was just like "we have your credit card info and we already know you're over 18, cool?"
keillrandor
If even porn sites can figure out how to use google accounts to log in, can anyone else do the same plz?
slinkiisu
Children might discover what a vagina is
Octocatcreations
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1dDQ1d2xudzZhdnBxMHptdjBneHJuaG9ueTBvcjIxcmdkaTY5MjN0OSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/NBBpZ1MFgP0u4UlcXT/200w.webp
Nathanyel
Worse, conservative lawmakers might discover what it is
teknojo
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1cHY1amhjbG13djNkYmYwaGVmbjV4dzc5djltYjhqZjdjZDNuMjYzOSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/UZtyaSGyC9Wbm/200w.webp
Badsequence
God forbid they find out what a vagina is yet they see massive raging cunts running countries on the TV everyday.
WeeemRCB
Gonna need to start leaving noodie mags under random bushes like the ancients did in the old days
1n10didPun
To be fair, I learned stuff on Wikipedia as a teenager that scarred me to this day. Thinking of FGM, which come to think of it, I learned of when I was looking up parts of what you mentioned.
1n10didPun
Granted, I still don't agree with requiring an ID for Wikipedia.
linkdude212
Wikipedia is one of the safest places to learn about it because it is all academic. By preventing people from accessing this information in a safe space, it increases the likelihood they'll go to unsafe spaces. It also makes it way harder for children to identify something that is happening to them, allowing cycles of abuse and mutilation to continue.
1n10didPun
I'm by no means suggesting it should be restricted. I would argue against restrictions. However, the notion that it might be because "they might find out what a vagina is" makes it sound solely puritanical. Some knowledge does come with lifelong impacts.
Freeasabird2015
That's covered in school in the UK, the problem is the government is shit.
TheWhiteBarry
Lol wanna trade with the US?
slinkiisu
I was being facetious.
DukeDarkwood
Do the people banning imgur know that sex ed is covered in school? Careful, or they might go after schools next. Because that's what the reaction is here in the U.S. I was hoping you guys were smarter than us. You're not supposed to follow our bad examples.
Freeasabird2015
LOL well I think if they take out reproduction then Biology will have to be dropped from the curriculum, pretty sure most of our MPs are not quite that stupid. Although, see the Lettice (Truss) and Farage for those that really are as dumb as the orange shotgibbon.
DukeDarkwood
Don't think we forgot about Boris, either. Yeah, I know, our list of names is a LOT longer, and how, but I feel Boris needs to be included on yours for Brexit alone.
slinkiisu
To be fair, they did cancel that attempt after people freaked out, but even discord servers require face ID now.
dashers
* some discord servers
Zaruzen
Why is UK going this very North Korean line? What have i missed amongst all the crap from US?
Muffyns
They protectin the epstien files
mrgusset
It’s basically to soft launch the UK being an new annex of the Evil Best Friends Club
Eyeetsass
It sounds like making people accountable for their online presence, but it’s really more like identifying who to round up. Capitalism is dying. It will use technology to mercilessly sort dissenters, and purge them.
StopTheWorldIWannaGetOff
This. They are already arresting people for comments on social media. One girl posted lyrics from a rap song het friend liked to the friends obituary/memorial post on FB, but because the lyrics contained a popular racial slur often used in rap lyrics... She was arrested:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-43816921
Stuff like this is just gonna escalate, all to "protect the children"
halfabubbleoff
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/no-uks-online-safety-act-doesnt-make-children-safer-online
StribismiusTheWizard
Now's a great time to remind everyone that it's free and legal to just straight up download Wikipedia in its entirety to your local computer along with an open source reader. You can get a terrabyte of memory for cheap these days.
cousteau
Free, legal, AND made relatively easy.
StribismiusTheWizard
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download
Quaxx
Or just print out Wikipedia and store it in your library.
cousteau
I thought those were years and I was freaking out.
Ghode
Just out of curiosity, how would that be feasible as Wikipedia is endlessly edited and updated daily, wouldnt it be out of date by the end of the day? just thinking outloud here 😏
cousteau
Yes; you get "Wikipedia as of October 2, 2025"; obviously the file won't update in real time without connecting to the server. (…then again, it COULD have automatic updates)
StribismiusTheWizard
Wikipedia puts out snapshots periodically so you can update your files.
A grammar fix here and a citation there and a celebrity death over there does not make the entire website out of date.
agonarch
Not only that, the value of having that encyclopedia available but even years out of date vs. not having it at all is not even a close contest!
RealRedbeard
Couldn't agree more. I have it tucked away on a separate harddrive with a reader for it installed and it works perfectly. So when internet goes down, some of us can read about the best way to build zombie defences and how to grow wheat. :)
RealRedbeard
I just checked: Kiwix released a new version, 2025-08, so it's quite updated. :) https://www.reddit.com/r/Kiwix/comments/1myxixa/breaking_new_wikipedia_en_all_maxi_zim_file/
TrippyTurtle69
How big is that file?
neithermenoryou
If you use Kiwix to download and view it (also supports a bunch of other projects and incredibly easy to use) it's about 40gb for just text and preview images, 80gb with full images, and 110gb with all media for the English. I grabbed both English and German one for myself a while back, plus the Gutenberg project and bulbapedia for my pokemon game needs.
maeta
Idk what I'm doing but I could not get it to work :( I downloaded it but I couldn't open the files
neithermenoryou
What files did you download? Did you download the windows kiwix edition from https://kiwix.org/en/applications/? Once you have that installed and you should be able to select the Wikipedia dump in the proper tab, and it'll download it right away. Once downloaded you can view it in the viewing tab.
neithermenoryou
But you can also download the dumps annually, and then you'd just have to move them to the download location where kiwix keeps the files around.
StribismiusTheWizard
About 100gb unzipped. I've got it sitting on an external hard drive along with Project Gutenberg.
TuityFrooty
Bless you!
tzahtman
A collection of all the Steve Gutenberg films and television appearances?!
cousteau
Can it be kept zipped? If it's mostly text (I don't know if it includes pics and media) then it'll save a lot of space, and a reader should be able to decompress entries on demand.
StribismiusTheWizard
Doesn't work zipped.
FoamingToad
Could be an interesting project - a shim layer that mounts a zip as a filesystem. Would incur some overhead but probably doable.
DerpyBestPrincess
"Tera", not "terra". "Tera" is a unit of measurement. "Terra" is land. Storage, not memory. You definitely do not get 1TB of memory cheap, Windows 11 Home can't even address more than 128GB RAM.
fibbertitgibbet
It's quite cheap.
DerpyBestPrincess
No, it's not. Again, STORAGE is cheap. MEMORY is not. 1TB of RAM cost around $11,500.00
cousteau
I remember some time ago people yelling "rAm Is ChEaP, jUsT bUy MoRe!" whenever I complained about low RAM. But guess what, they don't make laptops that support more RAM nowadays. >:( (I wish I could get 1 TB of memory though. Maybe if I put a big ass swap file in an SSD…)
DerpyBestPrincess
A really damn fast NVMe SSD can do wonders.
StribismiusTheWizard
Memory is hella cheap these days. I dunno when the last time you bought a hard drive was, but I bought my last two hard drives for about $120 apiece and those were both 4TB drives.
FoamingToad
I have 48TB on a NAS (4 x 12TB) and 25TB on my home server (2 x 12TB + 1TB SSD for boot). When you add to that the storage in the workstations and stuff, probably pushing close to 100TB total.
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[deleted]
StribismiusTheWizard
How about you explain it to me, pretend I'm an idiot child who managed to get Wikipedia running offline on my machine through sheer dumb luck.
[deleted]
[deleted]
FetteredJuvenescence
People who only use their phones have no idea, since the companies use "memory" interchangeably for both.
cousteau
I mean, I guess that technically storage can be considered as a type of non-volatile memory, but nobody calls it that and it can definitely lead to confusion.
ReapersFall
I would like to point out to you that Memory Cards for "storage" have existed for cameras, gaming consoles, and other devices for decades. Many people refer to those storage mediums as such without being misunderstood. In the context of computers i agree memory has usually come to mean RAM, but i have encountered plenty of people who use it interchangeably due to the other influences. You just gotta ask for clarification, you can't expect everyone to have your knowledge set.
cousteau
Yeah I had totally forgotten that "memory cards" were a thing. m(
FetteredJuvenescence
Memory cards for storage have existed... But phone manufacturers and sellers will generally be like "This phone has 512 GB of memory!" when they mean storage. And young folks get their terminology from what the manufacturers and sellers use.