The Online Safety Bill is due to become law in a matter of weeks and – despite what you may have read about government U-turns – it remains a big threat to the everyday tech lives of Londoners and businesses in the capital.
The bill passed its third and final reading in the Lords yesterday, and now waits to be rubber-stamped by MPs this autumn. Yet, despite strong opposition, measures to force messaging companies such as WhatsApp and Signal to effectively break encryption remain in the legislation, potentially forcing them to carry out threats to leave the UK. Unproven age verification technology could prevent Londoners from accessing websites. And sweeping legislation designed to prevent children seeing “illegal” content could lead to broad-brush censorship.
