网络安全法案
After a five month delay, the Online Safety Bill is poised to return to discussion in Parliament.
酝酿了三年, 该法案, 如果它能被发现, may prove to be the most disruptive and destructive piece of legislation ever to affect the IT industry.
Whilst we’re all agreed that online safety for vulnerable adults and children is essential whilst using the Internet, 该法案的设计没有考虑到实用性, 现实, 可操作性或它将造成的附带损害.
表面上是为了保护成人和儿童上网, “世界领先”的法案完全行不通, introducing direct legal responsibility for any content producer on the internet for the actions of users of their service.
This has massive financial and legal implications for every small tech business and startup.
世卫组织的影响?
该法案涵盖了在英国托管的网站上提供的所有内容, 或在英国从外部网站…. 或者，换句话说，每个人. 作为网站或应用程序的所有者, you are going to be legally held responsible for any potentially harmful content contri但ed by your users.
当然，“有害”的定义是有争议的. 但这并不是该法案的主要问题. 被描述为“分裂网”, 该法案 details a number of obligations which any content provider must adhere to.
条例草案内容
The Bill comes with three major hurdles for any content provider to jump - risk assessment, 管理开销和持续监控的负担. Let’s reiterate - these are legal requirements with the potential risk of fines and/or imprisonment.
风险评估
The bill details 17 categories of risk assessment which every provider must investigate. 例如, 你的用户基础, 用户遇到非法或有害内容的风险程度, 对这些使用者造成伤害的风险程度, 接受你的服务的儿童人数——按年龄组划分——等等.
It’s probably impossible to perform an accurate risk assessment which is compliant with the criteria 该法案 specifies. At the same time, you have the responsibility to preserve user rights to privacy and free speech.
任何内容的改变都意味着你必须先与Ofcom核实, 谁是条例草案的监管机构.
行政
Talking of Ofcom: 该法案 sets out an administrative structure which has to be complied with. Ofcom将收取年费，并要求提供报告, 他们认为必要时进行调查和公开声明.
监控
提供商应该监控他们传输或存储的任何内容. 因此，您不仅要(在法律上)对任何非法用户活动负责, 你也有持续监控它的开销.
对内容提供者的影响
The Bill places a financial and operational strain for anyone providing content on the internet. 如果供应商想要保持合规, they will most likely have to employ specialist advisors - the notes alone for 该法案 run to 52,000个单词. 将需要使用专业的监控软件和, 对于非成人用户, 某种形式的第三方年龄验证系统.
All of this financial and operational burden will severely impact smaller businesses.
确切的成本是多少很难预测. You can be certain that you’ll need to introduce continuous monitoring to your application, 但, 考虑到软件平台的变化, the problem becomes one of finding a third party software provider who can supply you with an appropriate monitoring platform or having your application code rewritten to add that functionality.
考虑到第三方年龄验证软件的额外成本. 它是否适用于您的站点或应用程序? You may think that getting users to abide by stricter terms and conditions may constitute legal protection - will Ofcom see that the same way?
在某一时刻, you may find it necessary to have a chat with a specialised compliance lawyer to ensure your site is following the (highly) complicated OSB guidelines. 律师可不便宜, 专业律师更是如此, and the nightmare scenario is that every functional change to your app which you may have planned will result in an advisory chat with your lawyer again.
有, 也, 支付给Ofcom的费用, 在任何时候, Ofcom可能会要求你克服一些昂贵的障碍, 比如额外的报告或会议.
所有这些都写满了“钱”. 还有"时间和努力".
还有别的办法吗?
不幸的是不.
Originally devised as an honest attempt to solve the growing problem of online abusive and harmful content on the Internet, 该法案 has been hijacked politically to become a vehicle aimed at controlling “big social media” whilst also providing a “British alternative” to existing EU controls.
The result has been a political football which has morphed into a completely unrealistic and unworkable set of requirements which, 同时损害较小的内容提供商, will probably strengthen the hand of “big social media” as only they will be able to absorb the costs of such far-stretching requirements.
The one remaining bright spot is that if 该法案 does not become law by April 2023, 整个协商进程将达到一个时间限制, 需要从基本原则开始一个全新的开始.
Foresight能为你做什么?
总部设在全球最大的博彩平台南部， Foresight Mobile produces mobile and web apps for a wide range of customers - from startups and entrepreneurs to household names like Levi Strauss and Arm Microprocessor.
如果你正在计划一个新产品, 我们可以就如何遵守OSB提供建议, 如果你已经有了生意, 我们可以审查和报告你们的系统和流程的合规性.
请随时给我们发邮件 hello@foresightmobile.com 或访问我们的网站 http://foresightmobile.com -我们随时都可以聊.
