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rachelnull.bsky.social
Rachel 🦁
@rachelnull.bsky.social
98 followers 390 following 270 posts
dyslexic powered ramblings. swearing guaranteed.
Posts Replies Media Videos
rachelnull.bsky.social
.@vimeo.com requires new accounts to do age verification via Persona, and it seems you can’t delete your account (or get to any other page) without passing the age check first. Helpful. 🙃 #OnlineSafetyAct
Screenshot from vimeo's age verification page.
November 13, 2025 at 5:40 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
And these highly erotic fire appliances operated by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service.
Screenshot a of tweet about fire appliances operated by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service. the images are age-restricted as adult content. Screenshot a of tweet about fire appliances loaded via Nitter. The images are displayed and they are not hardcore pornography.
November 10, 2025 at 7:09 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
I, for one, am genuinely grateful that the #OnlineSafetyAct is shielding people from the hardcore pornography that is a E1 Scorpion fire appliance operated by Lancashire Fire Service.

x.com/Cam21127/sta...
Screenshot a of tweet about a fire appliance. the images are age-restricted as adult content. Screenshot a of tweet about a fire appliance loaded via Nitter. The images are displayed and they are not hardcore pornography.
November 10, 2025 at 7:01 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Looked some more into this over weekend. When you enter a card number (used a stripe test number) it asks you for the card's balance which needs to be at least $200. If the transaction fails, it suggests you create a card with Paypal or Revolut and use that. The scammers really want your dosh.
Screenshot from the phishing website asking you to enter a card balance are entering the card details Screenshot from the phishing website telling that card balance must be $200. Screenshot from the phishing website suggesting you should use a Revolut card after the transaction failed. Screenshot from the phishing website suggesting you should use a Paypal virtual card after the transaction failed.
November 10, 2025 at 10:13 AM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Surely increasing bin collections to fortnightly would be simpler than creating a new council and far less likely to fuel baseless conspiracies. Once every three weeks is to long anyway, if you ask me.
This means more nappies, more plastics and more demand for bins in a city where domestic waste – excluding food, garden waste and paper recycling – is typically collected only once every three weeks.
November 9, 2025 at 5:24 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
"Stories of nurses being forced to change alongside biological men in Darlington or Fife have barely been covered the BBC."

Excuse my french but that's bullshit. BBC news covers GC employment tribunal cases more than almost any other.
Screenshot from BBC news website showing the recent articles published under the topic 'employment tribunals'. All 12 are about the Darlington employment tribunal case. Screenshot from BBC news website showing the recent articles published under the topic 'NHS Fife'. All 12 are about the Fife employment tribunal case.
November 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
In the conclusion (p56) they are skeptical about banning phones in school because we should ban under 16s from social media instead to "releas[e] young people from the grip of addiction."

Some kids may want a ban but there are benefits for queer kids. www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
Finally, we thought we would give our view on one of the most contentious public policy issues of the moment - the regulation of social media. Both of us went into these workshops sceptical about a ban. And we remain sceptical about banning phones in schools - only because schools already have perfectly good behaviour codes for mobile phones, and because most trouble with social media and phones happens after school not during school. But we have come around to the belief that social media should be banned for the under 16s. We believe that will go a long way to releasing young people from the grip of addiction. It is what many of them want and we have a duty to support them in doing so. The lesson of this project is simple: when you really listen, the story changes. If we want better outcomes, we need to meet young people where they are online and offline with honesty, structure and respect.
November 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Interesting report. Would have benefited from talking to folks who know about sex work and the web when writing this (p 24). Sex work has never really been hidden and recent laws making it harder mean sex workers have to go to greater lengths to promote their work at every chance they get.
Sex work is not hidden away on obscure corners of the internet anymore; it sits just a click away from TikTok or Instagram. In our listening sessions, young people frequently referenced encountering OnlyFans content, often unintentionally. One boy from Sheffield described what he saw as the new normal: “OnlyFans models are role models now for young girls. They can just take a picture and whack it online and make 50 quid.” To him and to many others we spoke to, the rise of platforms like OnlyFans signals a shift, where sex work is framed as easy and lucrative and no longer a fringe taboo. Young men in particular expressed concern that the line between normal content and explicit material is increasingly blurred. A student in Sheffield explained it clearly: “It’s literally everywhere now. You can be scrolling on Instagram and suddenly you’re watching someone who’s basically an OnlyFans model. It’s not even something you choose.” Another participant from Sheffield described the influence as pervasive but subtle: “It’s weird because you don’t go looking for it. It’s just there, linked in everyone’s bio. Like everyone’s doing it.”
November 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Shorten url redirects to bsky[.]form94799[.]icu which wants your bank card details to "verify your identity" so your account can be "reactivated". Age/identity verification phishing scam.

urlscan.io/result/019a6...

cc @alecmuffett.bsky.social
Screenshot from the phishing website. The page claims the user's bluesky account is temporarily restricted and they need to verify their identity via bank card details to remove the restrictions. Screenshot from the phishing website. The page asks for bank card details via the payment processor Stripe.
November 8, 2025 at 10:02 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
A digital ID system is very much a form of surveillance. Sure, this govt (probably) isn't going to track meat purchases with it as per the misinfo, but this govt or the next almost certainly will push for much wider adoption beyond what's currently planned, partly to justify the cost.
He is jointly responsible for digital ID, with it due to be introduced for right-to-work checks – the only part of the system that will be mandatory – before the next election. At the same time, legislative and technological work will take place to prepare for a wider expansion. Much of the system will be built in-house, with external operators consulted for things such as banking levels of security. Since Starmer announced the government would bring in digital ID, public support for it has plummeted, to the alarm of ministers. “There’s been a lot of disinformation online … that says what this actually is, is surveillance. I mean, it’s just not, and we would never build a system in that way.”
November 8, 2025 at 7:12 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Captain Black, relaying instructions from the Mysterons, has just endorsed Andrew Cuomo.
Captain Black from the 1960s TV show 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'.
November 4, 2025 at 2:04 AM
rachelnull.bsky.social
No, I didn't giggle. honest.
Ofcom currently has 69 investigations into websites that have not met the rules, but this is a fraction of the tens of thousands of adult sites.
November 3, 2025 at 2:29 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
As appose to lowly encrypted? It's not exactly reassuring, given government's continued attacks on encryption under Starmer.

inews.co.uk/news/politic...
Starmer claims ID will be ‘highly encrypted’ On concerns about cyber security, Starmer said digital ID would be “highly encrypted and very, very secure.” He said that the data would not be shared with private companies for other purposes and that the Government would never use it to track aspects of people’s lives.
October 23, 2025 at 6:12 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
IWF's anti-encryption talking points are getting ridiculously. First example used to try justifying their renamed mass surveillance isn't even "upload prevention" but a feature designed to improve the user experience. And the second is for malware detection. Neither are mandated by law.
Screenshot from page 9 of the IWF's doc 'Preventing the upload of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in E2EE environments'. Rich preview link (WhatsApp) When a link is shared in an encrypted chat, the app first processes it on the user’s device before it is encrypted. The device fetches basic metadata from the webpage (such as the title, description, and thumbnail image) 27 and generates a “rich preview.” Only after this check is the message encrypted and sent. This ensures the preview data is created and checked before the content enters the encrypted environment, making it an example of pre-encryption activity in practice.
October 9, 2025 at 5:33 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Newspapers and social networks are fundamentally different things but sure lets keep making that flawed comparisons.

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
When you have a newspaper, you are responsible for what is published in it. When you have a social network, you must be responsible for what is published on it. Otherwise, racism, anti-Semitism and hatred of others will triumph on our continent. We have the means to rebuild a 21st-century democracy. We just need to take that leap. It’s up to us to do it.
October 5, 2025 at 11:42 AM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Just getting ready to pose for my compulsory UK ID photo
September 25, 2025 at 6:29 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Plus Estonia is very different country to the UK. Has codified constitution for a start. Not sure how a digital ID system makes anyone "safer or" "freer".
Some at the meeting cited Estonia as an example of a country where digital identity has been used to allow citizens to access government and some private services such as medical records, voting and banking. Labour ministers have also visited the Baltic state to study its identity systems. Security expert and writer Edward Lucas proudly showed off his Estonian identity card, telling the meeting he was the first person to be issued with one. Speaking after the meeting, he said: "My experience is that people's scepticism about digital ID tends to evaporate when they go and see it in operation first hand." He said he understood worries about a "Big Brother system" but argued that digital data "drives democracy and that you can do things with your digital ID that make you safer and freer".
September 21, 2025 at 8:01 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
That 6K figure again. BBC used the same figure in July when talking about websites hosting porn set to verify ages. Ofcom was sent a FOI for the list. replied "not hold this info".

Anyone know what the 6K figure is based on?

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/list...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Around 6,000 sites allowing porn in the UK will start checking if users are over 18 on Friday, according to the media regulator Ofcom. Dame Melanie Dawes, its chief executive, told the BBC "we are starting to see not just words but action from the technology industry" to improve child safety online.
September 15, 2025 at 9:30 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Author of this letter may not be a bigot (or not see themselves as one) but both Stock and Linehan are. Stock has supported WDI which in turn supports Trump's persecution of trans folks and Linehan compared trans healthcare to Nazi experiments, not to mention his more recent behavior and comments.
Thank you for publishing a measured and mature piece about the rights of people with gender-critical views to be heard (A gender-critical book at Scotland’s National Library is the latest in a long line of cancellations, 12 September). We are not horrible bigots who do not accept trans people and think they should face discrimination. But that is usually the narrative. People such as the philosopher Kathleen Stock, For Women Scotland group, the comedy writer Graham Linehan, and many others who have extensively researched and spoken out about these issues, have been doing so for years and have had to fight for their right to be heard. Jobs and incomes have been lost and reputations sabotaged. But they have, thankfully, kept going.
September 15, 2025 at 5:32 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
Odd comment from Baroness Beeban. No-one should need to be "more transparent" about their viewing of porn (or anything legal content).

news.sky.com/story/tamed-...
Baroness Beeban doesn't believe it is children using VPNs to bypass age verification. "I've actually found it extraordinary that the assumption is that all of the VPN surge is children. Think about it carefully. "A lot of it will be adults who are actually trying to hide their own behaviour now that you actually have to be a bit more transparent."
August 26, 2025 at 3:23 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
'You wouldn't self-host a VPN' in the style of the 'You Wouldn't Steal a Car' meme.
August 19, 2025 at 12:11 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
I'd forgotten that 'Prince' Harry called for Fortnite to be banned back in 2019. He also called social media "more addictive than alcohol and drugs" 🥴
Critics have frequently warned of the corrupting potential of video games, especially on young minds. Prince Harry once called for the game Fortnite to be banned, arguing it was ‘created to addict’. In the 1990s, under President Clinton, the US Congress accused games like Mortal Kombat of teaching children to ‘enjoy cruelty’.
August 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
With alt text:
Dial-up Internet to be discontinued AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet. This service will no longer be available in AOL plans. As a result, on September 30, 2025 this service and the associated software, the AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, which are optimized for older operating systems and dial-up internet connections, will be discontinued. This change will not affect any other benefits in your AOL plan, which you can access any time on your AOL plan dashboard. To manage or cancel your account, visit MyAccount.
August 10, 2025 at 1:33 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
3) Claims your brain is not "fully developed" until your 20s in an over simplification of the science to point of being a lie and media should stop repeating it.
www.sciencefocus.com/comment/brai...
slate.com/technology/2...
"[..] As for teenagers, people can be judgmental, she says. “I think it’s human nature to say, ‘Well my child wouldn’t buy drugs online.’ Or, ‘My child couldn’t be sextorted.’ The answer is that we can all hope that our children won’t do things like that. But children are children. We all know about the frontal cortex, that it doesn’t get fully developed until your 20s. Children make mistakes. They should be allowed to make mistakes and not have to die as a result.”
August 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
rachelnull.bsky.social
2) This anecdote may well be true but its eerily similar to claims and "evidence" presented during the video nasties panic in the 1980s. Ask a group of kids if they've seen Y and because of pier pressure they may well say yes even when they haven't.
The directors ask if the kids have ever watched a suicide. Almost every hand goes up.
August 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM