Category: Regulation

Complaints about new broadband poles being installed in residential streets have been common over the last couple of years as alt-nets try to build new networks to compete with Openreach in an efficient and cost-effective manner. This has led to new telegraph poles being used to help deliver this, and in some cases, the alt-nets […]

Regulator Ofcom has this morning provided an update of its enforcement activity under the controversial Online Safety Act. In total it has begun 21 investigations (into 69 web sites and apps) and 5 enforcement programmes. The update covers 11 of these investigations. File-sharing services Ofcom launched an enforcement programme in March 2025 against file-sharing services […]

We’ve written about the Age Checks in the Online Safety Act and how VPN sign-ups boomed after the introduction of age checks on websites with content which shouldn’t be accessible to children. We even suggested that privacy-aware users over 18 may wish to consider using a VPN to avoid risking their personal identity data being […]

The Advertising Standard Authority (ASA UK) has published a ruling which upholds a complaint against altnet Community Fibre. The adjudication addresses whether claims about being the number one ISP or best ratings is correct. The ruling is against Community Fibre but it sounds like a pretty good advert for its service. Rather than putting you […]

Vonage have been fined £700,000 by Ofcom for failing to ensure customers could make calls to the emergency services. Vonage self-reported to Ofcom to advise them of an issue affecting business customers between 23rd October 2023 and the 3rd November. Ofcom announced an investigation into Vonage back in March 2024. The issue appeared to affect […]

According to the Telegraph (via Yahoo! News), lawyers in the U.S. are intending to summon the UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom to a U.S. court to answer over its attempts to ‘censor Americans’. “A legal complaint, filed in Washington, DC, by Ron Coleman, a New York-based lawyer, aims to bar Ofcom from attempting to enforce the […]

Ofcom has opened a consultation on super-complaints under the Online Safety Act, including the criteria for the bodies which will be able to submit them to the regulator. What are super-complaints? They are a type of complaint which eligible organisations are able to make to Ofcom which places specific requirements on Ofcom to respond within […]

The Online Safety Act that gained Royal Assent in 2023 is keeping Ofcom busy. The latest company to be added to the growing list of firms under investigation is Duplanto Ltd. This brings the total to five investigations underway looking into porn site providers with relation to age checks. With some firms running multiple sites […]

The Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza has told BBC Newsnight that she believes VPNs should be required to verify the age of anyone subscribing to their service. This follows the massive uptake of VPN services following the Online Safety Act’s age verification requirements kicking in. The website 4chan yesterday told Ofcom where to stick […]

The battle is warming up with regards to the Online Safety Act, as 4chan has responded to the provisional notice of contravention that Ofcom issued to the sites operator recently. “Provisional Decision: Information Notice duties In accordance with section 130 of the Online Safety Act 2023, we have today issued 4chan Community Support LLC with […]