I assume UK based users of Nostr will be able to hide their location?
I totally disagree with the idea of controlling people online, but one will have to evolve with the playing field they occupy
Australia will be close behind I am sure
Discussion
nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s how does this work?
#AskNostr
That’s up to them, TOR is always an option, so is VPN. But I am sure they’ll do crackdown on them (VPN services) too
I'm in the UK. I use a vpn. So its an easy work around for me. For those providing websites that falls under UK Online Safety Act, then yes you have to force those from uk visiting your website to do an age verification. Its ridiculous. I'm not providing any data for this purpose. Its just another way to collect people's data which will eventually be misused and leaked and in the end its the individuals that give over their personal data that will suffer, by having their privacy invaded, and security compromised. 😱
Australian government said they would sue VPN operators for allowing Australians to use their services.
UK will probably do something similar
If a user's goal is to hide their location then Nostr is not a great choice of protocol. Every relay connection requires the relay to know the user's IP, and that's mandated by the protocol itself, regardless of what the relay does or does not do with this info. And the user needs multiple relays, often random, often out of their control. All relays use DNS relying on certificate authorities and public registrars, registries.
Then add in all the media servers (for a single not you need the relay and the media server, and maybe the mirrors too). Then add in the CDN serving the media itself. It's basically standing on a hill and shouting in every direction.
And VPNs don't help much. Most VPN use is trivial to detect now (especially on phones), and VPNs cut both ways, a user could be out of the UK and get a UK VPN and now the relay or media server has to treat them like they're in the UK, with appropriate guardrails. So the obligation on Nostr relays, media servers, everything, is very heavy, regardless of VPNs
Basically if location privacy is a major concern then a user would not choose Nostr, they'd choose something else.
Will the UK Online Safety Act force content providers on nostr to censor those from the UK if they don't provide age verification?
Ultimately that's what its all about.
If I post something from the UK on nostr that the UK government don't like can they force the relays to censor me?
Very valuable insight. Thanks
So the point is, yes they can’t switch you off, but they will know exactly where you are
Yeah, that's the strength of nostr. They can try censor us, but its impossible really.
As for vpn not hiding location, I'm not entirely sure why vpn are not effective in hiding location. Practically the vpn I use works. Ive been on sites since the UK Online Safety Act came into operation. With a vpn outside of UK, UK websites work fine. Without vpn, the website is requesting I complete age verification. You can test this for yourself.
Joe's post on how vpn does not hide location or hide location on nostr. I dont understand the technical jargon and content of the message. Or the limitations of vpns and how they actually are not good at hiding location.
If nostr relays can see our true ip address (even with the use of a vpn), how can an authority get access to this information? Is it public? Do they have to contact the relays? Do they need to run their own relay to get this info. I admit my technical understanding of nostr isn't as good as it should be.
When we say we want to hide our location, what we really saying is we dont want to be censored. Which nostr is succeeding at.
Maybe we could invite a nostr dev to answer some of our questions.
Nostr isn’t a platform though right? It’s a protocol - so is it affected by this regulation?