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Best Of
Re: Why me.
Animalloverb wrote: »I broke down today which was awful, I really hate when it happens. I hate crying. I broke down in tears and couldn't calm down. It was awful.
@Animalloverb it's human to break down. What you've been through and are struggling through is horrific, and whilst it's difficult to break down and cry, it's also important that you let yourself feel what you are feeling. You aren't a robot, you need to be able to express those emotions somehow rather than just stoically bottling things up, which never works well long term.
I wish i could give you some better advice than that mate.
Nathan
2
Re: Why me.
Just want to also say you don't deserve the hard things you're going through. You are such an amazing and incredible person who deserves nothing but happiness and good vibes.
Sending you the biggest of hugs @Animalloverb
Sending you the biggest of hugs @Animalloverb
Re: Anybody want to vent or chat about anything? w/c 13.10.25
@DonnerKebab I hope you’re ok too. You really do an amazing job of helping everyone on here. Please make sure you look after yourself as well. 
I think part of my brain has shut down. The part that knows logically they’re feeling the same and I can talk to them. I don’t want to mention worries I’m having that might not have crossed their minds. I’ve had anxiety since I was 8 and if there’s something to worry about, I will.
It’s also actually getting harder to talk about it. I just want to forget all about it for 5 minutes 😢
I think part of my brain has shut down. The part that knows logically they’re feeling the same and I can talk to them. I don’t want to mention worries I’m having that might not have crossed their minds. I’ve had anxiety since I was 8 and if there’s something to worry about, I will.
It’s also actually getting harder to talk about it. I just want to forget all about it for 5 minutes 😢
Re: Anybody want to vent or chat about anything? w/c 13.10.25
@Redemption overthinking is so tough especially when your alone and dont have anyone who can sit and distract you! I find that grounding techniques (yes i know ughh) do help literally just contecting with your surroundings or rainbow breathing also I find the 5 4 3 2 1 technique helps me sometimes not always but somtimes. Hope that helps even if its a tinsy tiny bit
Re: The Online Safety Act - Why I believe it fundamentally fails at safeguarding and fails as a law
DonnerKebab wrote: »DonnerKebab wrote: »Update: I was right about point 4 of my post.
There’s been a significant data breach involving discord, where users photo ID’s were stolen. It affected those who uploaded their photo ID's to discords customer service, which was being outsourced to a third party (as I predicted above would happen) to appeal their age estimation rulings from photo's taken. Around 70,000 discord users are believed to have been affected by this data breach and had their photo ID’s exposed [1][8].
And what makes this an extraordinarily serious data breach is that there is no fix for this type of leak. You can change a password if a password gets leaked, you can regain access to a user account that's been hacked, but you cannot change the fact that your photo ID is out there on the dark web once exposed. It is considered biometric data under GDPR, which is considered "special category", due to the seriousness of losing it, as it cannot be changed [2].
That info, once leaked, can then be used for identity theft, to bypass security measures on various accounts owned by victims, such as their bank accounts, government accounts, and personal accounts, and it can also be used to open new accounts in the victims name, at any stage, for life. Biometric data doesn't change. That is how serious it is. It's not a short term issue [2][3][4]. It's a lifetime on a fraud alert registers, constantly watching for fraud at any point. [4]
What makes it worse is that the only reason that the photo ID's were even being collected in the first place is because of the Online Safety Act. It forced platforms to collect this sort of data from users, when photo based age predictor systems didn't work, and photo ID was required to be used instead to verify. The OSA's supposed "safeguards" have just exposed users to the possibility of life long fraud risk [5][6][7].
I mentioned in the original post that digital ID systems have been proven to be vulnerable by ethical hackers at times. I once again reiterate, that this remains a serious risk and flaw of the OSA that doesn't seem to be getting any attention.
References[1] Tom’s Guide – Discord users suffer the first high-profile age verification hack, and it’s unlikely to be the last – https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/discord-users-suffers-the-first-high-profile-age-verification-hack-and-its-unlikely-to-be-the-last
[2] ICO – What is special category data? – https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/lawful-basis/special-category-data/
[3] ICO – Biometric Data Guidance: Demonstrating compliance – https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/lawful-basis/biometric-data-guidance-biometric-recognition/how-do-we-demonstrate-our-compliance-with-our-data-protection-obligations/
[4] Mexico Business News – The Permanent Price of Losing Your Biometric Identity – https://mexicobusiness.news/cybersecurity/news/permanent-price-losing-your-biometric-identity
[5] NCSC – Understanding Biometrics - https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/biometrics/understanding-biometrics
[6] NCSC – Biometrics: General Principles – https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/biometrics/general-principles
[7] SocRadar – Biometric Security Risks: Beyond Fingerprints and Facial Recognition – https://socradar.io/biometric-security-risks-beyond-fingerprints-and-facial-recognition/
[8] The Guardian – Hack of age verification firm exposes 70,000 Discord users’ ID photos – https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/09/hack-age-verification-firm-discord-users-id-photos
Omg I didn't know this actually happened recently and to think that a lot of discord users photo IDs are now floating out there exposed and possibly on the dark Web too sadly is quite a frightening thing to think. Also thank you for raising awareness of this because like me and possibly many others on here who may have a discord account will know the feeling of having to go through the photo ID process. Luckily I decided not to verify my ID because it didn't feel right to upload a picture of myself on there because God knows where that could be going.
@Amy22 it is genuinely scary, because 70,000 is no small number, and it could have happened to anybody's data. And the effects are lifelong. One of the things that's taught in cybersecurity is that there is no such thing as a 100% secure system. You can have an immensely secure system, protected against all known cyber security threats, but there's no absolute guarantees. New vulnerabilities are discovered all the time, encryption ciphers used in encryption algorithms are rendered obsolete from time to time too, human error exists. Only, thanks to the OSA, it's photo ID that's at risk now, which is special category data, rather than just standard personal data. As i said, the online safety act appears to be failing to make things safer.
It proves to show how broken the system is right now to be fair and the online safety act fails to do what it proposes it would do. Oh yeah definitely as not everything would be as you said 100% secure or safe because it some retrospect it would be impossible because of human error and things as security breeches etc. It worries me I guess what other systems are broken in a way not only just with the online safety act.
Amy22
1
Re: RIP Buddy 💔
I'm so sorry for your loss @River. We're here for you as you go through this and please know you're not alone.
Try and be gentle with yourself - pet loss isn't easy and like @Amy22 said, they truly are part of the family
Try and be gentle with yourself - pet loss isn't easy and like @Amy22 said, they truly are part of the family
Katie
1
Re: im stepping away for a while ❤️🩹
Hey @eylah it's very considerate of you to let us know you're going to be stepping away for a little while - and it's totally okay to do that. I hear you have a lot going on right now, and I hope you can be gentle with yourself and find some alternative support options.
If you change your mind and feel ready to return, we'll be here. Take care of yourself Eylah!
If you change your mind and feel ready to return, we'll be here. Take care of yourself Eylah!
Katie
1
Re: The Online Safety Act - Why I believe it fundamentally fails at safeguarding and fails as a law
independent_ wrote: »We used Harvard all the time. Hated every second of it 🤣
Honestly to be fair I wasn't a huge fan of doing it but I found websites which made shortcuts in a way for me so it was easier to reference things for my essays and stuff.
Amy22
1
Re: The Online Safety Act - Why I believe it fundamentally fails at safeguarding and fails as a law
@Amy22 omg i feel like i used to use that website in college too lol.
VPNs are so accessible these days and many of them are very easy to use. Always worth looking into the privacy policy of the individual one you are using though, esp if it’s low cost or free.
I was thinking too that the act is actually having wider implications for websites you wouldn’t even think it would. The mix, for example, have quoted the online safety act in their new policies about geofencing, turning off PMs and age verification. A mental health support site. It worries me that young people might feel less able to access support if more of these kinds of sites start implementing it. BTW this is not a rant about the mix bringing those things in, that is for another day and another thread - it’s more of a rant about the government making these sites feel they have to.
VPNs are so accessible these days and many of them are very easy to use. Always worth looking into the privacy policy of the individual one you are using though, esp if it’s low cost or free.
I was thinking too that the act is actually having wider implications for websites you wouldn’t even think it would. The mix, for example, have quoted the online safety act in their new policies about geofencing, turning off PMs and age verification. A mental health support site. It worries me that young people might feel less able to access support if more of these kinds of sites start implementing it. BTW this is not a rant about the mix bringing those things in, that is for another day and another thread - it’s more of a rant about the government making these sites feel they have to.