Apologies should never have if attached to them.

You see it a lot with politicians "I apologies if I offended anyone" etc. Its not an apology at that point, the if makes it clear you are not actually apologetic.

I can’t reply to zugzug underneath (is there a maximum comment depth), but it feels pretty obvious that the US President is a very legitimate target in any war with the US. Maybe the most legitimate target.

Good luck trying to get them though.

This is not why imgur have left though, they didn't want to comply with Data Protection laws.

The "online safety act" introduced mandatory age verification starting in July 2025.

The government announced "plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data" in September 2025 [1]

Are you telling me those were unrelated? How are you going to fine a website over age checks without the law that requires age checks?

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo

Seeing as the investigation was by the ICO instead of OFCOM, yes, very much so. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?

That makes no difference. "Data protection" or not, it was pressure for age verification.

Can you please provide a source for your claim?

No, it doesn't need a source. It's not mysterious. To meet the demand, age verification would be necessary. What's your claim?

I guess you could be saying that the regulators were carrying out legal duties like blind automatons, without giving a thought to the way their requirements would have to be met.

My claim is the documentation about the ICO investigation and the resulting fine.

It's an entirely different piece of regulation to the "horror" of the OSA.

It's not hard - you're not allowed to target adverts for children - if Imgur aren't able to agree to that, they are within their rights to decide they don't want to properly safeguard the private information of children and withdraw from the market. That many other providers haven't thrown their toys out of the pram and complied with the law would show they decided if they can't tailor ads to children they wouldn't be able to turn a profit in the UK.

Yes. The ICO investigation that resulted in Imgur blocking the UK pre-dates the Online Safety Act coming into force.

As others have mentioned, Ofcom is responsible for enforcement of the OSA - but the investigation against Imgur was carried out by the ICO.

The governments of the countries that dabbling into the "think of the children" laws should build their own "safe" internets for their citizens, walling them in, requiring them to "verify their age" before letting them out of their cages into the Internet.

I confirm I will never buy a Samsung fridge.

It's probably best to expand that to any kitchen appliance that connects to the internet and has a screen.

Samsung appliances are notoriously not worth buying.

I'm in the process of selling the 3 Samsung devices we have at home. It seemed like a no-brainer to buy affordable quality from a reputable brand.

Then the TV got annoying, slow, pestered with ads and new Privacy updates every month; our oven has some bugs that need a software update and the clock resets without Wi-Fi; and god knows when the washing machine will do something similar.

Samsung is a massive company, it really doesn't need to be doing this. Extremely rich is rich enough, shareholders!

Ok, I know we always say this kind of stuff on HN and then the product is hugely successful anyway... But seriously, why am I even interested in buying a fridge with a display? That seems annoying even without the ads, and the ads are a product-killer.

I own the bare-bones, bottom tiered Samsung dishwasher and fridge. They're both pretty good.

Just refuse to pay for fancy crappola.

Its also not true.

I don’t think you can judge the final battery implications or whether it runs smoothly from the Developer Preview, they often have significant bugs.

My impression from the internet is that the US is particularly weak on this - people talk about tickets for DUIs like it's not a big deal.

In the UK you get a minimum 12 month ban, an unlimited fine (which are based on income and have been quite big in the past (Dec of Ant and Dec got an £86000 fine). I don't think this approach is uncommon in Europe.

It’s not. Yearlong suspension where I live, major fines, and you basically need to get a lawyer to navigate the process which is generally at least $10k. You become almost uninsurable and have to show proof to the court you carry insurance, or else you go straight to jail and your car gets impounded if you get pulled over.

With a valid employment reason (such as snow plow operator) you can get an employment only permit. Your insurance will easily be $1000 a month just for basic liability. I’ve known a few guys in this situation.

The bigger problem is people who are judgment proof and don’t mind spending some time in jail. They just drive drunk over and over and don’t care if their car (which is often a relative’s) gets impounded. They have no valid licence and no insurance. Short of permanent incarceration, there isn’t much they can be done about such people.

> The bigger problem is people who are judgment proof and don’t mind spending some time in jail. They just drive drunk over and over and don’t care if their car (which is often a relative’s) gets impounded. They have no valid licence and no insurance. Short of permanent incarceration, there isn’t much they can be done about such people.

Yep, when you get down to this root fact, it's nearly impossibly to _actually_ stop someone from driving a car. If you make insurance mandatory, they will still not buy insurance. If you revoke their license, they will keep driving without it. If you fine them, they just won't pay. If they go to jail for it, they'll resume driving when they get out.

I really like my HomePods and have had zero issues.

Siri is not smart, but plays music, sets timers and turns off lights just fine, and that’s all I want.

Siri often can't tell the difference between off and on.

Setting timers has got worse it now on a significant proportion of timer requests replies I can't find that in your Library.

Alexa is much more reliable.

It's not a machine, it's just a new drill bit that cuts a hole.

Soft power is an undervalued thing that is hard to build.

It's hard to quantify how much the US benefits from promoting (what was previously) its values in other countries.

I bet its more than the $40m (or, to put it in perspective, 12 cents per citizen) that this list adds to.