Ofcom has effectively conceded defeat in its enforcement action against 4chan. Testifying before the Commons Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, Dame Melanie Dawes, Chief Executive of Ofcom, admitted that its jurisdiction ends where a foreign court's jurisdiction begins. "If foreign courts decide to… try and get in our way, there will be a point at which we have to accept that we won't be able to recover that money," she said.
The admission follows a preliminary view from a U.S. federal court. In 4chan v. Ofcom, filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia, the court signaled that enforcing Ofcom's fines in the United States would be difficult. It noted that American courts generally decline to enforce foreign judgments that violate the U.S. Constitution, citing Matusevitch v. Telnikoff, and added that American courts are not necessarily required to enforce foreign penal judgments.
The case is, for practical purposes, over. Ofcom is now expected to return to Parliament to seek "interim business disruption measures," which would allow it to block foreign websites in the UK before enforcement begins. Parliament previously rejected similar powers, and Nadine Dorries, the former MP who introduced the Bill, has since repudiated them.
Critics argue such powers could be easily circumvented using VPNs. 4chan's counsel has indicated the company has already weighed the possibility of being blocked in the UK and considers it a price worth paying, since any block would amount to the UK censoring its own citizens and ISPs.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing