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#91
Blog / Re: GamerGate 3 - Steam, Big B...
Last post by kat - July 25, 2025, 03:04:45 PM
Itch.io, one of the service providers hit by the Collective Shout strong arming has issued a statement - it should be noted in the below that Itch.io do not elaborate on what happened except to say they had to act quickly; there's no mention as to whether Collective Shout contacted them; gave them time to act; confirmation they acted etc., etc., basically any answer the the question posed in the OP;

QuoteUpdate on NSFW content

We have "deindexed" all adult NSFW content from our browse and search pages. We understand this action is sudden and disruptive, and we are truly sorry for the frustration and confusion caused by this change.

Recently, we came under scrutiny from our payment processors regarding the nature of some content hosted on itch.io. Due to a game titled No Mercy, which was temporarily available on itch.io before being banned back in April, the organization Collective Shout launched a campaign against Steam and itch.io, directing concerns to our payment processors about the nature of certain content found on both platforms.

Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform. To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.

This is a time critical moment for itch.io. The situation developed rapidly, and we had to act urgently to protect the platform's core payment infrastructure. Unfortunately, this meant it was not realistic to provide creators with advance notice before making this change. We know this is not ideal, and we apologize for the abruptness of this change.

We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of content to ensure we can meet the requirements of our payment processors. Pages will remain deindexed as we complete our review. Once this review is complete, we will introduce new compliance measures. For NSFW pages, this will include a new step where creators must confirm that their content is allowable under the policies of the respective payment processors linked to their account.

Part of this review will see some pages being permanently removed from itch.io. Affected accounts will be notified via their account's email address from our support address. You can reply to that email if you have any follow up questions.

We ask for your patience and understanding as we navigate this challenging period. I'm sorry we can not share more at this time as we are still getting a full understanding of the situation ourselves. We will post a follow up on our blog if the situation changes.

Thank you.
#92
Blog / UK Online Safety Act is LIVE
Last post by kat - July 25, 2025, 10:58:34 AM


The UK's Online Safety Act is now live and in effect. All residents in the UK - minors and adults alike - will now be required to verify their identity to services or websites that provide content that's not specifically for children under the age of 18 (17 years or younger). Depending on the server this may means scanning an 'identity' document that includes a photo or owners image, such as a passport, or by verifying using a 'face scan'. In both (or all) instances, this personally identifying information (PII) is uploaded/sent to the verifying party.

QuoteImportant note: this isn't specifically about content that would otherwise be considered 'adult' or "18" or "R" rated, but content the Online Safety Act considers "harmful" or "inappropriate", e.g. "this includes [but is not limited to] taking specific action to prevent children from encountering pornographic content, and content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide, self-harm and eating disorders." ["How the Online Safety Act will help to protect children"]

In a nutshell, the Online Safety Act places a "legal duty", a "burden of responsibility" to keep children safe, into the hands of third-parties and other entities or people, not the parents or those directly responsible for their general well being. In addition, the upload or sending of identifying documentation to third-party's does not guaranty this process is being serviced through legitimate entity's specifically because of the third party burden - this won't necessarily stop bad actors hijacking this requirement for their own ends, it's astonishing this doesn't appear to have been a consideration, the Government instead relying on bad actors not acting badly ("criminals better not criminal") - in other words, law abiding citizens most affected.
#93
Blog / Re: GamerGate 3 - Steam, Big B...
Last post by kat - July 21, 2025, 04:45:04 PM
On the question of disproportional success; financials for 2023-24, for an org that 0 full-time employees, 1 part-time, and 15 volunteers (unpaid?) - they work an equivalent to having 2 full-time employees. Full report for 2023/24, notably Collective Shout assert they "(i) provide evidence-based information to the public on the impact of the Company's principle activities". What evidence? And where?  ???

#94
Blog / GamerGate 3 - Steam, Big Banks...
Last post by kat - July 20, 2025, 03:21:29 PM


There's a new happening doing the rounds on X, social media and various gaming sites that's being dubbed "GamerGate 3.0" (is it "3", "4" or "5" now. Ed.). And like all previous iterations, the whole thing stinks to high-heaven of disingenuous 'progressive' activism using potentially legitimate concerns to gin-up a controversy to make a name for themselves and pull in funding.

So, what happened.

Apparently, another activist group[1] calling themselves Collective Shout, claims to have successfully lobbied a number of payment gateways including PayPal, VISA and Mastercard, to pressure gaming platforms Steam and Itch.io to remove a number of games the group deemed to be offensive or face service censure. Steam and Itch.io appear to have complied, removing the offending games [2], as well as updating their ToS [3] to accommodate a change in policy.

The group had previously seen some minor success with a similar campaign to remove another 'offensive' game from Steam earlier in the year (April 2025), No Mercy, based on complaints to the Australian Board of Classification over the games non-compliance with certification criteria, which in-turn lead to the eventually removal of the game globally. Banks and payment processors were not targeted for that campaign.

So, at face value, an activist group that, to paraphrase, "lobbies for better safeguards to protect women and girls' representation in media" discovered a number of offense games on Steam and Itch.io, campaigned, and eventually succeeded in getting them removal from Steam and Itch.io.

This raises a number of questions/concerns (in no particular order);
  • How did Collective Shout 'discover' the games they deem to be offensive?

  • What prompted them to search this content out?

  • What criteria did Collective Shout use to determine the offensiveness of the alleged games?

  • Who determined these same criteria?

  • Were the alleged offensive games incorrectly, (in)appropriately labelled, categorised or identified in Steam/Itch.io?

  • Were the game's authors/publishers contacted/given an opportunity to respond?

  • Is the corroborating documentation that facilitated this judgement available for public review [4]?

  • Were they advised by legal counsel, especially with regards to lawful standing of the very claims made?

  • Did they contact Steam/Itch.io and report what should be valid violations of Creator ToS, if so, what happened?

  • Does the requirement implemented by the various payment processors apply more broadly, i.e. does the requirement effect other types of content categorised as 'adult' and/or 'fantasy depictions' (legal defences)?

  • Were Collective Shout alone in their efforts [5]?

  • Was Steam/Itch.io given an opportunity to act on reported content, if it was reported, if not how much time was allowed by either party for resolution?

  • Did Collective Shout report the games in question or just go straight to payment processors?

  • Where are the letters or notifications from Steam/Itch.io indicating they refused to comply with the request/found nothing in violation of their ToS [6]?

  • What's the rationale behind Collective Shout demanding payment processors involvement in another party's affairs or business?

  • Given that Collective Shout are based on Australia, what legal justification do they argue over Entities based in the USA?

  • What legal justification do payment processors argue to coerce compliance in non-financial affairs, and why can any changes to this effect, that might have more wide-spread affects, be legally justified on the word of a few unaffiliated third-parties?
This begs the bigger question as to how an unknown charitable organisation has the power to do something other organizations tried, and failed to do.

None of the above is answered by any 'blog' post on Collective Shouts website or any posts made to social media.



Footnotes
1: Collective Shout is registered in Australia as a non-profit Limited company. The group state they lobby on behalf of women and girls, and while there doesn't appear to be any definitive declarations they have 'feminist' leanings, their singular focus makes this highly likely, which in turn speaks to possible broader motivations.

2: A list of games can be found on the internet but it's not clear if these are the original games removed or part of a subsequent removal of other 'offending' games.

3: Onboarding, Rules and Guidelines: the addition of "15. Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam's payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content."

4: Per Collective Shout's open letter to the payment processors, the content was "too distressing [to be made] public". And it appears only a single individual was responsible for this, "conduct[ing] extensive research [... of... ] content including violent **** torture of women, and children including incest related abuse involving family members".

5: The letter, while authored by Collective Shout, was signed by a number of organisations, largely Australian.

6: Both Steam and Itch.io have relative clear but still open-to-interpretation Terms of Service creators and publishers have to abide by when publishing or uploading content to both services. In cases of dispute, it's not clear if Steam/Itch.io are obligated to make their rulings public, nor are creators/publishers expressly forbidden to make sure rulings public if not.
#95
Blog / Re: SCAM WARNING - Sexploitati...
Last post by kat - July 17, 2025, 10:17:35 AM
bc1q926em06raz26plnkx50w9qf7mrwzqwlfqnz2x4
#96
Blog / Re: SCAM WARNING - eBusiness N...
Last post by kat - July 14, 2025, 06:28:16 PM
EU Trade Register
register@nform-acja.com
#97
Blog / Re: SCAM WARNING - eBusiness N...
Last post by kat - July 12, 2025, 06:21:13 PM
EU TRADE REGISTER
GLOBAL TRADE REGISTER LTD.
Phone: +359782138722
register@vellka.org
contact@traderegister.info
unsubscribe@traderegister.info
#98
Blog / Re: SCAM WARNING - Bitcoin Sex...
Last post by kat - July 07, 2025, 02:57:16 PM
QuoteSubject: Read this email or something terrible will happen.


Body: Good afternoon, my naive comrade.

Unfortunately, this letter will divide your life into before and after.
However, the good news is that it will teach you a lot.

For example, what you can and can't do on the internet, how to treat your online security properly, and how not to leave digital footprints.
Most likely, you have heard about Russian hacker groups such as Cozy Bear, Killnet and others. Well, we work for them.

I hate to say it, but you have got in our mess.
In addition to our hacking activities, we are also running on the lookout for various suspicious online accounts that we would like to make money on.
We guess you are beginning to realize how we located you.

All normal people have their own **** preferences.
However, what you are trying to find on the internet doesn't fit into any, even the loosest moral standards.
Now we have your search requests and your webcam footage while you are ****.

We set a timer for public release. Nevertheless, don't worry, there's good news also.
Money is our only interest. Even among us, there are some strange persons, but they bring us so much profit that we ignore their deviations.

In this case, YOU should bring us the profit. For $1350 you and us will forget about each other forever.
You have 48 hours from the moment you open this email to transfer this $1350. We will be notified when you read the letter.
Here is the address of the Bitcoin wallet you should use for the payment: [bitcoin address]

Countdown has started, don't keep us waiting.
Otherwise, all your friends, colleagues and relatives will get a copy of your records: search history, webcam videos and even personal messages.
!Do not forward this message to anyone, including the police. Doing so will result in the automatic posting of all information about you. We monitor what you are doing.
!Do not reply to this message. It was sent from a disposable email account, you can't reply it, this email address is untraceable.

If you haven't used crypto before everything is simple. Just google it.
That's the end of our message. As they say, we hope for a fruitful cooperation. Otherwise, this will all end badly for you.
Goodbye, and hopefully this is our last interaction.

P. S. Remember for the future, the Internet is not some kind of a Wild West where you can do anything you want.
There is a wholesome shiver of hungry sharks searching for irresponsible persons like you.
#99
Blog / Re: SCAM WARNING - Sexploitati...
Last post by kat - July 07, 2025, 02:53:03 PM
151s4gb1C5BZawhJM5UxEHkAPfh17KGFCx
#100
Blog / Re: SCAM WARNING - Sexploitati...
Last post by kat - July 07, 2025, 02:51:57 PM
1HYFAfFgo6Ma6AaUM171PKqnPHLzegXEJw
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