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Decoded Legal
decoded.legal · Personal blog · on HN since 2020
Neil Brown, an English tech lawyer, writes about internet, telecoms, and technology law, including UK online safety and age verification rules.
What HN saysHN commenters treat it as a reliable lawyer-written source on UK tech regulation, citing posts on the Online Safety Act and company name restrictions.
22HN people shared it
8linked it in comments
19stories submitted
523story points
11 months agolast shared
2020people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1A proposed amendment to ban under 16s in the UK from common online services2 people · 57 points · first shared 2025 · 124 comments on HN
- 2Proposed new law to ban (some?) computer code in UK company names2 people · 6 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 3The EU's “terrorist content” regulation and what it means for hosting providers2 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 4“But lawyers know nothing about tech ”2 people · 3 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 5Ofcom's >1,500 page consultation on the Online Safety Act 20232 people · 2 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 6Github copilot initial thoughts from an english law perspective2 people · first shared 2022
- 7Running a Law Firm on Linux1 people · 256 points · first shared 2021 · 257 comments on HN
- 8Online ID / age verification: the death of online search1 people · 149 points · first shared 2021 · 127 comments on HN
- 9Running a law firm on Linux – a year or so in1 people · 17 points · first shared 2022 · 3 comments on HN
- 10UK require social media and ISPs to block Russian media RT and Sputnik1 people · 15 points · first shared 2022 · 3 comments on HN
- 11Ring doorbells, data protection, and suspiciously long raincoats1 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · 1 comments on HN
- 12Net Neutrality: European Court of Justice ruling on ISP 'zero rating' services1 people · 3 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 13Internet Service Sanctions: Changes to the UK Sanctions List1 people · 2 points · first shared 2022 · 1 comments on HN
- 14What UK telecoms operators need to know about the UK/USA Data Access Agreement1 people · 2 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 15The UK's proposed measures for court orders to suspend IP addresses/domain names1 people · 2 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
rapnie · 2025-08-12
Though explicitly stating "Nothing on this site is legal advice. Use it at your own risk", the information on this site is compiled by a lawyer. Neil Brown [0] specialises in English Internet, telecoms, and as tech lawyer at decoded.legal [1].
[0] https://neilzone.co.uk/
[1] https://decoded.legal/
jasre · 2024-11-14
Also
https://decoded.legal/blog/2023/06/but-lawyers-know-nothing-about-tech…
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36510439
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13446275
(https://jduclos.com/notes/github-for-lawyers is dead but several versions can be found on Internet Archive)
chgs · 2024-04-06
Except that’s not right
https://decoded.legal/blog/2021/06/must-all-uk-internet-access-provide…
throwaway167 · 2024-01-18
+ Politically regulated out.
The political environment the site operates in turns hostile to website content or method of publishing. The operators face costs of compliance, loss of scope, or personal risk in continuing.
See: The UK Online Safety Bill [1] [2] and especially [3] "Ofcom's >1,500 page consultation on the Online Safety Act 2023, and why small companies don't have a chance"
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/26/23922397/uk-online-safety-bill-law…
[2] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/09/uk-government-knows-how-extreme-…
[3] https://decoded.legal/blog/2023/11/ofcoms-%3E1500-page-consultation-on…
KaiserPro · 2023-12-04
bastardoperator · 2022-08-26
Except every attorney that has taken a look disagrees with you. So it is complex and unless you have any standing or new data I think it's safe to dismiss your entire argument.
https://decoded.legal/blog/2021/06/github-copilot-initial-thoughts-fro…
https://fossa.com/blog/analyzing-legal-implications-github-copilot/
https://felixreda.eu/2021/07/github-copilot-is-not-infringing-your-cop…
varispeed · 2021-05-12
I think you missed the boat - the requirement for filters and any company with user generated content having a censorship office in the EU and 1 hour SLA to delete content on request has recently passed without voting. It will be now implemented within a year.
Some light: https://decoded.legal/blog/2021/04/the-eus-terrorist-content-regulatio…
542458 · 2022-06-23
Here's Kate Downing, an IP lawyer specializing in software license:
> According to Downing, the answer depends to a certain extent on where that code is hosted. If it’s on GitHub, there very clearly would not be copyright infringement.
> “If you look at the GitHub Terms of Service, no matter what license you use, you give GitHub the right to host your code and to use your code to improve their products and features,” Downing says. “So with respect to code that’s already on GitHub, I think the answer to the question of copyright infringement is fairly straightforward.”
Downing cautions that copilot output of large chunks of code complete with comments are more questionable to use, but that for the most part it looks above board.
https://fossa.com/blog/analyzing-legal-implications-github-copilot/
Here's an English lawyer on the same topic...
> The licence is broadly worded, and I'm confident that there is scope for argument, but if it turns out that Github does not require a licence for its activities then, in respect of the code hosted on Github, I suspect it could make a reasonable case that the mandatory licence grant in its terms covers this as against the uploader.
https://decoded.legal/blog/2021/06/github-copilot-initial-thoughts-fro…