Mississippi legal challenge: beginning 1 September, we will need to geoblock Mississippi IPs
Aug. 26th, 2025 12:24 am![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png)
![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png)
I'll start with the tl;dr summary to make sure everyone sees it and then explain further: As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us.
Mississippi residents, we are so, so sorry. We really don't want to do this, but the legal fight we and Netchoice have been fighting for you had a temporary setback last week. We genuinely and honestly believe that we're going to win it in the end, but the Fifth Circuit appellate court said that the district judge was wrong to issue the preliminary injunction back in June that would have maintained the status quo and prevented the state from enforcing the law requiring any social media website (which is very broadly defined, and which we definitely qualify as) to deanonymize and age-verify all users and obtain parental permission from the parent of anyone under 18 who wants to open an account.
Netchoice took that appellate ruling up to the Supreme Court, who declined to overrule the Fifth Circuit with no explanation -- except for Justice Kavanaugh agreeing that we are likely to win the fight in the end, but saying that it's no big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime.
Needless to say, it's a big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime. The Mississippi law is a breathtaking state overreach: it forces us to verify the identity and age of every person who accesses Dreamwidth from the state of Mississippi and determine who's under the age of 18 by collecting identity documents, to save that highly personal and sensitive information, and then to obtain a permission slip from those users' parents to allow them to finish creating an account. It also forces us to change our moderation policies and stop anyone under 18 from accessing a wide variety of legal and beneficial speech because the state of Mississippi doesn't like it -- which, given the way Dreamwidth works, would mean blocking people from talking about those things at all. (And if you think you know exactly what kind of content the state of Mississippi doesn't like, you're absolutely right.)
Needless to say, we don't want to do that, either. Even if we wanted to, though, we can't: the resources it would take for us to build the systems that would let us do it are well beyond our capacity. You can read the sworn declaration I provided to the court for some examples of how unworkable these requirements are in practice. (That isn't even everything! The lawyers gave me a page limit!)
Unfortunately, the penalties for failing to comply with the Mississippi law are incredibly steep: fines of $10,000 per user from Mississippi who we don't have identity documents verifying age for, per incident -- which means every time someone from Mississippi loaded Dreamwidth, we'd potentially owe Mississippi $10,000. Even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for us, but the per-user, per-incident nature of the actual fine structure is an existential threat. And because we're part of the organization suing Mississippi over it, and were explicitly named in the now-overturned preliminary injunction, we think the risk of the state deciding to engage in retaliatory prosecution while the full legal challenge continues to work its way through the courts is a lot higher than we're comfortable with. Mississippi has been itching to issue those fines for a while, and while normally we wouldn't worry much because we're a small and obscure site, the fact that we've been yelling at them in court about the law being unconstitutional means the chance of them lumping us in with the big social media giants and trying to fine us is just too high for us to want to risk it. (The excellent lawyers we've been working with are Netchoice's lawyers, not ours!)
All of this means we've made the extremely painful decision that our only possible option for the time being is to block Mississippi IP addresses from accessing Dreamwidth, until we win the case. (And I repeat: I am absolutely incredibly confident we'll win the case. And apparently Justice Kavanaugh agrees!) I repeat: I am so, so sorry. This is the last thing we wanted to do, and I've been fighting my ass off for the last three years to prevent it. But, as everyone who follows the legal system knows, the Fifth Circuit is gonna do what it's gonna do, whether or not what they want to do has any relationship to the actual law.
We don't collect geolocation information ourselves, and we have no idea which of our users are residents of Mississippi. (We also don't want to know that, unless you choose to tell us.) Because of that, and because access to highly accurate geolocation databases is extremely expensive, our only option is to use our network provider's geolocation-based blocking to prevent connections from IP addresses they identify as being from Mississippi from even reaching Dreamwidth in the first place. I have no idea how accurate their geolocation is, and it's possible that some people not in Mississippi might also be affected by this block. (The inaccuracy of geolocation is only, like, the 27th most important reason on the list of "why this law is practically impossible for any site to comply with, much less a tiny site like us".)
If your IP address is identified as coming from Mississippi, beginning on September 1, you'll see a shorter, simpler version of this message and be unable to proceed to the site itself. If you would otherwise be affected, but you have a VPN or proxy service that masks your IP address and changes where your connection appears to come from, you won't get the block message, and you can keep using Dreamwidth the way you usually would.
On a completely unrelated note while I have you all here, have I mentioned lately that I really like ProtonVPN's service, privacy practices, and pricing? They also have a free tier available that, although limited to one device, has no ads or data caps and doesn't log your activity, unlike most of the free VPN services out there. VPNs are an excellent privacy and security tool that every user of the internet should be familiar with! We aren't affiliated with Proton and we don't get any kickbacks if you sign up with them, but I'm a satisfied customer and I wanted to take this chance to let you know that.
Again, we're so incredibly sorry to have to make this announcement, and I personally promise you that I will continue to fight this law, and all of the others like it that various states are passing, with every inch of the New Jersey-bred stubborn fightiness you've come to know and love over the last 16 years. The instant we think it's less legally risky for us to allow connections from Mississippi IP addresses, we'll undo the block and let you know.
More spoons!
Aug. 25th, 2025 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Her set had 16 each of knives, forks, and tea spoons. I didn't need that many, so I stashed away 8 of each, wrapped up in a piece of fabric, deep in the back of a cabinet. Recently, I was drinking enough tea with honey that I was running out of spoons between dishwasher runs.
Yes, I could and did hand-wash spoons, but where were the backup spoons? I could clearly visualize them in the back of a cabinet - in Portland. Had I gotten rid of them? I looked through all the kitchen cabinets I have now, and didn't see them. I must have passed them along when I got rid of so much stuff before moving.
I did some internet research to see if I could buy some matching spoons, but didn't see anything I wanted to order. Back to hand-washing.
Yesterday, I was looking deep in a kitchen cabinet for a container - and there was the fabric-wrapped bundle of backup silverware. Behold the extra spoons! Now that it's summer I'm not drinking as much tea, but it's good to know the whole set made the move with me. And maybe it will give me more spoons (in the spoonie sense).
A while ago I was looking everywhere for the small black folding umbrella that I use about once every 3 years. (I'm a hooded jacket kinda gal. Umbrellas don't work with bikes.) I dug through various drawers full of outdoor stuff and backpacks, looked everywhere it should and shouldn't be, and didn't turn it up. I guess I got rid of it? I liked it, though. A rarely used umbrella should be tiny and unobtrusive. I finally bought another small-ish black folding umbrella and put it where the first one should have been, in the bin of hats and scarves.
Today I got out a backpack I hadn't used in a while. It felt oddly heavy, so I felt around in its depths. Oh! The umbrella! Completely hidden down there. I put it with the other one in the hat bin. Maybe I'll have a guest who needs to borrow an umbrella someday.
At least I hadn't replaced the spoons. So far, past me didn't get rid of anything I really regret. I've always been good at remembering where things are, but I did lose track of some things in the big move.
Happy People Don't Talk Like That...
Aug. 25th, 2025 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I do think governments should be there to help people with their problems and I did push back on the border thing a little, because I think it's racist.On one hand, I think it's cool that women take pride in being independent, maybe ironically more so because I usually can't do it. But I had time to wonder, or indeed affirm, that K. was using stigma to keep boning herself. Although I really do know that it's not "just fill out a simple form" easy, but I believe it could and should be.
Lots of memories...
Aug. 21st, 2025 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(no subject)
Aug. 21st, 2025 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
- Monday was multiple ultrasounds, including the always-uncomfortable pelvic ultrasound.
- Today was full fasting labs, which means I got out of bed, got dressed, and went to the lab so they could draw EIGHT VIALS of blood. I am somewhat dizzy.
- I'm playing phone tag with the gastroenterologists' office to schedule both an endoscopy AND a colonoscopy, oh joy.
- Once that's done, I am pretty sure there'll be another appointment with my GP.
- Aaaaand my mammogram in Sept.
I'm not thrilled about any of this, but It Must Be Done.
Thought about applying...
Aug. 17th, 2025 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This, quite frankly, is a head-fuck that I'm tired of being upset by, but I think I'm over it and there it is again! I wish we had disability community that didn't feel like it was on a point system or that I had to collect enough crip skee-ball tickets.
But even though this is not 'my shot", it felt good to imagine doing things in the future again that are not waiting out Medicaid or making phone calls to human cardboard cutout Mark Kelly. I've decided that the next thing that comes along that is even kind of close to the battered old mental building that somebody might call my wheelhouse and doesn't involve my having a lot of extra cash, I'll apply and sort out what happens from there.(And then, probably have some face-plant to write about, because to tell you the truth, I don't feel like somebody who gets what she goes after anymore, now that my Advanced Placement test scores have gotten all moldy. But the glimpse of agency and motion felt good.
my life kind of works when it fits around somebody else's life. Which is about as thrilling as it sounds, as much as I'd love to cut to the part everyone wants and say It Turned Out Okay. But I can't yet.
Same as it ever was
Aug. 15th, 2025 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
My new outfit visions:
- All white with touches of red (lace jabot, red beaded "blood" on the cuffs of the sleeves, headdress with red roses and flowers)
OR- All black with touches of pink. (jabot, hat w/ pink feathers and roses)
I feel confident either way. I'd really like to do the white outfit, because not only will it stand out, but it'll be a nice nod to the Mardi Gras outfits that Louis, Lestat, and Claudia wore in the final episode of season 1.
---
I need to go back through my VMB entries here and see if I can find out when I started emceeing the event. I know it was after 2011, but the exact year? No idea.