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Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

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Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#171

Post by BiteCode_dev »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #8
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #2

Although the title is correct, it's worth noting that Google is not doing this because it thinks it's fun to require verification. The Australian government is requiring google to take this action.

>"If our systems are unable to establish that a viewer is above the age of 18, we will request that they provide a valid ID or credit card to verify their age.” I don't think Google is complaining too much. Especially if it gives them an excuse to collect credit card data (reducing a significant amount of friction when they sell YouTube premium / google drive subscriptions).

Which is not a good proof. You can use one from somebody else, it doesn't prove that it's yours. Only that you have access to it. As long as you don't make any paiement, I suppose you will be fine.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#172

Post by car_analogy »

tzs wrote: post #158
DaltonCoffee wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Needing gov't ID to follow search links is dystopian, and antithetical to the original spirit of the Internet. Google should flat out refuse when governments make these requests.

It looks like it is for YouTube and Play content, not search links. If so, I don't see how it is any more dystopian than the ID requirements that have long been in place for non-internet media. I don't recall anyone calling it dystopian back in the '70s for instance when we had to show ID to rent movies from the "adult" room at the local video rental store.

After showing ID, did the rental place record it, the video you rented, when you rented it and for how long, then store that information in a database shared with other outlets of the giant multinational conglomerate which it belongs to, sell it to advertisers and corporate security, and make it available on request to governments of the world?

And was this process duplicated for every other piece of media you consumed, to create a full profile of your interests?

A large change in quantity changes quality as well.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#173

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

giveupitscrazy wrote: post #153
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll explain why I downvoted - because I get a little bit sick of these slippery slope arguments that every time Google has to follow a law that, while controversial, is not exactly the last breath of a despotic régime, that people love to decry Google as "being evil". The fact is, there are gray areas. When it comes to government regulations, tech companies essentially have 2 options: comply or leave the country in…

Consider then if Google had decided to leave it would have had a huge negative backlash on the law, given the usefulness of Google. Instead Australia can now get what it wants and the backlash is minimal at best. Meanwhile they can go on to celebrate their dystopian law as working because of the endorsement Google gave them by capitulating. Short term yeah it'd suck for Australia to lose Google but then the law gets…

I find this reaction, well, odd. It is basically arguing that we want giant multinational corporations to have more power than democratically elected governments.

I see diatribes all the time on HN bashing companies like AirBnB and Uber for "blatantly ignoring the law" to get what they want, and here are a bunch of people wishing for Google to blatantly ignore the law to get what they want.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#174

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

medo-bear wrote: post #154
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll explain why I downvoted - because I get a little bit sick of these slippery slope arguments that every time Google has to follow a law that, while controversial, is not exactly the last breath of a despotic régime, that people love to decry Google as "being evil". The fact is, there are gray areas. When it comes to government regulations, tech companies essentially have 2 options: comply or leave the country in…

> I totally disagree that this law warrants Google leaving Australia I think most people have this opinion, but I wonder if they would have the same opinion if the country in question is a non-Anglo non-West but democratic country like India or Brazil For the record, i think Google should leave

> I wonder if they would have the same opinion if the country in question is a non-Anglo non-West but democratic country like India or Brazil

I for one would have the same opinion. India and Brazil may have lots of corruption but they are still functioning democracies.

If it were Russia or China I would have a different opinion.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#175

Post by wanderingmind »

sreevisakh wrote: post #151
dessant wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Age verification is already mandated in the EU, and when you provide your credit card details to Google's age verification system for YouTube, they create a payments profile for you without consent. The Google account is set up for purchasing services across all Google properties, without needing to provide further payment details. Google is exploiting the requirement for age verification to set up Google accounts fo…

Google's use of payment profiles is much more nefarious and exploitative. I recently moved from one country to another. There are a lot of apps that provide local services - like banking and public transport information. I wasn't able to install any of them. Why? My original profile is from the country of my previous residence, where I originally bought my phone. None of those apps should be geographically restricted…

Fuck google play and install lineageOS with microg. You can install any play store app without geo restrictions.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#176

Post by sreevisakh »

wanderingmind wrote: post #175
sreevisakh wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's use of payment profiles is much more nefarious and exploitative. I recently moved from one country to another. There are a lot of apps that provide local services - like banking and public transport information. I wasn't able to install any of them. Why? My original profile is from the country of my previous residence, where I originally bought my phone. None of those apps should be geographically restricted…

Fuck google play and install lineageOS with microg. You can install any play store app without geo restrictions.

I would have preferred that. But many apps - especially banking apps don't work on custom ROMs due to android's SafetyNet.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#177

Post by mechanical_bear »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #116
mechanical_bear wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, and not sure why the early downvote wave you experienced there. I am surprised to see this sort of sentiment downvoted on HN.

I'll explain why I downvoted - because I get a little bit sick of these slippery slope arguments that every time Google has to follow a law that, while controversial, is not exactly the last breath of a despotic régime, that people love to decry Google as "being evil". The fact is, there are gray areas. When it comes to government regulations, tech companies essentially have 2 options: comply or leave the country in…

I disagree, but appreciate the explanation rather than vote and run.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#178

Post by fsflover »

wanderingmind wrote: post #175
sreevisakh wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's use of payment profiles is much more nefarious and exploitative. I recently moved from one country to another. There are a lot of apps that provide local services - like banking and public transport information. I wasn't able to install any of them. Why? My original profile is from the country of my previous residence, where I originally bought my phone. None of those apps should be geographically restricted…

Fuck google play and install lineageOS with microg. You can install any play store app without geo restrictions.

How about fully leaving Google ecosystem and switching to a GNU/Linux phone, Librem 5 or Pinephone.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#179

Post by IMTDb »

justinclift wrote: post #150
MereInterest wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that a pretty straightforward violation of the GDPR? Consent to track somebody's personal information requires the data subject to be informed as to the use of the information, and personal information may not be used outside of the usages that were consented to.

There's "the law", and there's "what big corporations will attempt to get away with anyway". Because whatever happens in court (if it gets that far), they'll have years of appeals to go, and that'll be some future Google employee's problem not the current people.

And there is "the law" and "the other law", often times the two being incompatible, so you're kinda left in the middle trying to kinda please both sides.

Like when governments agencies ask to both "disable all tracking of what their employees do on the platform", to ensure private data and GDPR like stuff are ok. They also ask to specifically "enable full logging of all access to their data" for security reasons.

So: "sed -i 's/tracker/logger/g' codebase" and everyone is perfectly happy.

Re: Google will soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content

#180

Post by oonerspism »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #173
giveupitscrazy wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider then if Google had decided to leave it would have had a huge negative backlash on the law, given the usefulness of Google. Instead Australia can now get what it wants and the backlash is minimal at best. Meanwhile they can go on to celebrate their dystopian law as working because of the endorsement Google gave them by capitulating. Short term yeah it'd suck for Australia to lose Google but then the law gets…

I find this reaction, well, odd. It is basically arguing that we want giant multinational corporations to have more power than democratically elected governments. I see diatribes all the time on HN bashing companies like AirBnB and Uber for "blatantly ignoring the law" to get what they want, and here are a bunch of people wishing for Google to blatantly ignore the law to get what they want.

You have a point. However I don't believe anyone here's advocating that Google ignore or break laws. But rather, to (as done with China) voluntarily withdraw certain services in response to arguably-unacceptable duress.

[note: that is not my position here - I'm merely clarifying part of the discussion]

I must add, being relatively familiar with Australia's tech sector and it's people, that there is not a great deal of respect in the sector for the tech choices made by Australia's incumbent government of recent years. Whether or not that sentiment is ethically trumped by the fact of that government's democratic election by the general populace, is up to the reader...

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