Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
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Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#2You mean the Senate run by men like Mitch McConnell?
No thanks.
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#3I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to.
Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol.
I think Internet Age Verification is both doomed to failure and also a terrible idea from a privacy perspective, but KOSA does not introduce age verification requirements.
We need to reign in social media companies that are targeting children.
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#4I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to. Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol. I think Internet Age Verification…
Oh, it sounds great when it's phrased that way.
What happens when an American-operated chat platform that provides E2EE claims they can't stop kids from seeing illegal content because of E2EE?
All this legislation restricting free flow of information being pushed because "Think Of The Children" is concerning.
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#5I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to. Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol. I think Internet Age Verification…
How do you limit content to minors without identifying who is a minor? Will it just be by honor system?
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#6I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to. Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol. I think Internet Age Verification…
How do you limit content to minors without identifying who is a minor? Will it just be by honor system?
The text of KOSA does not require age verification.
The standard in the statute is "reasonably should know" that a user is a minor.
This likely looks something like the status quo, where the site asks for but does not verify your age. Additionally, if the site does not know the user's age but eg categorizes a person as "12-15 years old" for the purpose of ad targeting and sells ads based upon this targeting feature, then courts will likely agree that they should have "reasonably known" that this person is 12-15 years old (else they were committing fraud in selling those ads).
Not much changes in terms of age request/verification. What does change is what you need to do with that info about age once it's furnished and available. KOSA is about TARGETED ADS and ALGORITHMIC RECOMMENDATIONS. It even contains language that absolves platforms of responsibility for content specifically requested by children:
> IMITATION.—Nothing in subsection (a) shall be10 construed to require a covered platform to prevent or pre-11 clude— any minor from deliberately and independ-13 ently searching for, or specifically requesting, con-14 tent; or15 (2) the covered platform or individuals on the16 platform from providing resources for the prevention17 or mitigation of suicidal behaviors, substance use,18 and other harms, including evidence-informed infor-19 mation and clinical resources
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#7I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to. Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol. I think Internet Age Verification…
Oh, it sounds great when it's phrased that way. What happens when an American-operated chat platform that provides E2EE claims they can't stop kids from seeing illegal content because of E2EE? All this legislation restricting free flow of information being pushed because "Think Of The Children" is concerning.
I encourage you to read the proposed statute. It's not very long.
KOSA requires that social media companies cannot target children with certain types of ads or provide algorithmic recommendations, when they "reasonably know" that the user is a minor.
A company implementing E2EE can simply make the choice to either not serve minors or to not provide certain features (algorithmic content targeting, targeted ads) to users who are minors.
No new age verification is required.
Tech has had a knee-jerk reaction against doing anything to protect children online since the Slashdot days, because proponents of draconian laws often say "think of the children". But that doesn't mean that EVERY law intended to protect children is bad. And Meta et al need to be held to account.
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#8I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to. Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol. I think Internet Age Verification…
I like the idea in principle, but with the way the US government is going, you get section 28 again on the grounds that being trans is a mental disorder curable by conversion therapy.
Which it isn't. If I hadn't had trans people on the Internet I probably would've killed myself.
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#9I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to. Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol. I think Internet Age Verification…
I like the idea in principle, but with the way the US government is going, you get section 28 again on the grounds that being trans is a mental disorder curable by conversion therapy. Which it isn't. If I hadn't had trans people on the Internet I probably would've killed myself.
Believe me: I have the same concern. Sec. 3(6)(b)(1) satisfactorily addresses my concerns. Platforms do not need to prevent minors from accessing materials that they are specifically seeking out.
Also, the set of "mental health disorders" are specifically enumerated in Sec. 3(a)(1) and do not include any trans-specific medical issues, and includes the language "consistent with evidence-informed medical information" providing ample defense opportunities for companies who want to promote or provide trans-specific material.
Finally, there are other statutes on the books that are more useful for political bullying of social media companies. To the extent that KOSA could be weaponized, the battle is lost anyways.
Re: Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet
#10I am a huge fan of the Kids Online Safety Act, and if you aren't employed by Meta then you should be to. Social media algorithmic recommendations and "addictive product features" have to be turned off BY DEFAULT. Social media companies are responsible for not showing content to minors that promotes suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, tobacco, or alcohol. I think Internet Age Verification…
> addictive product features
What does this mean? All computer interaction is potentially addictive.