I'm surprised that the EFF does not highlight the best option, here: use a VPN to a jurisdiction that doesn't have such ridiculous laws.
In many cases, using a VPN is a great way to get your account flagged as suspicious.
So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
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Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#12I'm surprised that the EFF does not highlight the best option, here: use a VPN to a jurisdiction that doesn't have such ridiculous laws.
It might be bad for an activist group to advocate just ignoring the problem into a different jurisdiction.
They could sell it as "if your IP geolocation is inaccurate, or if the statute does not apply to you."
But FWIW VPNs can get flagged for suspicious behavior. YMMV
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#13I'm surprised that the EFF does not highlight the best option, here: use a VPN to a jurisdiction that doesn't have such ridiculous laws.
Next step: the same government that is demanding the age verification will ban VPNs.
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#14There were some amusing headlines a while back about Discord's verification being fooled with game screenshots. Does anyone know if that's still the case?
saw a recent screenshot of someone doing it yesterday, so I think it still is a thing.
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#15I have never clicked "accept" on a cookie banner, as a matter of principle; I zap them away with uBlock Origin. Should the plague of age verification reach my jurisdiction, I'm sure I will handle it in like fashion.
The difference is that the cookie banner is not a gate. uBlock Origin is unlikely to be able to satisfy a website about your age without submitting the info that the site expects. (Assuming the age check has any teeth at all.) You're unlikely to be able to continue as usual if these kinds of measures become ubiquitous.
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#16How well does the selfie test detect AI-generated photos? That seems easy to bypass, especially if you copy the metadata over from a real photo.
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#17Is there a throwaway identity that people are using? A dead person unchecked in Mississippi somewhere? Like every teen in America using the same identity like everyone's extended family does with their uncle's Netflix account? I don't want to google it because I don't want to be put on a list but I also feel somewhat confident that this is being done. Apparently, HN feels safe to ask questions like that for me.
That’s an interesting question.
Actually, a follow up. PII leaks are so common, I guess there must be millions of identities out there up for grabs. This makes me wonder: we’ve got various jurisdictions where sites are legally required to verify the age of users. And everybody (including the people running these sites) knows that tons of identities are out there on the internet waiting to be used.
How does a site do due diligence in this context? I guess just asking for a scan of somebody’s easily fabricated ID shouldn’t be sufficient legal cover…
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#18>If Google can guess your age, you may never even see an age verification screen. Your Google account is typically connected to your YouTube account, so if (like mine) your YouTube account is old enough to vote, you may not need to verify your Google account at all. This has been proven false a bunch of times, at least if the 1000s of people complaining online about it are to be believed. My google account is definit…
My Google account is more than 18 years old and I hit an age prompt when I was trying to watch some FPGA video (out of all things). So no, account age is not necessarily a factor.
Field programmable gatorade is an adult-only beverage.
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#19>If Google can guess your age, you may never even see an age verification screen. Your Google account is typically connected to your YouTube account, so if (like mine) your YouTube account is old enough to vote, you may not need to verify your Google account at all. This has been proven false a bunch of times, at least if the 1000s of people complaining online about it are to be believed. My google account is definit…
My Google account is more than 18 years old and I hit an age prompt when I was trying to watch some FPGA video (out of all things). So no, account age is not necessarily a factor.
Yeah, they could/*should* infer your age just by the fact you're watching an FPGA video
Re: So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?
#20States need to stop sniffing for age really. This is age discrimination.