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I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

neilzone.co.uk

201–210 of 645 posts

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again the HN bubble, I assure that the vast majority of adults of any age are not privacy conscious.

Spot on. 99+% of those reading/making these comments use an ad blocker; 99+% of non-techies like me never have and never will.

Why would you never use an ad blocker? You like staring at billboards too?

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#202
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine countries with such strict speech laws, for example, would be willing to build a system that is technically incapable of linking the person visiting a sire and the site requesting verification. This proposal may have been updated since I read it previously, so I could be wrong now, but it didn't read as a true zero-knowledge proof as key steps in the flow still required a level of trusting the governm…

The EU has more freedom of speech than the US, the US has just a different way of punishment. It’s much easier in the US to lose your job for what you say as in the EU and in the US the consequences of losing your job are more severe if you don’t have enough money so you can afford to lose it. US freedom of speech comes with a price tag that puts the censor inside your brain.

And in the eu you go to jail for criticing politicians. I guess it's really all the same, eh?

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's like they just assume that everything on the web is trustworthy. > It's not hard to see why though. They grew up with app stores & locked down devices. When we create a safer world, people’s defense mechanisms naturally atrophy or are never developed in the first place.

The problem is, we haven't really created a safer world. We created an illusion of safety by taking away agency. We might be safer in terms of vulnerabilities, root exploits, RCEs, etc. but the internet is still full of malware, scams are still just as rampant. Vigilance is still very much required, but is no longer taught. Look at all the malware available on the Play Store. The curation does nothing but create an i…

It’s absolutely safer browsing the internet now than it was when I was a kid. Getting a virus or equivalent on your phone is no small feat

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#204
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes because of the GDPR, there aren’t still two trillion dollar+ market cap ad Tech companies. But at least we have cookie banners everywhere.

More pity to those who (for some bizarre reason) voluntarily choose to interact with those ad-tech companies.

So you don’t use Google and don’t have an Android phone?

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#205
post #56
post #6

I was sitting in a room the other day with a young adult, we were searching for additional algorithm learning materials. They searched in Google, and accept the cookies. They clicked on a website, and accepted those cookies too. They then started entering their email address to access another service. I was completely taken aback. I'm the sort of person that either rejects the cookies, or will use another site entire…

It's not just cookies, it's explicit consent to track you, and sell your browsing history to ~1500 spy companies around the world. To the sibling comments: don't "accept the cookies" and then delete them. - - - I'm super angry at what the web has become, especially at the OS browser community. There is 0 browser (that I know of) that can access the web safely and conveniently. Atm I use Firefox with uBlock which bloc…

How would an extension work if it didn't have access to the website you're browsing?

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#206
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t upload a “file” in a “folder” to TikTok. You upload a “video” from your “library”. Consumers have been conditioned to stop thinking about files especially when it comes to media since iTunes and the iPod in 2001.

> files especially when it comes to media since iTunes and the iPod in 2001 As a non-Apple user, this is not something that happened to me. I literally have a "Files" app on my Android phone and my laptop/desktop.

Right as an Android user you don’t have a separate photo library where pictures go to? (yes I know this isn’t true).

Yes there has been a Files app on iOS devices for well over a decade

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#208
post #4

This is exactly what I am feeling (the title, didn't read). I can't see why I would give a copy of my official id card or a picture of my face to a basic service on the Internet. Seriously ? They do not deserve it. Even my phone number is too much but well Google has it now.

Givin a copy of your ID card to a website? Damn. In my times, we didn't even use to provide our _real name_ to websites.

In fact, it was strongly recommended not to give out your real name on the internet.

I'll stand by my opinion that deeply integrating the internet into our daily lives instead of keeping as a "place you go" was a huge mistake.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#209
post #132

And you shouldn’t verify. Many companies offering these identity verification services have ties to the intelligence networks of a country that shall not be named (similar to most VPN services that are supposedly there to protect your anonymity).

No Such Agency is the biggest government data collection agency, why not name the hosting country?

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#210
post #56
post #6

I was sitting in a room the other day with a young adult, we were searching for additional algorithm learning materials. They searched in Google, and accept the cookies. They clicked on a website, and accepted those cookies too. They then started entering their email address to access another service. I was completely taken aback. I'm the sort of person that either rejects the cookies, or will use another site entire…

It's not just cookies, it's explicit consent to track you, and sell your browsing history to ~1500 spy companies around the world. To the sibling comments: don't "accept the cookies" and then delete them. - - - I'm super angry at what the web has become, especially at the OS browser community. There is 0 browser (that I know of) that can access the web safely and conveniently. Atm I use Firefox with uBlock which bloc…

Safari’s extension model could be really good by now, had they not stopped putting effort into it. You are able to define which extensions have access to which websites, and if that applies always or only in non-Private¹ mode. You can also easily allow an extension access for one day on one website.

But there are couple of things I find subpar:

You can’t import/export a list of website permissions. For a couple of extensions I’d like to say “you have access to every website, except this narrow list” and be able to edit that list and share it between extensions.

On iOS, the only way to explicitly deny website access in an extension’s permissions is to first allow it, then change the configuration to deny. This is bonkers. As per the example above, to allow an extension access to everything except a narrow list of websites is to first allow access to all of them.

Finally, these permissions do not sync between macOS and iOS, which increases the maintenance burden.

¹ Private being the equivalent to incognito.

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