Earlier quoted context omitted.
That requires trusting a government with a power that is likely to be abused.
The power to tell people how old someone is?
The power of correlating your real ID with your browsing activity on the internet.
Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
261–270 of 473 posts
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#262The law as is written mainly targets social media platforms. For an OS to comply, all it needs to do is provide a field during account creation that records the user's date of birth as supplied by the user. There is no onus on the operator to confirm the veracity of this information, or even record it anywhere other than the local OS install itself. I think we're safe.
Several issues, one OS developers will likely use this to fully identify all users. Apple, Google and Microsoft would rather have legal identities tied to all activity, and this is an easy pretext.
Second, there's no certainty about how courts might interpret compliance. If the intent of the law is to positively identify minors, a user editable field may not be interpreted as sufficient to comply. We don't know what the safe level of identification will be outside of trying the law in court. Who wants to be on the bad side of that?
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
The power to tell people how old someone is?
The power of correlating your real ID with your browsing activity on the internet.
I mean, as much as I don't want the Government to be able to do that, I don't want private industry to be able to do that even more tbh. Though both options are pretty horrendous privacy-wise.
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#264[deleted]
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
Okay, sorry yes that was an oversimplification. Android does ask your age as well, so that's all of them for mobile phones.
What about OSes that power shared devices you use in public, like airline ticket kiosks and bank ATMs?
I'm fine with default settings:
> for all users that the operator has actual knowledge to be a minor, the operator shall use specified default settings for the minor.
I just think it should be opt-in. Applications should presume <13 unless the user opts in.
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
but how can you remove adult-only features for children only without knowing the age?
They're saying we should remove the features in general because they're anti-features harmful to everyone, and focusing on children distracts from that fact. This conclusion is up for debate, but that's what they mean.
We should ban oil, drive EVs, everyone write Rust only, and invest in index funds. We should, but it's not going to happen.
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or, and hear me out, _maybe our computers shouldn't spy on us in the first place_?
So which situation do you want instead of anonymous age verification: A) 18+ content is behind a pinky swear B) 18+ content is behind a parental control (what this bill would do) C) The internet can't have 18+ content anymore D) Some other system? Please describe it.
(A), honestly.
You might think you can keep 16 year olds from looking at porn, if they want to. You can't. You have never been able to. All you can do is teach them that the law is stupid and pointless, and they should treat rules with contempt. But they'll still be able to look at porn.
What you can do is allow the government and private companies to track everyone, everywhere, all the time. And you can create more gatekeepers that hold personal identity data, misuse it, and leak it.
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#268[dead]
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
> while ignoring the fact that these laws provide tools allowing parents to do just that These tools are called "parental controls" and already exist - we don't need laws to compel their production. ...unless, of course, the true aim is to use this as a beachhead for further expansion of privacy-violating requirements. You write this off as a "slippery-slope" argument, but given that there are already quite a few too…
Because the tools don't work, and are too fragmentary and burdensome. Would you prefer to inform each movie theater in town which movies your child is permitted to watch? Or just rely on the rating system that applies to most movies and is honored by most theatres? Parents want one setting that says "this is a child" and then expect online platforms to respond appropriately. As we expect and mostly have in the real w…
If parents want that solution, then the proper thing is for someone to build that solution and make a fortune selling it, IMO.
Re: Illinois Introducing Operating System Account Age Bill
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook has less than zero interest in allowing people to use their platform anonymously. They very much want to know everything about their users including their age and they would never back a law that would stop them from collecting that data. Now that you know that facebook isn't pushing this law to protect anyone's anonymity why do you think they're doing it?
> Now that you know that facebook isn't pushing this law to protect anyone's anonymity why do you think they're doing it? My comment was not about what I knew/know about facebook or not. I was answering the question of why age verification should be externalized to a degree and in this case externalized means the power stays with the user and parents rather than being in the hands of say facebook/meta. I was not talk…
The point is that you can't just externalize age verification and expect that data to never be sent to facebook because facebook needs that data to do anything (good or bad). It doesn't matter if your OS broadcasts that your child is 6-9 to facebook or if facebook has to ask the government to tell them that same information, either way, in the end facebook will know that your child is 6-9. The power is then in facebook's hands. Facebook won't see a copy of their government issued ID, but what difference does that make when they've got their age, their selfies, and a list of every friend and family member.