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Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

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21–30 of 84 posts

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the one hand, I'm absolutely against blanket age verification laws like this one, think there are better ways to solve the stated problem, and believe that the current crop of legislation is being pushed by bad actors for nefarious purposes by means of pandering to public mania. On the other hand, I do appreciate that a possible unintended consequence of the out provided by (5)(b)(I) could be that PII (along with…

> there are better ways to solve the stated problem Call your representatives. There is overwhelming demand for age gating social media (based on, honestly, good evidence). This will be implemented based on who calls in. If the status quo of technical people being hopelessly nihilistic continues, it will be written in the stupidest ways possible.

> based on, honestly, good evidence

Can't say I agree. Notice that the proposed legislation isn't specific to social media. Rather it's explicitly advanced in support of Colorado's data privacy laws as they apply to minors.

There's evidence of lots of different issues, a few age related but most not. Adults certainly aren't immune to adversarial algorithms and dark patterns and the practical need for privacy isn't limited to children. It's more that we only seem to be able to achieve broad consensus to add additional regulations where it concerns children.

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#22
post #19

Boiling frog strikes again. "It's only for porn sites" to "its only for social media" to "its doesn't include open source projects" to "its only when you need an internet connection".

That's how politics works actually. Something has to be done but also not upset X, Y, Z because they will be loud. It's quite okay situation when it happens I think.

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the one hand, I'm absolutely against blanket age verification laws like this one, think there are better ways to solve the stated problem, and believe that the current crop of legislation is being pushed by bad actors for nefarious purposes by means of pandering to public mania. On the other hand, I do appreciate that a possible unintended consequence of the out provided by (5)(b)(I) could be that PII (along with…

> there are better ways to solve the stated problem Call your representatives. There is overwhelming demand for age gating social media (based on, honestly, good evidence). This will be implemented based on who calls in. If the status quo of technical people being hopelessly nihilistic continues, it will be written in the stupidest ways possible.

It's always written in the most midwit way possible, then, once predicted failure happens it's patched up to be slightly better. That's the default assumption for most of the things.

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#24
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there are better ways to solve the stated problem Call your representatives. There is overwhelming demand for age gating social media (based on, honestly, good evidence). This will be implemented based on who calls in. If the status quo of technical people being hopelessly nihilistic continues, it will be written in the stupidest ways possible.

Of course we could make predatory algorithms illegal. Or just algorithmic timelines/discovery algorithms. Nah. Can’t stop the money. Let make brain destroying scams and ad spam legal as long as you’re over 18.

TL;DR We need age verification laws to prevent minors from accessing the addictive stream of toxic sludge rather than outlawing its manufacture and distribution.

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#25
post #22
post #19

Boiling frog strikes again. "It's only for porn sites" to "its only for social media" to "its doesn't include open source projects" to "its only when you need an internet connection".

That's how politics works actually. Something has to be done but also not upset X, Y, Z because they will be loud. It's quite okay situation when it happens I think.

Yeah. I think a lot of us just look at computers and operating systems differently than these legislators. But we need to more effectively communicate our needs and side effects of their policies. And elect younger folk sheesh.

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#26

I know this is attached to a stupid bill, but I really like the general idea of special carve outs for open source projects.

It does seem kind of elegant, doesn’t it, in terms of aligning incentives?

Annoyed by the age gating, or feel it to be commercially burdensome? Open your source, and poof, no more mandate!

Just trying to build and maintain a cool thing, and share it with the world? Never mind the compliance burden.

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#27
post #2

(5)(a) "COVERED APPLICATION" MEANS A CONSUMER SOFTWARE APPLICATION THAT IS ACCESSED THROUGH A COVERED APPLICATION STORE AND THAT MAY BE RUN OR DIRECTED BY A USER ON A DEVICE. (b) "COVERED APPLICATION" DOES NOT INCLUDE: (I) A SOFTWARE APPLICATION THAT DOES NOT PROCESS USERS' PERSONAL DATA; OR (II) AN APPLICATION FROM A FREE, PUBLICLY AVAILABLE CODE REPOSITORY.

So if your service is proprietary, but your client is open source, it looks like your're free to go.

As someone that relies on third-party clients to get usable interfaces, if this gets widely adopted it would be great news. It would end the cat-and-mouse game from companies trying to force users onto first-party clients.

Re: Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects

#28
post #19

Boiling frog strikes again. "It's only for porn sites" to "its only for social media" to "its doesn't include open source projects" to "its only when you need an internet connection".

It took almost 30 years for politicians to close down the openness of the internet. Not too bad.
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