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Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

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Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#41

Post by szszrk »

CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #27

"with nine out of 10 parents saying they are in favour of a ban in response to a government consultation" I wonder why those 90% of parents don't cut their children off from social media right now. They have the power to do it.

There are more angles on this, not exactly easy. The easiest way to make a kid to do something, is to forbid that very thing.

If you are the one cutting it off, while your kid's whole school is very much up to date with latest brainrot content, then you still lose.

Your kid is the outcast, while it will be exposed to it anyway, through peers. Meanwhile you are the bad one, making it much harder to have an actual conversation on the topic.

I am vividly interested in this, as my kid is growing up. I hear how a bit older kids play and what they talk about on the playground and feel that I have very little time left to react (kid is still just now starting to show interest in phones and such). A ban on all social media for kids would make this so much easier.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#42

Post by onion2k »

bluGill wrote: post #36
goodcanadian wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, it is arguably dangerous to not let your teen have a phone in a time when payphones (and to a great extent landlines) no longer exist.

Not really because nearly every adult has a phone with unlimited calling, and will allow you to make a call from their phone. I don't want my kids to be someplace where there are not some responsible adults around (drunk adults are not responsible) Note that I agree with your point overall. My kids have phones for times when they are away and might need to contact me. I'm just saying it isn't as bad as it sounds.

Not really because nearly every adult has a phone with unlimited calling, and will allow you to make a call from their phone.

This isn't very compatible with also teaching children that they can't trust the majority of adults, and that every stranger is a potential danger.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#43

Post by szszrk »

bluGill wrote: post #36
goodcanadian wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, it is arguably dangerous to not let your teen have a phone in a time when payphones (and to a great extent landlines) no longer exist.

Not really because nearly every adult has a phone with unlimited calling, and will allow you to make a call from their phone. I don't want my kids to be someplace where there are not some responsible adults around (drunk adults are not responsible) Note that I agree with your point overall. My kids have phones for times when they are away and might need to contact me. I'm just saying it isn't as bad as it sounds.

> Not really because nearly every adult has a phone with unlimited calling, and will allow you to make a call from their phone.

that's not even true for adults. Why would you assume it's true for kids?

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#45

Post by akramachamarei »

goodcanadian wrote: post #34
pjc50 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect they don't really; once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. (you will reply "don't do that then") But also: cutting one kid off from social networks ostracises them. The parents recognize it's a collective action problem.

Also, it is arguably dangerous to not let your teen have a phone in a time when payphones (and to a great extent landlines) no longer exist.

Dumbphones are still a thing

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#46

Post by BlackFly »

CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #27

"with nine out of 10 parents saying they are in favour of a ban in response to a government consultation" I wonder why those 90% of parents don't cut their children off from social media right now. They have the power to do it.

Network effects from the other side:

If one parent forbids their child then their child becomes a pariah. If no child is able to access social media then they will all interact without it. So yeah, a parent needs their peer's children to also not use social media so that their child is not left out.

In general I'm against age based bans. I think there are alternatives where we would identify and just generally regulate the harmful features of social media. In the meanwhile, I feel empathetic towards the difficulties of parenting in this era.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#47

Post by knome »

szszrk wrote: post #41
CrzyLngPwd wrote: post #27

"with nine out of 10 parents saying they are in favour of a ban in response to a government consultation" I wonder why those 90% of parents don't cut their children off from social media right now. They have the power to do it.

There are more angles on this, not exactly easy. The easiest way to make a kid to do something, is to forbid that very thing. If you are the one cutting it off, while your kid's whole school is very much up to date with latest brainrot content, then you still lose. Your kid is the outcast, while it will be exposed to it anyway, through peers. Meanwhile you are the bad one, making it much harder to have an actual conv…

You're a parent. Be the bad guy if you feel it's right.

Wanting the government to levy a society-wide information tracking system because you don't want your child to be upset at you is incredibly selfish.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#48

Post by big85 »

If you make law-abiding sites like Pornhub hard to access, consumers will move to black markets like the Dark Web, which hosts illegal content.

As the article mentions, kids are able to bypass the age verification with ease, so it doesn't even fulfil its stated purpose. We didn't even need age verification, because parental controls have been an option the entire time.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#49

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

"Think of the children!" - Say the 40-year-old millennials who were exposed to the Wild West of internet content as children and are still fine.

"We can't censor the internet on their devices!" - There's a $2.5B market in parental censorship software. You can censor their devices.

"Our child will become a pariah without the internet!" - In what way, exactly? They still go to school, still play sports, still go to chess club/band/theater/etc, still ride bikes around the neighborhood, still hang out at friends' houses, etc. All the kids will not hate them because their parents refused to give them a smartphone. (How do I know? I know a kid who grew up without one. Has plenty of friends.)

"But they need to be able to contact us!" - Dumbphones work fine. Teach them how to text and make calls. I guarantee they will use them.

Parents are lazy and want us to do parenting for them, not really a newsflash. But none of that is the point. "Age Verification" laws are stupid because 1) the kids will get around the verification, 2) plenty of the internet does not abide by the law, 3) it is government mass-surveillance in a "think of the children" disguise, 4) it makes privacy (surfing the web without a Government-issued ID) illegal, 5) if it's taken seriously, the only way to actually enforce it is a Great Firewall of America.

These laws are the gravest threat to personal liberty in the history of mankind. It cannot be understated how pervasive it is. At no other time in history has it been possible to not only track one's movements 24/7, but also the content of everything they read, everyone they talk to, etc, even in the privacy of their home. These laws don't work without that.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#50

Post by big85 »

Scroll_Swe wrote: post #20

It's not about the children, never was. The goal is to use one ID system for everything. I sound like Alex Jones, but we already have a system for bank login, and other trusted identity login. They want to use this for everything.

I think it's rather that they want to de-anonymize internet users by linking all activity to one or more identifiers.

An IP address only links you to a physical address, at best. Account requirements with identity verification link the user's real-world identity via government ID, credit card, or face photo.

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