1984
UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
51–60 of 104 posts
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#52Of course, it'll be possible to circumvent this with a VPN or a proxy. So what this will achieve is it will reduce the number of British muggles on social media, thus bringing us a bit closer to the Good Old Days when only nerds were online. I'm fine with this. This comment was brought to you by the British Class System: Making Nanny Proud.
Which is why the UK Government is currently discussing restricting VPNs behind real-ID style verification too. So all of the legit providers will be required to collect ID, and anyone not willing to will be funnelled onto the sketchy providers; which I'm sure won't backfire at all...
So every VPS provider as well. Thankfully, these restrictive measures only lead to wider adoption of VPN technology among the general population. You end up with people who know how and are willing to use these circumvention tools, which is a very good thing for society in general. In Russia, for example, every slightly tech-oriented teenager knows Amnezia, VLESS, MTProto, etc., which leads to virtually everyone having a working VPN. Aside from turning the Internet completely off, the government has very few options left; it basically can’t restrict anything anymore.
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#53> 8. How will age verification work?
We know that having a range of methods to prove age is important to ensure online spaces are accessible.
> Ofcom will set out in the coming months different options for effective forms of age assurance for proving whether someone is over 16 that are accurate, robust, reliable, and fair.
The fact sheet doesn't actually specify how age verification will be done so it the title is bit speculative. However, it's concerning that there's nothing in description about preserving privacy.
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#54These laws exist because social media is extremely damaging to children, destroying their attention, exposing them to online bullying and extortion, and showing them horrific and traumatic content.
Can anyone suggest a better way of protecting kids, other than age verification?
People without teenagers often say that parents can restrict phone access and use parental controls. In reality most parents don’t do this because it’s very hard to get a teenager to accept something that is not “normal” in their friend group.
In a trade off between child protection and online freedom child protection will win.
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#55Children aside, this is just an absurd amount of data to hand over.
At least people will realize that age verification is something everyone will have to do to prove they're >16 - not just something <=16yo's will run into.
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Of course, it'll be possible to circumvent this with a VPN or a proxy. Not if they can make Apple forbid this.
> Not if they can make Apple forbid this. I mean, even in China, Apple users can still use VPN to get around the great firewall. And that's despite the fact that their government already imposed quite a few extra requirements on Apple in terms of iPhones sold in the country + any China-based accounts. I also don't think that any of it really applies to general purpose computers at all there (as opposed to smartphones…
It’s very difficult to setup a VPN from inside China. I had to use a China specific VPN provider when I visited a few weeks ago as all the main providers are blocked. You can still get an eSIM from Hong Kong that bypasses the firewall
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#57These laws exist because social media is extremely damaging to children, destroying their attention, exposing them to online bullying and extortion, and showing them horrific and traumatic content. Can anyone suggest a better way of protecting kids, other than age verification? People without teenagers often say that parents can restrict phone access and use parental controls. In reality most parents don’t do this be…
We focus on the evils of social media but never the positives and there ARE positives. Also society giving up the keys to privacy is not a solution here, the think of the children crowd would rather the state be the arbiter of morality and society than educate their kids properly.
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#58These laws exist because social media is extremely damaging to children, destroying their attention, exposing them to online bullying and extortion, and showing them horrific and traumatic content. Can anyone suggest a better way of protecting kids, other than age verification? People without teenagers often say that parents can restrict phone access and use parental controls. In reality most parents don’t do this be…
> These laws exist because social media is extremely damaging
My take:
These laws exist because _everyone_ not just kids needs to be tracked by real ID. Make no mistake you won't be exempt from this when you have to prove you are over 16. Sure just don't use social media but that's just the first step. Next step will be games (already exist to some extent in China and South Korea) and then who knows what. Mind you sign your git commits and your emails with real ID?
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It could, of course, use a double-anonymous system like the French one. Which isn't really anonymous or privacy preserving, despite it's funny name : https://broken-by-design.fr/posts/proto-authz-porn/
"like" It's not beyond the wit of humankind to build a working system.
I am so tired of everyone assuming the worst possible implementation of age verification.
Whatever happened to steel manning? It's supposed to be in the fabric of HN. Curious enquiry.
Is it nice children are exposed to dreadful things? No. Could we, with tech, come up with a way to improve things? Probably! Let's discuss and think about how!
Re: UK to require ID or face scan before you can make social media accounts
#60These laws exist because social media is extremely damaging to children, destroying their attention, exposing them to online bullying and extortion, and showing them horrific and traumatic content. Can anyone suggest a better way of protecting kids, other than age verification? People without teenagers often say that parents can restrict phone access and use parental controls. In reality most parents don’t do this be…
> These laws exist because social media is extremely damaging My take: These laws exist because _everyone_ not just kids needs to be tracked by real ID. Make no mistake you won't be exempt from this when you have to prove you are over 16. Sure just don't use social media but that's just the first step. Next step will be games (already exist to some extent in China and South Korea) and then who knows what. Mind you si…
Most parents will take that over letting HS Tikky Tokky have access to their 14 year old boy.