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European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

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Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#331

Post by joquarky »

SoftTalker wrote: post #251
simoncion wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Government is demanding age verification because the websites and platforms completely punted on the issue of keeping inappropriate content from children. Nah. Parental Controls are baked into every major consumer OS. If government cared about giving guardians the tools needed to care for the vulnerable ones they're responsible for, they'd require those parental controls to be beefed up [0] and that it be a require…

I agree... the government's plan (as usual) misses the mark and probably won't solve the problem. But the reason the government is getting involved is precisely because parental controls (if any) that were delivered by the platforms were too hidden, too complicated, and had to be set for every app or website instead of once on the device and have that enforced on everything.

That is the superficial reason that government is getting involved.

If you want the real reason, I'll provide a hint: it aligns with the underlying goal of DOGE.

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#332

Post by simoncion »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #320
simoncion wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Government is demanding age verification because the websites and platforms completely punted on the issue of keeping inappropriate content from children. Nah. Parental Controls are baked into every major consumer OS. If government cared about giving guardians the tools needed to care for the vulnerable ones they're responsible for, they'd require those parental controls to be beefed up [0] and that it be a require…

Parental controls, at minimum, need to be unified. I should be able to deal with the Xbox at the same time as the iPhone. Need a new standard. I need to be able to whitelist and blacklist times and dates, drill down into particular apps/games/services with some decent granularity, do conditional whitelisting, etc. I need a big red killswitch for these right at the top of the parental control app. Parental controls ar…

> ...starts insinuating that the reason your kid doesn't have a phone is so they can't call for help... from you.

I mean, parents, are -far and away- the most likely folks to abuse a kid, followed by friends of the family and close relatives. Stranger Danger was always fake, and teaching kids to be afraid of every adult who's not a family member is -and continues to be- a fantastic way to perpetuate child abuse.

But. Internet trolls are gonna troll and are best disregarded. If those folks seriously live in an area where an abused kid can never physically go to a teacher or other responsible adult for assistance, I'd recommend that they get the fuck out of whatever hellhole they're living in.

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#333

Post by joquarky »

sajithdilshan wrote: post #159
skrebbel wrote: post #30

I agree wholeheartedly with the argument raised in this github issue, but I think people are wrong to be skeptical about the concept of a government-issued age verification app. Thing is, the status quo is absolutely worse. My 13yo son likes making Roblox games. Suddenly, some months ago, Roblox made a change where you’re not allowed to share your games with friends unless you do “age verification”, apparently in som…

What you’re proposing works only if the government is always trustworthy and abiding by the rules. But there has been cases that ICE agents in US was able to track down people from their social media posts and in the past Nazis used the address registration lists to track down Jews for deportation to concentration camps. We don’t know what EU would become in 5 to 10 years in the future, and I would rather not have an…

Anyone else remember when RFK Jr wanted an autism registry?

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#334

Post by hnisnotbenign »

vrganj wrote: post #220
Ajedi32 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unrestrained democracy, yes. Tyranny. People need to understand that having a majority opinion does not inherently give you the right to impose that opinion on everyone else. Such impositions must be done with extreme hesitancy and restraint. That's why many democratic countries have a constitution which prevents the government from restricting certain individual rights even in the face of popular opinion. But ultima…

Everything you do affects others, unless you live in a cave in the mountains somewhere. Part of the reality of living in a society is constantly negotiating what is and isn't acceptable. Democracy is the most fair way of doing so.

[flagged]

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#335

Post by hnisnotbenign »

theeyescanner wrote: post #232
brabel wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tyranny of the majority is ... democracy?!

The slave aristocracy of the Confederate States of America, and members only Communist Party of China are both democracies. What we consider democracy went through a LOT of iteration, and continues to this day. Representative first-past-the-post is a form of democracy that can have the unfortunate side effect of the minority of the electorate establishing a tyranny of the majority. There is a lot of scholarship on ho…

> The slave aristocracy of the Confederate States of America

And the northern states--they had slaves too.

Ulysses S. Grant, when asked why he didn't free his slaves until some time after the war, reportedly said something like "Good help is hard to come by these days." It's not easily verifiable in today's world of useless search engines and confidently wrong and/or lying AI, but this quote is, in one form or another:

"The sole object of this war is to restore the Union. Should I become convinced it has any other object, or that the Government designs its soldiers to execute the wishes of the Abolitionists, I pledge you my honor as a man and a soldier I would resign my commission and carry my sword to the other side."

- General Ulysses S. Grant, USA, in a letter to the Chicago Tribune, 1862

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union."

- Abraham Lincoln, responding to Horace Greeley at the New York Tribune

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#336

Post by netsharc »

anal_reactor wrote: post #110
roundabout-host wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it depends on how you frame it. > Social media is destroying children's brains! Do you want access to be delayed until a certain age? > Do you want children under a certain age to be banned from social media, which means that you will now have to give your ID, only with Android or iOS?

> only with Android or iOS 99% of people understand this as "you need a smartphone" which is not a problem in 2026, even for the elderly.

Imagine if the requirements were instead "You need to have a phone with an OS controlled by Huawei"... do you see the issue there?

Maybe 99% of people have surrendered to Google/Apple (include me there), but the 1% has a valid point...

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#337

Post by hnisnotbenign »

iso1631 wrote: post #239
Ajedi32 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rights are not inherent properties of facts, they're concessions between people. We're getting pretty deep into philosophical territory now, but I disagree. Human rights, to the extent they exist at all, are necessarily inherent properties of individuals. E.g. If the majority decides people with dark skin are subhuman and therefore have no rights, the majority is most certainly not correct about that, because right…

> The U.S. Declaration of Independence put it like this: The opinion of a few slave owners 250 years ago > We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal For a given definition of "men" > I concur with this perspective Good for you. You have an opinion, doesn't make it a fact.

[flagged]

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#338

Post by AnthonyMouse »

inigyou wrote: post #323
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The scope of the things we already do to "protect the children" is tremendous. None of them have, will, or could prevent them from continuing to use it as an excuse for things that should never be done.

I mean, Facebook conducts genocides and we just, let it do that.

You seem to have jumped from "protecting children" to accusing them of an unrelated war crime for not censoring things aggressively enough.

On top of that, the relevant law they would have to comply with in those countries would be the laws of those countries, and those are the governments committing the genocides.

Re: European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS

#340

Post by grg0 »

christkv wrote: post #134
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #49

Why the hell EU even needs an age verification app? Who's genius idea is this and what for?

Step one in the "EU Firewall" and future credit system. Step out of line and get debanked or other things they will come up with to keep you inline.

Age verification is being pushed by US tech companies.
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