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Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

android-developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#511

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

Gander5739 wrote: post #500
autoexec wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assumed that when he asked "What might those be?" he was talking about privacy preserving ways to address that same false justification. I'm not sure how you took it some other way.

But the commenter's original suggestion, that "apps and websites ... simply include a recommended age", is privacy preserving, no?

They didn't say OP's proposal wasn't privacy-preserving, but that preservation of personal privacy is contrary to the actual reason that age checks are being pushed by politicians.

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#512

Post by MichaelZuo »

palata wrote: post #390
MichaelZuo wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t that… life? Even literal regulated electricity utilities aren’t expected to provide service to every last marginal customer. For example, a poor old grandma missing many electricity bill payments usually will see leniency if she is polite, the utility eventually won’t try to collect cash anymore and instead put a lien on the home while continuing to provide service. But if the billing department receives multip…

Not entirely sure what you are trying to say, other than you don't really care as long as you are not the one who is marginalised. Anyway it's generally a tradeoff: is it worth doing it? By adding very strict age verification systems and marginalising people, do we make society globally better or not? Will those age verification systems work to prevent underage people from accessing the stuff we don't want them to ac…

Since my old reply was flagged, this now seems like coordinated trolling.

I really doubt you are genuinely incapable of understanding what “regulated electricity utilities” or “expected to provide service” means.

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#513

Post by aceazzameen »

codedokode wrote: post #483
aceazzameen wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't video games solved this a long time ago with age ratings on the games themselves? Sony and Microsoft's parental controls are convoluted garbage with logins galore. But Nintendo's, at least on the Switch 1, was dead simple. You enable parental controls, set an age rating, and password. Done. There's an app to set time limits, whitelist/blacklist games, etc. That was the easiest UX I've seen. Games (apps) dont…

The problem that apps are not games. For example, a messaging app might not allow to add contacts or subscribe to channels (blogs) without parent permission in "child mode", and have no restrictions in "adult mode". And Youtube might hide some videos and topics in "child mode". Obviously, you could make several versions for the app, but that is code duplication and nobody likes it.

There's games like Fortnite that have multiple games and modes within it, each with separate age ratings. Fortnite's parental controls allow parents to whitelist the various features/modes.

All I see are issues that have been solved before, that app developers have never had to think about. And big tech is lobbying to reinvent it so they can consume more data in disguise.

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#514

Post by MichaelZuo »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #372
MichaelZuo wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn’t make sense? How does “freedom” relate to an electrical utility deciding whether to cut service?

"Freemdom" is accepting that mostly marginalized people get their power cut because they are marginalized. Your reaction to that is to shrug and move on instead of investigating the systems below that keep the marginalized as so. Even if we take marginalization out of it, this is the same kind of system that let's Healthcare recklessly utilize AI Systems to automatically reject patients' care, with a Herculean effort…

Even after re-reading this comment, it still reads like gibberish. As if my example was half read, or not at all.

By definition, a billing department of a utility has to be able to “marginalize”… in order to function.

There’s literally no other way I can see for it to work.

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#515

Post by Gander5739 »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #511
Gander5739 wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the commenter's original suggestion, that "apps and websites ... simply include a recommended age", is privacy preserving, no?

They didn't say OP's proposal wasn't privacy-preserving, but that preservation of personal privacy is contrary to the actual reason that age checks are being pushed by politicians.

Apologies, then, I misinterpreted

> That [solution] just entertains the false justification for what is ultimately about surveillance and control.

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#516

Post by 1dom »

DSMan195276 wrote: post #431
1dom wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be being overly cynical here, but I think part of the problem is parents expect to give their kids the internet so they don't have to spend so much time/attention with them. I think this means any solution which involves active parent participation is going to get shunned by a vocal subset. I'm in my mid 30's. When I was very young I remember my Dad semi-regularly having to email or even fax off permission sl…

> I might be being overly cynical here, but I think part of the problem is parents expect to give their kids the internet so they don't have to spend so much time/attention with them. > I think this means any solution which involves active parent participation is going to get shunned by a vocal subset. I don't think that's a fair assessment personally, rather you've missed a key detail that things are significantly m…

I don't mean to be confrontational, but the key detail you thought I missed, about it being complicated, was a fairly crucial part of my point that you've overlooked:

My parents when I was young ended up having to figure out how to use digital cameras, scanners, printers, fax machines and then print, sign and sometimes even post off a letter for me to access one website which I wanted, which could take hours of their time in a process that took literally weeks. This was in the early 2000s, when scanners and digital cameras weren't exactly user friendly. They had to do this sometimes multiple times a month. Every website was different, there was no universal permission slip. But they did it. Eventually, they too got bored and gave up, or maybe I just grew out of it.

Point being, the tools have always existed, and always felt inappropriate or convoluted, but my parents at least were happy to do it for their kids 20+ years ago. From what you're telling me, they're now a lot faster and easier to access and use.

Even if the tools were made to take only a few minutes to setup, there would still be a vocal set of parents unintentionally arguing that everyone should suffer with overbearing ID tools so they can spend less time supervising their kids internet usage.

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#518

Post by SirMaster »

mikeocool wrote: post #417
SirMaster wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know you can also just not use Instagram...

I used to quite like instagram when it was a good way to keep up with a well curated group of friends who would share occasional interesting photos (though even then it could end up being performative). But you’re right, these days I’ve largely stopped using after i realized every time I opened it, I was looking at a stream of drivel designed to keep me scrolling.

It just seems dumb to me. These companies don't have any power, if people simply exercised their free will and stopped using the platforms they would die off.

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#519

Post by inigyou »

roblabla wrote: post #509
inigyou wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the government would limit me to accessing only 999 porn sites a day? Is it going to be like structuring law, where it's illegal to access 1000 or more but it's also illegal to avoid accessing 1000 or more by accessing a lower number?

The government won't limit you - they can't really know what you use those proofs for anyways, that's the zero knowledge part, and supposedly they'll be necessary for social media at some point, so a ZK proof won't necessarily mean porn use. The only thing the govt knows is how many proofs are being downloaded. And you can bet politicians wouldn't do anything to prevent voting-age you from accessing social media - ho…

How many proofs will be illegal to download? Will downloading and discarding proofs in an infinite loop be a crime?

Re: Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year

#520

Post by neop1x »

Will this prevent children from using Whatsapp, Messenger, Telegram and similar because this is where "dangerous" content is being shared. How will children communicate and cooperate on school assignments if those are blocked? Will only plain/text SMS be allowed to be used by children? What if someone texts them and offers money if they meet with a stranger. Maybe it's time to age-block SMS app too. Or maybe children should not use any smartphones. Or maybe they should use a special "android for children" where only a school approved apps can be run. I don't think this age API and age verification is needed!
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