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The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

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Re: The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

#161

Post by bethekidyouwant »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #57
walrus01 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently put some thought into what I would have done if I had encountered "parental controls" to use the Internet when I first encountered it as a young teen in 1992. I would have made it my personal mission in life to circumvent everything and anything possible. I feel fortunate that no such controls existed and the adults in my life knew significantly less about the technology than I did. Was I exposed to some c…

I have a feeling we had a similar experience growing up. I generally agree, but also, we got QAnon/Alex Jones and such which have quite directly screwed up my country. So I don’t know, my opinion is often contradictory and fluid. I don’t know where I stand anymore. I believe in an “open internet,” but also, there’s people like Andrew Tate who have ruined the minds of people I care about. We can debate if these system…

In which decade did “the kids” in your country have “good ideas”

Re: The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

#162

Post by slg »

dionidium wrote: post #111
matheusmoreira wrote: post #3

> These NGOs have converged upon a unified strategy: use the rhetoric of ‘child safety’ to advocate for digital ID laws that would prevent adults from using the internet anonymously. Of course. Anyone who brings up kids is trying to manipulate you into giving up your freedom for security. Whatever argument they make should be simply ignored and dismissed.

> Whatever argument they make should be simply ignored and dismissed. This makes very little sense. People sometimes appeal to the safety of children cynically, but it's very often sincere, since parents genuinely do worry a lot about their kids . You can tell people to ignore these appeals, but it won't work, and you'll be leaving better arguments on the table.

The main example that comes to mind is anything having to do with the environment. “The kids” will face the brunt of our actions (or inactions) on that front so a “for the kids” argument is completely valid. Dismissing a proposal simply because of a “for the kids” element is incredibly reductive and will genuinely end up harming kids.

Re: The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

#163

Post by rescbr »

walrus01 wrote: post #29
anigbrowl wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech people keep ignoring the fact that many people a) find the parental controls too hard to use and b) have no confidence that their kids won't find a way to circumvent them. If parents felt in control of technology they wouldn't be calling on governments to regulate it in the first place. I know a lot of tech people like to assume that government wants to control everything and these parents are fake front groups…

I recently put some thought into what I would have done if I had encountered "parental controls" to use the Internet when I first encountered it as a young teen in 1992. I would have made it my personal mission in life to circumvent everything and anything possible. I feel fortunate that no such controls existed and the adults in my life knew significantly less about the technology than I did. Was I exposed to some c…

Agreed. I was a middle-schooler in the 2000's, had my own PC in my own bedroom, we had broadband access and I, of course, was exposed to porn while I was trying to download cracks and keygens on Astalavista and other such sites. Mislabelled files on eMule too. Links to porn also were readily shared on IRC channels. But yeah, I can't say it had a damaging effect on me.

It was a mix of being afraid of getting a virus from a porn site, knowing that porn wasn't for my age, and late-night FTA TV airing softcore anyways.

My parents told me to be responsible and kind of explained the dangers of the world the best way they could, and it was expected that I'd be grounded and lose computer access if they found me on a porn site. I preferred playing games. I definitely encountered some dark places on the clearnet (and on the darknet as well) and promptly GTFO.

At the school's computer lab they had plenty of content control which I had the most fun trying to bypass them. For what reason? Just so I could.

Re: The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

#164

Post by 6r17 »

cuoder wrote: post #156

UK government (and the rest of Europe) has had a very easy time implementing strict administrative regulations due to public acceptance. And the children argument is like the easiest angle to attack, you can use it for almost any cause and win.

[flagged]

Re: The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

#166

Post by wmf »

Pxtl wrote: post #133

Honestly I wouldn't be so cranky about this if it were proper government based ID instead of creepy Thiel companies doing it. And if it was mostly about posting content anonymously instead of even reading these sites.

Yeah, the US is getting the worst version. We can't have federal digital ID because "mark of the beast" but you have to show ID to watch porn so a bunch of private ID verification gatekeepers have shown up.

Re: The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

#169

Post by wmf »

anonreeeeplor wrote: post #55

It is very unlikely that “NGOs” have the funding influence and power to do this. The more likely source is state backed intelligence agencies. The NGOs are just there to create a buffer. Ask yourself logically - who would pay these NGOs to do things like attempt to extort meta into a $500M+ settlement over “harming child mental health.” This is all connected and intelligence agency backed. It’s far from innocent, it’…

There is Ashton Kutcher. And it's conceivable to me that some wannabe-Palantir private companies might back these ideas.

Re: The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

#170

Post by spawarotti »

switchbak wrote: post #136
walrus01 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or guarantee that even if you provide such data to a nice, friendly, democratically run and ethically managed administration, that some future regime change to a completely different group of people won't result in catastrophic misuse.

This is the issue I have with most of my well meaning but somewhat politically uninformed friends. The idea of “wouldn’t it be good if …” (idealized scenario), is never followed up with a “yes, but …” (realistic evaluation of how politics actually works). Yes it might actually work out ok if a mythical benevolent dictator could manage things with infinite precision and unlimited compassion. I would imagine that has n…

> is never followed up with a “yes, but …” (realistic evaluation of how politics actually works).

OK, but following this logic, shouldn't we disband the government altogether and have mafias rule us all?

When is it acceptable to hope that something is actually going to work well enough when handed over to the government?

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