If all they wanted was to prove you were over 18 or over 21, those can be checkboxes rather than birthdates. It’s clear the bill’s author is an idiot or insincere.
US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
291–300 of 369 posts
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not the bill you're hoping for: 1. The text implies software should get access to your date of birth, rather than talking about age groups. If it becomes the case that websites can get your precise date of birth, this will be the ultimate fingerprinting vector that will put the fight for online privacy dead in the water. 2. The text talks about "verifying" dates of birth. This can only imply the involvement o…
Ah, I see your point. I could see a way to interpret the language in the bill to mean exactly what I was thinking[1], but it's pretty vague and I could also see a way to interpret it that would seriously hurt privacy. If it's just down to the FTC (i.e. the whims of whoever the president happens to be at any given time) to resolve those ambiguities then that's not something I could support. [1]: It says the parents ve…
The bill mentions a parent verifying a child's age, but the bill also later mentions the issue of "verify the date of birth of a parent or legal guardian" which I can only interpret as a face scan or ID check of the parent
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#293Recent and related:
US national level OS-level age verification bill proposed - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47772203 - April 2026 (223 comments)
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
> abolishing anonymity on the Internet. This is what Facebook wants.
> abolishing anonymity on the Internet. Firstly, you keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means. On the Internet, especially forums such as HN, you are "pseudonymous". That is, you made up a name for yourself, and that's how you're known to others. At the very least, we are all identified by IP addresses, which are again, fairly stable and unique pseudonyms. There are nearly zero truly anon…
The NSF "rules" stopped applying when the NSFnet was shutdown in 1995. Actually, earlier, since commercial providers (upstream ISPs like UUnet, Sprint, MCI, PSI) were not dependent on the NSFnet and did not have to abide by the AUP.
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt this sort of rhetoric will convince a modern audience. Reads like “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.
It's not the rhetoric that should convince you, it's the logic. The rhetoric here is purely to liven it up.
Same could be said for SITHOAG. Yet, modern preachers have found far more success with other approaches.
Consider: if the tone of your writing will put off anyone who disagrees with you, what’s the value in “livening it up”? Again, it’s preaching to the choir.
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#296I compiled most of the operating systems I used from source code as a minor, and will parent the same way. I do not know how one age verifies a Linux From Scratch install, but I sure hope politicians try and give me a good laugh.
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hard disagree. Corporations running the government instead of a nation's people is the problem.
Government should be so powerless as to be unattractive targets for corporate influence.
So you want to take power away from the people even more than now?
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
well, and this bill literally only makes you prove age to ... set up the device. how are we in 2026 and phones dont have guest mode or "i handed it to my kid mode" apple's guided access is a terrible 1% solution to the problem. in one click i should be able to put my phone into some kind of locked down mode that exposes only what is allowed, starting with nothing unless whitelisted, with multiple profiles. in the sam…
> how are we in 2026 and phones dont have guest mode or "i handed it to my kid mode" They do. Android have had multi-user and guest profiles since Android 5. The only reason I really know this is because I heard how Google completely bungled it in Android 14 on Pixel devices[1] :D [1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/10/android-14s-ransomwa...
While age gate attempts are comically stupid, an adult giving a kid a device purpose built for addictive behavior should absolutely be as illegal as giving them alcohol or cigarettes. I really hope Apple and Google are not stupid enough to further enable this.
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where does it say a "full ID" must be uploaded?
how do you validate citizenship and authenticity without a full ID?
A privacy preserving cryptographic digital ID that supports zero knowledge proofs.
...in a world where any legislator ever consulted with cryptography and security engineers on this sort of thing.
What we are going to get is people printing fake IDs on paper and holding them up to a camera.
Re: US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hard disagree. Corporations running the government instead of a nation's people is the problem.
Government should be so powerless as to be unattractive targets for corporate influence.
Sure, but this is only tenable as a technical position that aims to reduce all forms of centralized power. It completely fails as a political position applied to the nominal "government". Politically, pushing in this direction seems to only ever play out as reducing the power of governments over corporations, while often even increasing the power of government over individuals (spurred on by corporations looking to wield that power through the government). Whereas for it to achieve its intended individual liberty, the complete opposite would have to happen - decreasing the power of governments over individuals while holding or even increasing the power of governments over corporations - otherwise unrestrained corporations simply step into that nonconsensual role of government and we're back to step #1.