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Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

mullvad.net

321–330 of 561 posts

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#321

As a parent, what I find effective are content rating systems, be it for movies, games or apps, along with the ability to control and fine-tune them. For example, with Apple's parental controls, I can blanket-decline access to Social Media apps, or to apps recommended for a specific age or older, and I can also allow exceptions as I see it fit (for example, my kids have no access to WhatsApp but they are allowed to u…

It is similar to what Frank Zappa proposed when they were looking at age restrictions on records. He said, they should have the lyrics printed up so parents could decide if their kids should assess it. A decent moderate response.

Alas, the age restrictions came in and the big warning on the front covers was added. It did kind of backfire because that warning started to become a badge of quality to younger people. A similar thing could happen here. If you restrict it then it becomes the forbidden fruit.

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#322
post #154

Can someone help me understand? Why is it not enough to just be able to manually set an age on local OS user account. If unset assume adult. If set applications can use it to verify age. Require admin permissions to change. All responsibility on parents to restrict admin and set the age. No data collection. No responsibility for services beyond a simple check. It seems like an incredibly simple solution with very lit…

Because many children will have parents that arent responsible and that doesnt mean they deserve to be taken advantage of by a billion dollar corporation.

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This put the power in the parents hands. They can set up their kids computer with a kids account and then all software and web services can just ask the OS if the user is an adult rather than all requiring their own ID verification.

Forcing all OS to do this is a bit of overreach though no? If you want to keep your kids safe get an OS that supports it? Why is it the state’s responsibility?

OS-level is so much better than app-level. App-level means redoing the work for each app and increasing the odds of issues.

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#324
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get why a problem specific of parenthood should apply to everyone else. Don't give your kid a smartphone then.

This is such a naive take, I see it a lot. Have you considered they can: * Buy one themselves * Get / use a friend's * Use public internet access points * Need one for school * Use the smart fridge / tv / gaming console / anything with a browser * Access stuff in Minecraft, Roblox, etc You can only stop it by going offline and raising them in a cabin in the woods, which is a whole other thing. What you can do is give…

I think the earlier commenter is right. If a parent fails to... well... "parent" that's on them. Locking down the internet to republican-approved sites only is not the answer.

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#325

>and that you can no longer post anonymously on social media. You cannot be certain that your criticism of the government will not be followed up by the authorities. sorry but I don't get this point. If you're on Instagram or Facebook, did you think fifteen different three letter agencies weren't already watching you? It has the word 'face' in the name, the entire point of that site is that people mindlessly share th…

Also, if the government arrests you for making a post, the issue is them arresting you, not your post not being anonymous.

Like, criticizing the government shouldnt just be possible because you can hide behind a fake name. It should be legal with your face name and address attached to it as well

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#326
post #123

Back to the internet's peer-to-peer roots. Many protocols besides the www The www became infested with so-called "tech" companies acting as intermediaries (middlemen) Lots of folks making money from surveillance ad system on the www. Oversized, unmanageable websites calling themselves "platforms" The www is an ad network. Not a great place for non-commercial activity Fortunately, the internet is more than the www. Th…

Once again American capitalism ruins everything for everyone.

The irony of writing this on this particular board, out of all places.

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#327
post #7
post #2

Good arguments there, and for once addressing privacy-preserving age verification. I just don't like that proponents of age verification are systematically (including in this article) dismissed as authoritarians hiding behind "just another “what about the children” excuse to introduce mass surveillance and censorship". Many people genuinely want to find a solution that is better for the children, and telling them "if…

> Many people genuinely want to find a solution that is better for the children at the expense of everyone and everything else all to not have to be an actual parent. These arguments are not coming from places of concern, they are coming from laziness and people taking advantage of that laziness to further even worse agendas.

Not all children have active parents. I do not believe those children deserve to be taken advantage of or hurt simply because they happen to have bad parents.

The "laziness" argument doesnt work if the people being lazy (parents) are not the people being hurt (children)

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#328
post #123

Back to the internet's peer-to-peer roots. Many protocols besides the www The www became infested with so-called "tech" companies acting as intermediaries (middlemen) Lots of folks making money from surveillance ad system on the www. Oversized, unmanageable websites calling themselves "platforms" The www is an ad network. Not a great place for non-commercial activity Fortunately, the internet is more than the www. Th…

Once again American capitalism ruins everything for everyone.

Not only that. The Eu is also implementing 'age verification', at the same time with - surprise - digital id.

It's just an attempt to reverse the free internet and implement total surveillance.

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#329
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once again American capitalism ruins everything for everyone.

Without American capitalism you wouldn't have computers, the Internet, smartphones, AI, electric cars and countless other things. That, and the Costco hot dogs mentioned in another reply.

Except that the www came out of Switzerland, the first electric vehicles out of Scotland and Germany, the earliest descriptions of neural networks - also Scotland, and countless other things, like Rockets and whatnot, also out of Europe. But, sure, congrats on that ARPANet thing.

Re: Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?

#330
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Requiring parents to police their child's every move is not going to end well.

And having the state do it is better?

Yes, because children deserve to simultaneously not be under constant surveillance by their parents but still be protected from bad actors. Hence we should collectively, as a society, protect them.
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