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I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

neilzone.co.uk

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Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#461

Post by bethekidyouwant »

autoexec wrote: post #277
bethekidyouwant wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is definitely happening and for some reason, no one has any clear evidence on it. Conspiracy theories are gossip for men.

We have all kinds of evidence for it (for example, here's an article about the data sold to insurance companies https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driv... ) and we've had evidence for a very very long time ( https://www.cbsnews.com/news/data-brokers-selling-personal-i... ) The data collected about us online is extensively used against us both online and offline. The multi-billion dollar industry…

We were talking about browsing history, not credit card, purchases and metrics from your car.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#462

Post by drnick1 »

microtonal wrote: post #89
bmacho wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just cookies, it's explicit consent to track you, and sell your browsing history to ~1500 spy companies around the world. To the sibling comments: don't "accept the cookies" and then delete them. - - - I'm super angry at what the web has become, especially at the OS browser community. There is 0 browser (that I know of) that can access the web safely and conveniently. Atm I use Firefox with uBlock which bloc…

Not just the web. Last time I installed Backdrops on my phone (a nice wallpaper app), you would literally approve hundreds of uses of your data when you press Consent . Even if you choose to manage choices, 200 'legitimate interest' options are enabled by default. Even when you are a paying Pro user. Data used includes location data . What makes it worse is that a substantial portion of users block web trackers throu…

> Last time I installed Backdrops on my phone (a nice wallpaper app), you would literally approve hundreds of uses of your data

Why are you using that malware? Is a "nice wallpaper" worth the security risks? Really?

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#463

Post by jatari »

a456463 wrote: post #434
barbazoo wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is likely not a coincidence that so many different countries simultaneously started pushing for age verification. I thought in many places it was related to the upcoming minimum age for social media. To verify age you need an ID. That's how we make it so most kids can't buy cigarettes, alcohol, thc, etc. You could argue social media shouldn't have a minimum age but that'll be the reality it looks like. How do we…

How about you parent better and prevent your kids by educating them against the dangers of said things?Limit their time online and what they can do? Why should democracy be at stake and people's freedoms, just so you can get away with not parenting.

Ok, so what do you do when your child visits a friends house and they have unrestricted access to the internet?

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#464

Post by fsflover »

tempestn wrote: post #444
ranger_danger wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Potential real-world consequences, while they do exist, are simply too subtle to realize. Some actual examples of cookies being used against people: - CBP has admitted to buying location/advertising data from brokers to use in helping locate people to arrest - Phishing and identity theft can be made easier due to cookies... security researchers have even demonstrated 2FA bypass techniques based on it - Price discrimi…

I appreciate the list of potential harms. I'm curious about your last point though. Isn't it trivially easy to wipe cookies from your browser?

It's not just about cookies but also about fingerprinting, which is extremely hard to prevent.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#465

Post by gentleman11 »

bArray wrote: post #6

I was sitting in a room the other day with a young adult, we were searching for additional algorithm learning materials. They searched in Google, and accept the cookies. They clicked on a website, and accepted those cookies too. They then started entering their email address to access another service. I was completely taken aback. I'm the sort of person that either rejects the cookies, or will use another site entire…

simple solution: go to a convenience store. Show your id, maybe 2 pieces. They frown, shrug, and give you an anonymous verification token, usable once (or maybe a set of 20), that you can then use to anonymously verify your age.

Yeah, people will sell these tokens online, but that's not the end of the world. People have bought liquor for minors who sit around the corner from the liquor store since forever. It's still a reasonable comporomise

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#466

Post by londons_explore »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #441
londons_explore wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that just typing 'John Smith DOB 1/1/1900' into a random webform and clicking submit to get in is technically wire fraud. Sure, it usually won't be prosecuted... Until you upset the wrong person and they're looking for a crime you did...

I don't believe it's wire fraud unless you deceive the other party for monetary gain. I realize that's not quite the correct definition but AFAIK it's quite close to it.

The gain is that you get to access the website. Fraud simply requires gain, not necessarily monetary benefit.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#467

Post by jatari »

bradley13 wrote: post #406
barbazoo wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is likely not a coincidence that so many different countries simultaneously started pushing for age verification. I thought in many places it was related to the upcoming minimum age for social media. To verify age you need an ID. That's how we make it so most kids can't buy cigarettes, alcohol, thc, etc. You could argue social media shouldn't have a minimum age but that'll be the reality it looks like. How do we…

Sure, "think of the children", that's the classic excuse. Put on your tinfoil hat and ask yourself: why is that suddenly a topic in so many different countries?

Because the negative effects of unrestricted internet access on children (and adults) is becoming more evident.

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#468

Post by downrightmike »

cortesoft wrote: post #163
bArray wrote: post #6

I was sitting in a room the other day with a young adult, we were searching for additional algorithm learning materials. They searched in Google, and accept the cookies. They clicked on a website, and accepted those cookies too. They then started entering their email address to access another service. I was completely taken aback. I'm the sort of person that either rejects the cookies, or will use another site entire…

I am in my mid forties, been working as a professional software developer for over 20 years. I click “accept the cookies” almost every time. I just personally don’t feel it’s worth the effort and cost to try to avoid it. What “dark pattern cookie trick” are you worried about? I just can’t come up with a scenario where it will actually harm me in any way. All the examples I have heard are either completely implausible…

ublock it all away. ez pz

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#469

Post by fsflover »

cortesoft wrote: post #163
bArray wrote: post #6

I was sitting in a room the other day with a young adult, we were searching for additional algorithm learning materials. They searched in Google, and accept the cookies. They clicked on a website, and accepted those cookies too. They then started entering their email address to access another service. I was completely taken aback. I'm the sort of person that either rejects the cookies, or will use another site entire…

I am in my mid forties, been working as a professional software developer for over 20 years. I click “accept the cookies” almost every time. I just personally don’t feel it’s worth the effort and cost to try to avoid it. What “dark pattern cookie trick” are you worried about? I just can’t come up with a scenario where it will actually harm me in any way. All the examples I have heard are either completely implausible…

> Maybe I am actually naive, but I just have not yet been convinced I should actually care.

You are. Tracking is extremely dangerous to the society.

Before Shiftkey offers a nurse a shift, it purchases that worker's credit history from a data-broker. Specifically, it pays to find out how much credit-card debt the nurse is carrying, and whether it is overdue.

The more desperate the nurse's financial straits are, the lower the wage on offer. Because the more desperate you are, the less it'll take to get get you to come and do the gruntwork of caring for the sick, the elderly, and the dying

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/26/ursula-franklin/

Re: I'm reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services

#470

Post by fsflover »

xXSLAYERXx wrote: post #183
cortesoft wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in my mid forties, been working as a professional software developer for over 20 years. I click “accept the cookies” almost every time. I just personally don’t feel it’s worth the effort and cost to try to avoid it. What “dark pattern cookie trick” are you worried about? I just can’t come up with a scenario where it will actually harm me in any way. All the examples I have heard are either completely implausible…

Feel similarly. And to be honest, even when I do select decline all, I have little confidence that the function does what it says it does.

When you decline, their tracking becomes illegal, so they are constantly in danger of a legal action. It's a good enough reason to declime for me.
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