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

mullvad.net

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

#51

Post by harshreality »

falkensmaize wrote: post #31

One very simple way to give parents control over what their children see and participate in without violating everyone else’s privacy is to create adult and social TLDs and require these sites to migrate to them. So instagram.com becomes instagram.social, etc. Then mandate that all consumer network equipment mfrs and internet providers provide easily accessible ways to block these TLDs. Maybe combine that with some p…

There was some optimism with .xxx that adult content producers would voluntarily switch over. Spoiler: almost none of them did, except for domain name availability reasons.

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

#52

Post by carlosjobim »

tobadzistsini wrote: post #23

Growing up I remember all the ads about avoiding narcotics talking about getting hooked on free samples and then going to jail for theft and/or possession. The people behind that propaganda didn't know drugs do cost money, dealers being dorky teens and twenty-somethings who are about as dangerous as a butterfly. But this propaganda also illustrates how some elements aren't very bright. The internet age with free emai…

> getting hooked on free samples

It's not a free "sample": drug dealers give their stuff for free at parties where vulnerable young people are in the form of sharing what they are themselves taking. Then they have that teen on the hook for extortion and having them do things or pay "debts". I "gave" you some drugs because you're my friend, but now you have to pay back, you have to do this favor, take this stuff from here to there. Another common thing is that the "debt" has to be paid in money again and again and again. You don't want us to go talk to your parents who think you're their perfect little boy/girl? You don't want them to know that you took drugs, do you?

As dangerous as a butterfly... It's a filthy world on all levels, filled with demonic people who spend all their time thinking about how to use and abuse others - the more innocent the better.

I know it's a tangent.

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

#53

Post by cindyllm »

carlosjobim wrote: post #52
tobadzistsini wrote: post #23

Growing up I remember all the ads about avoiding narcotics talking about getting hooked on free samples and then going to jail for theft and/or possession. The people behind that propaganda didn't know drugs do cost money, dealers being dorky teens and twenty-somethings who are about as dangerous as a butterfly. But this propaganda also illustrates how some elements aren't very bright. The internet age with free emai…

> getting hooked on free samples It's not a free "sample": drug dealers give their stuff for free at parties where vulnerable young people are in the form of sharing what they are themselves taking. Then they have that teen on the hook for extortion and having them do things or pay "debts". I "gave" you some drugs because you're my friend, but now you have to pay back, you have to do this favor, take this stuff from…

[dead]

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

#54

Post by [deleted] »

dyauspitr wrote: post #39
falkensmaize wrote: post #31

One very simple way to give parents control over what their children see and participate in without violating everyone else’s privacy is to create adult and social TLDs and require these sites to migrate to them. So instagram.com becomes instagram.social, etc. Then mandate that all consumer network equipment mfrs and internet providers provide easily accessible ways to block these TLDs. Maybe combine that with some p…

Block how? You can block sites now and all it takes is a proxy/vpn to get around it. Nothing short of personalized age verification will work. The best we can do is make sure the age verification system is centralized by the government. The client sites can’t see who you are and the centralized government server should not be able to see the sites you visit. The only way this can go wrong is if the client sites collu…

[deleted]

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

#55

Post by _heimdall »

dyauspitr wrote: post #39
falkensmaize wrote: post #31

One very simple way to give parents control over what their children see and participate in without violating everyone else’s privacy is to create adult and social TLDs and require these sites to migrate to them. So instagram.com becomes instagram.social, etc. Then mandate that all consumer network equipment mfrs and internet providers provide easily accessible ways to block these TLDs. Maybe combine that with some p…

Block how? You can block sites now and all it takes is a proxy/vpn to get around it. Nothing short of personalized age verification will work. The best we can do is make sure the age verification system is centralized by the government. The client sites can’t see who you are and the centralized government server should not be able to see the sites you visit. The only way this can go wrong is if the client sites collu…

Whether such a system could be bypassed by a VPN would depend on exactly how the age verification works and whether said government decides to ban the use of VPNs.

More importantly, I don't personally have any faith that at least the US government could properly define and build a system that is reliably and provably resistant to tracking. The government has incentives to want to know what sites a person visits, the NSA would be loathed to allow that opportunity to go unused. The government also likely doesn't have the skills or resources to do it in house, I'd expect them to outsource it at an absurd cost to a third party that would also have incentives to want to track usage data through the system.

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

#56

Post by _heimdall »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #45

The problem is kids on social media. This doesn't need to be a problem for anyone except social media companies and social media users. Sloppy policymaking is making it a broader problem, but I don't think this is some nefarious scheme (at least in the U.S., it looks sketchier in Europe). It's just policymakers pulling the first proposal off the shelf to respond to intense demand for a policy from voters.

That's a problem, but I'm not sure its the problem. There are plenty of issues that wouldn't be fixed by prevent kids from using social media.

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

#58

Post by drivebyhooting »

Cider9986 wrote: post #34
Animats wrote: post #5

So, to post something in 2027: - You have to have an approved browser. - It has to be installed on an approved platform, Google or Apple, for which you have a valid account. - You have to have an account on the posting platform. - You have to get past moderation on the posting platform. That's without age verification.

You can't sign up for a Facebook account without giving a live selfie. Any image of your family you post will be scraped by Clearview AI, bypassing the restrictions that make it hard for you to create accounts, to create a worldwide facial recognition system.

It gets worse. Banks now require pictures of faces to fucking close the account and pull the money out.

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

#59

Post by Xorakios »

Avicebron wrote: post #4
palata wrote: 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…

Do you believe people should be able to traverse the internet anonymously?

Yes. At least to read.

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

#60

Post by xeonmc »

harshreality wrote: post #51
falkensmaize wrote: post #31

One very simple way to give parents control over what their children see and participate in without violating everyone else’s privacy is to create adult and social TLDs and require these sites to migrate to them. So instagram.com becomes instagram.social, etc. Then mandate that all consumer network equipment mfrs and internet providers provide easily accessible ways to block these TLDs. Maybe combine that with some p…

There was some optimism with .xxx that adult content producers would voluntarily switch over. Spoiler: almost none of them did, except for domain name availability reasons.

Plot twist: in a few years all the indie and counterculture web appropriates .xxx domains to evade AI crawling and legislative interference.
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