Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

neilzone.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

581–590 of 645 posts

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

#581

Post by kubb »

_heimdall wrote: post #570
kubb wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't imagine That's admirably honest, but the contents of your mind don't necessarily correspond to the world outside it.

How so? Though not quite the EU anymore, the UK arrests people based only on speech in a social media post. Why should I expect they would be interested in building a truly private, zero knowledge age verification system? Maybe for a more direct example I could point to the discussions related to the EU wanting direct access to all private messages, pushing Signal to leave the EU if that were to pass?

I think they arrested (or just fined?) someone for calling to burn down a hotel with migrants. For you this is an oppressive dictatorship, but it doesn’t match reality.

It also has no bearing on willingness to implement proof of age without additional disclosure.

But yeah not EU, one country in Europe is unlike another, etc.

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

#582

Post by fsflover »

ranger_danger wrote: post #549
fsflover wrote: post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fingerprinting can be extremely sophisticated. Have a look at this test: https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ Only Tor Browser can reliably fight with it.

Tor Browser will not even hide the OS you're using from javascript... so if you're on Linux, you are automatically more identifiable than >97% of people. Also, that EFF site only checks against other people who visited the same site, so the results are skewed IMO. The other comment that links to creepjs is what I consider the best available open source tool.

Yes, the anonymization is not perfect but it's the best you can get.

You don't have to compare your fingerprint with other visitors. Just have a look at the detailed information to understand which things reveal your identity the most.

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

#583

Post by cx42net »

France is currently working on a solution that provides age verification using double anonymity.

The "France Identité" use the identity card of the holder and generates a cryptographic proof of the age. The website wanting to check the age of the holder request the cryptographic proof, validates it against France's public key without querying government websites (that way, the government won't know you are trying to access pornhub).

This is, I believe, I concrete and working solution to age verification without having to provide any sensitive information to any website that will surely loose it in an breach.

Source (in French): https://www.frandroid.com/culture-tech/web/2962099_france-id...

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

#584

Post by Cthulhu_ »

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…

A bit late but in my recollection, this pattern started with Windows Vista asking for admin permission to do anything, like changing your background. Which in turn was borrowed from the `sudo` pattern which had been pretty normalized in Linux land over doing everything as `root`. Of course, I remember kneejerk-sudo-ing a lot.

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

#585

Post by jonathanstrange »

drawfloat wrote: post #580
jonathanstrange wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Being able to limit the influence of external bad actors is the main goal of ID verification. Then they should say so. Elected officials lying to and misleading the public when their real intentions differ is almost criminal. It's not a behavior anyone should ever support. I will not vote for people who do that.

The stated reason is also true in most cases. Imgur was caught harvesting and selling childrens’ data for advertising purposes, TikTok and others are also known to do this. There’s only so long you can avoid fixing a problem before states start to step in.

I don't think "we technically don't lie, we're only actively deceiving you" is a good defense strategy. The politicians you defend need to decide on a narrative for the justification, meandering between different ones is not increasing credibility and a problem on its own.

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

#586

Post by Cthulhu_ »

PyWoody wrote: post #8
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 remember when it first became widely known that the government could see your library checkouts. People protested. It was a big deal in my tiny town. I don't even think it would be even a blip on the radar now. It really is depressing how much ground we've given.

I mean in hindsight, how mental is it that you could look up people's names, addesses and phone numbers in public records?

...I mean I suppose you still can but still, it's not as obvious anymore and people's mobile phone numbers are unlisted by default and not publicly linked to an address..

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

#587

Post by grimblee »

I am pretty sure they know our identity pretty accurately already, through browser fingerprinting and google's gmail data, my real concern is the half-assed security measure with our id cards. The persona breach just recently proved they cannot be trusted and this expose us to identity fraud/theft.

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

#589

Post by aembleton »

bmacho wrote: post #100
ambicapter wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you implement ability to arbitrarily block any network connection on any website without giving an extension 100% access?

> How would you implement ability to arbitrarily block any network connection on any website without giving an extension 100% access? Browsers should provide a filtering option before they makes a request. IMO a lot of no-brainer options are missing from personal computers. Like the ability to start a program with restricted access to files, network or OS calls (on Windows and on Linux). Browsers should provide the a…

I like that uBO can manipulate the dom, so that I can remove annoying divs or animations that I don't want. Its so much more than blocking network requests which I can do with DNS anyway.

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

#590

Post by maverick74 »

thewebguyd wrote: post #314
maverick74 wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Young people on average have grown up with drastically greater understanding of what a file is than any other generation that has come before them. I totally disagree!!! Yes, everyone works with computer, phone, tablet, whatever, nowdays! But does generation z "knows" about what a computer is? Absolutely not!!! While tech has advanced and graduated IT personal know more than previous generations (obviously!), all t…

I agree, but I'd push that to anyone after millennials rather than gen x. I was born in '87 (Millennial) and our generation was the last one to bridge the analog->digital divide, having grew up in both worlds, I think it gave us a kind of unique understanding and relationship with tech that younger folks don't have.

I'm sorry, that's actually what I meant!

It's a comparison between

Gen Y and Gen Z

and NOT Gen X and Gen Z!

It's people born after 1995 that are completely unprepared! Worst: they almost all tend to think they are prepared and that they even know more about it than previous gens (and because tech has evolved they actually accomplish more, but unfortunately they understand a LOT LESS about the underlyings of it!!! Naturally, there are exceptions! Few, however!)

I was in kind of a hurry and messed it up!!! (however, I do tend to think of Y as a transitional generation where late borns - think 92 or after - won't actually remember much of theirs "last analog generation")

So, I do agree with you!

I've tried to edit it but I'm no longer allowed to!

Thank you for pointing out my mistake!

Also, I'm kind of amazed you do remember the analog days! Being born in 87 makes you aware of it around 92 or 93! Past 95 things start to flip and after 00 all hell broke loose (what's analog again?!)!

Most people don't old up much to their 13yo memories! Keep that up! It really makes a difference "today"!

Still it does depend where you live in! This "generations" timeline work well in US cities! But if you change country or if you don't live in a city that timeline doesn't hold up that well! Tech arrives latter and the ways of life get altered later! That's why many people tend to identify more with the previous generations! Specially if you're born on a generation edge!

Yeah... scientists try to put all in one simple bag but the truth ain't that simple!

Post reply on HN