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Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

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Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#61

Post by bluefirebrand »

post-it wrote: post #58
Bender wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elections are easier to solve technically . No mail in ballots. Require state ID in person at the voting center. But that's a different topic that can get divisive, long and derailed very quickly.

Only if you're fine with disenfranchising voters. In which case, securing elections is the easiest thing in the world: I vote and nobody else does. It's securing elections while not disenfranchising voters that's the hard part.

> Only if you're fine with disenfranchising voters

I don't love disenfranchising voters but I think it's probably better than allowing elections to be vulnerable to foreign tampering, don't you think?

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#62

Post by storus »

asdff wrote: post #35

What is the final defense? I suppose we create underground relay networks of radio networks within cities that allow for computers to connect directly to eachother, and from there we seed all our pirated content and discuss whatever the hell we'd like. Maybe we'd have to contend with low bandwidth when we connect outside our own city network, using larger wavelength radio to bounce off the ionosphere across the plane…

Self-destruct drones with mesh node transmitters? Radiowave reflectors placed at strategic spots blended with the surroundings? IR multicast transmitters?

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#63

Post by ddddddrop »

big85 wrote: post #46
edoceo wrote: post #24

There has got to be a way to assert that a user is human, and over some age, without having to identify which specific human that is.

I suspect something like this is on the way, in the long term. Every site has some Cloudflare captcha or the like to guard against the AI scraper bots. Eventually, we may need some kind of token which is only issued to real humans.

[dead]

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#64

Post by smalltorch »

raincole wrote: post #38
asdff wrote: post #35

What is the final defense? I suppose we create underground relay networks of radio networks within cities that allow for computers to connect directly to eachother, and from there we seed all our pirated content and discuss whatever the hell we'd like. Maybe we'd have to contend with low bandwidth when we connect outside our own city network, using larger wavelength radio to bounce off the ionosphere across the plane…

The final defense is always to change the government (one way or another). When we need to resort to technical mean we have lost.

True, I always wonder how that would actually play out.

The geeks would likely be the elite class force to tumble it if it ever became necassary I reckon.

>That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#65

Post by copperx »

post-it wrote: post #55
jm4 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would be breaking numerous laws, your transmitters would be removed quickly, you would be out thousands of dollars in equipment, and no one would be on your network anyway. You would almost certainly go to jail if you tried this.

Not that quickly. Tracking down a low-power transmitter in an urban core is technically feasible but a lot of work. Police don't like doing work.

The police? Wouldn't that be the FCC?

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#66

Post by Bender »

copperx wrote: post #65
post-it wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that quickly. Tracking down a low-power transmitter in an urban core is technically feasible but a lot of work. Police don't like doing work.

The police? Wouldn't that be the FCC?

Yes the FCC. Here [1] were their recent enforcement actions in April 2026 and in May 2026 [2].

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeMjMlHpus8

[2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFutq5wyYcI

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#67

Post by Gigachad »

nodrog3000 wrote: post #30
edoceo wrote: post #24

There has got to be a way to assert that a user is human, and over some age, without having to identify which specific human that is.

This is an impossible task. If a certain business wants to make human id required, let them. It should not be enforced by government. You have full control over your router and kid's devices so start there. Not anyone else's responsibility.

Parents are the main ones begging for this change. They are losing the war against Zuckerberg

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#68

Post by Gigachad »

Bender wrote: post #56
m12k wrote: post #34

I feel genuinely conflicted: On the one hand I get the "authoritarian overreach heebie-jeebies", that I think a lot of people on HN probably share. On the other hand I'd also really like the West to harden its election processes from election interference by its adversaries (e.g. Russia) - and shoring up dysinfo on e.g. Facebook by requiring users to prove their identity with a government ID is one of the only ways t…

Elections are easier to solve technically . No mail in ballots. Require state ID in person at the voting center. But that's a different topic that can get divisive, long and derailed very quickly.

The problem is not fake votes, it’s boomers having their brains cooked by AI videos coming from Russia they can’t identify as fake.

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#69

Post by Bender »

Gigachad wrote: post #67
nodrog3000 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an impossible task. If a certain business wants to make human id required, let them. It should not be enforced by government. You have full control over your router and kid's devices so start there. Not anyone else's responsibility.

Parents are the main ones begging for this change. They are losing the war against Zuckerberg

They need to be informed there are options that do not involve giving their information and their children's information to shady vendors.

Re: Think of the children: How to force real ID for all internet traffic (2023)

#70

Post by singingtoday »

Bender wrote: post #49
memoriesofsmell wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trusted IPSec tunnels to form your own trusted internet of peers/friends within the internet. It's all just 'a LAN' then. I dunno how well that scales, but it's a lot easier than trying to sort out radio shenanigans (which in my experience are actually regularly enforced by FCC/your local equivalents).

That's been done a few times with Tinc (open source VPN) [1][2]. It's great until the group includes one bad apple. All it takes is one person with low impulse control, low opsec to bring the whole thing down. Some hacker groups did this some time ago. [1] - https://www.tinc-vpn.org/ [2] - https://www.linode.com/docs/guides/how-to-set-up-tinc-peer-t...

That's just the technical problem. It can be solved.
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