Protecting kids online is absolutely important, but introducing mandatory age checks at the search engine level (especially using methods like facial analysis or credit cards) opens up major privacy and surveillance concerns.
Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
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Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#72This is just a step towards killing anonymity and free speech online, as well as a hand out to shady government contractors. We are going to have to give our IDs and biometrics to untrusted 3rd parties just because some people don't like the idea of other people's kids using the internet. If these sites are so bad, maybe laws should instead target that problem. For example, make it illegal for social media companies…
It's hard not to see how this could erode anonymity and free expression over time
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#73This is just a step towards killing anonymity and free speech online, as well as a hand out to shady government contractors. We are going to have to give our IDs and biometrics to untrusted 3rd parties just because some people don't like the idea of other people's kids using the internet. If these sites are so bad, maybe laws should instead target that problem. For example, make it illegal for social media companies…
I am old enough to remember how hard it was to find access to adult mags. I understand that they want to make it harder for kids to access the flood of material that will destroy their brains before they even realize it. Unlimited access to materials not intended and understandable by evolving kids’ brains is not really good. BBC Channel 4 had a documentary in which a psychologist described 16-year-old boys with erec…
> BBC Channel 4 had a documentary in which a psychologist described 16-year-old boys with erectile dysfunction coming into his counselling room.
I think that must be another medical condition or the boy lied, but we’ve all been 16 here and seriously those problems are extremely unlikely. If there is one problem that 16 year old boys have it is a too active sex drive.
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#74Anyone who cares will ask their mates at school, who will assist them to set up a VPN and thus circumvent this silliness. Then the same people who've pushed this solution to their perceived problem will start to target VPNs. The real question is whether they then attempt to ban VPNs. The streamers would likely join in on that, which might be sufficient lobbying for the government to accept it? Fortunately, my 12yo wa…
This kind of regulation always seems to underestimate two things: how resourceful teens are, and how easy it is to route around controls like this with a VPN or a fake birthday
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#75This is just a step towards killing anonymity and free speech online, as well as a hand out to shady government contractors. We are going to have to give our IDs and biometrics to untrusted 3rd parties just because some people don't like the idea of other people's kids using the internet. If these sites are so bad, maybe laws should instead target that problem. For example, make it illegal for social media companies…
The "online safety" of kids is just an excuse, I suspect. Australia really wants to be able to identify and track the ID of all their citizens online. No more Internet anonymity for them.
Reasonable assumption but really our politicians just are that dumb.
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#76[deleted]
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google is one of the few free mail+everything+else providers that still lets people sign up and not give any kind of real-world identity. So you can, on a clean phone or laptop or whatever, create a new gmail account without any kind of auth and maintain that persona. In practice this isn't how people are using google services though.
No it's been impossible without a phone numner for a while now
I made a Google account without even owning a number a few days ago. Afaik only one of my Google accounts has a phone number and pretty sure that's only because AdSense.
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
The majority of the Australian population would agree with the introduction of such laws. It is the minority (such as those of us here) who disagree. So the people have been "heard" and they are getting what they want. It's the rest of us who suffer.
Is that true? It seems like this was more of a complete non-issue in the last election, suddenly implemented once Labor secured power again. I'm not saying your hypothetical popular support is unrealistic, but I don't think anybody actively voted for this. Living in Australia has been eye opening. I naïvely assumed that mandatory, ranked-choice voting would draw a direct line from popular sentiment to legislative out…
> I'm not saying your hypothetical popular support is unrealistic, but I don't think anybody actively voted for this.
Nobody "voted" for this specifically, but every source I have seen says such initiatives are widely supported by the populace. Such as for instance the https://au.yougov.com/politics/articles/51000-support-for-un...
The average australian does not see the internet like you and I do. They see it as just another threat, and one that should be reigned in. Don't get me wrong, I hate this and everything about it, but nobody (rightfully) cares what I think, because i'm a childless nobody who is in the minority on such things.
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#79I think it's telling that this is happening via "policies" instead of laws, because almost nobody cares or wants it. It's also telling that Google and Microsoft aren't in opposition to this new burden, they're giving quiet yet full support. This will *necessarily* entrench the big players through the burden to implement, make it easier to track individuals across different accounts and services, and endanger the priv…
Google et al want it because it finally gives them a way to wall off AI scraping and prove their usage/impression/etc statistics reflect human beings.
It's also clear that this data itself is valuable in the first place, and any company ever would love to be handed it for free mandated by law.
Re: Australia is introducing age checks for search engines like Google
#80This is just a step towards killing anonymity and free speech online, as well as a hand out to shady government contractors. We are going to have to give our IDs and biometrics to untrusted 3rd parties just because some people don't like the idea of other people's kids using the internet. If these sites are so bad, maybe laws should instead target that problem. For example, make it illegal for social media companies…
The aim is to achieve a panopticon.
With a panopticon it doesn't matter whether you are actually being monitored (although it is conceivable that all online data could be reviewed by AI) - the mere idea of being monitored changes behaviour. Loss of anonymity in public spaces, the concern that one's citizen score could be impacted by arbitrary rules, changes behaviour. Everyone will act unnaturally; some people will even cheer on these actions for bonus points.
People should be highly wary of ceding further freedom/authority to government, regardless of the 'children/terrorists/drugs/etc excuses'. The government desire to have order, should not be prioritised over individuals right to live freely. Freedoms are not re-granted by governments - getting them back will mean a fight, not a petition.