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Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

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Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#91

"with nine out of 10 parents saying they are in favour of a ban in response to a government consultation" I wonder why those 90% of parents don't cut their children off from social media right now. They have the power to do it.

denying smartphone basically makes your kid an outcast, which might be fine for some kids, not fine for others, but ignoring that, the school basically requires smartphones, even uses apps to open the lockers, or to communicate about group projects.

apple's parental controls are total joke, per app blocks are not good at all, what you want is content type blocks, which of course is impossible.

example: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254480754?sortBy=rank

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#92
post #32

"with nine out of 10 parents saying they are in favour of a ban in response to a government consultation" I wonder why those 90% of parents don't cut their children off from social media right now. They have the power to do it.

I suspect they don't really; once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. (you will reply "don't do that then") But also: cutting one kid off from social networks ostracises them. The parents recognize it's a collective action problem.

> once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends.

Isn't it pretty easy to set up a whitelist of apps/websites kids are allowed to use?

Whether or not that's a healthy thing for your parent/child relationship is a different question.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#93
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, it is arguably dangerous to not let your teen have a phone in a time when payphones (and to a great extent landlines) no longer exist.

Not really because nearly every adult has a phone with unlimited calling, and will allow you to make a call from their phone. I don't want my kids to be someplace where there are not some responsible adults around (drunk adults are not responsible) Note that I agree with your point overall. My kids have phones for times when they are away and might need to contact me. I'm just saying it isn't as bad as it sounds.

>Not really because nearly every adult has a phone with unlimited calling, and will allow you to make a call from their phone. I don't want my kids to be someplace where there are not some responsible adults around (drunk adults are not responsible)

I remember about 10 or 12 years ago, I'd answer every incoming call. Many were wrong numbers (guy who had the phone number before we was, I kid you not, some sort of wine salesman... people were wanting to order crates of wine). But I'd answer. Now, not so much. I get 15 calls a day some days, all are robots. I screen through voicemail transcription most of the time, unless I recognize the number. Blocking does not good. Numbers in my area code mean nothing... a surprising number of robot calls match my own exchange number (why? what's the point?). For 3 weeks a few months ago, one even matched my own phone number but for the last two digits being transposed, but it wouldn't leave a voicemail.

I no longer have the reasonable ability to answer strange phone numbers. If it were just mean, I'd chalk it up to some idiosyncratic neurosis and be quiet, but my own impression is that everyone else is doing the same thing. We not only tore down the old POTS network, we got rid of all the norms around it.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#94
post #39

I believe we could solve a lot of these problems by making it illegal to advertise to minors. I'm reminded of the settlement with Facebook where it was illegally allowing racial targeting in ads for housing, which is illegal [1]. If platforms were suddenly liable for allowing or failing to stop the targeting of minors, they'd suddenly have a lot of incentive to figure this out. The beauty of this is that they already…

How would you know if someone was a minor? Facebook knows even if you don't tell them, but I don't. Would it be combined with the California-style OS age header?

You assume they are a minor unless you have proof otherwise, e.g. billing information. This whole mess comes from advertising economics, which don't need to exist.

Nearly no one is buying things online anonymously with crypto currencies. ID verification is simply a non issue in a world where you actually pay for things. So start making the advertising model illegal (which it should be for its price dumping market distorting effects anyway).

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#95
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect they don't really; once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. (you will reply "don't do that then") But also: cutting one kid off from social networks ostracises them. The parents recognize it's a collective action problem.

> once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. Isn't it pretty easy to set up a whitelist of apps/websites kids are allowed to use? Whether or not that's a healthy thing for your parent/child relationship is a different question.

> But also: cutting one kid off from social networks ostracises them. The parents recognize it's a collective action problem.

OP already gave you your answer, you just chose to ignore it

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#96
post #32

"with nine out of 10 parents saying they are in favour of a ban in response to a government consultation" I wonder why those 90% of parents don't cut their children off from social media right now. They have the power to do it.

I suspect they don't really; once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. (you will reply "don't do that then") But also: cutting one kid off from social networks ostracises them. The parents recognize it's a collective action problem.

So does grounding a kid, so I guess parents shouldn't do that either unless all parents collectively agree to ground their children.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#97
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect they don't really; once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. (you will reply "don't do that then") But also: cutting one kid off from social networks ostracises them. The parents recognize it's a collective action problem.

> once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. Isn't it pretty easy to set up a whitelist of apps/websites kids are allowed to use? Whether or not that's a healthy thing for your parent/child relationship is a different question.

Not easy. Kids can bypass very easy. Like those security-theatre apps companies use - but crappier. Then, once on a site/app like Instagram or Roblox it's a whole other layer of whitelist to manage (if possible).

It's simpler to take the phone away. And iPad. And stop hanging out with your friends that have it.

Phone management is hard to solve for pre-teen and teens.

It's like taking heroin away from an addict. They hate you for helping.

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#98
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect they don't really; once you give a teen a smartphone your control over what websites they visit ends. (you will reply "don't do that then") But also: cutting one kid off from social networks ostracises them. The parents recognize it's a collective action problem.

So does grounding a kid, so I guess parents shouldn't do that either unless all parents collectively agree to ground their children.

That's not remotely comparable. Grounding is very temporary. (not arguing in favor of social media, I'm pretty much against them, but I'm quite interested in how to deal with their existence)

Re: Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank

#99
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dumbphones are still a thing

I really don’t know why there isn’t a brand that’s capitalising on this. Messaging, calls, maps, notes but no way to take or view images. Marketed simply from a global brand.

There are many brands that have tried the "phone that does less" angle. They haven't been very successful.
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