@violetmadder @anton @glassresistor there is no blame here, only the idea that we are all imperfect and maybe we can work together on that, because it is incredibly difficult, and every single one of us is fighting a hard battle that we cannot see
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@Em0nM4stodon Also: why only protect children against hyper-addictive algorithms? Why are hard drugs banned but highly addictive social media not?
@Em0nM4stodon Also an acceptance that it's _absolutely fine_ to drive a young woman into self-harm and suicide to sell her slimming products, or to drive a young man into violent rape, if they're 18 but not if they're 17.
@Em0nM4stodon
Thank you for explaining clearly and effectively the scope of what it actually does. It’s been really poorly explained in most places.
@Em0nM4stodon And now they're trying to put this — all of it — into operating systems.
@Em0nM4stodon @drahardja Being inside HIV advocacy's social network groups for years, I've met plenty of people living with HIV, who prefer to have an anonymous profile (including my best friend) and it's not always matter of "they can't talk to family and their backgrounds about their status". Not necessarily. My best friend is out, I mean family, work, friends, are aware of his HIV status but he hasn't a social profile any longer, except the nickname on my server's gotosocial, because he doesn't want strangers to associate him to a walking virus. Let's talk frankly: when you are on social network platforms for a specific purpose, it's not always the same feedback from people. If you are a company, you'll be associated to your brand. But if you are an HIV advocate, HIV becomes your brand. And Alex doesn't want this.
Not to talk about porn. Everyone of us has the right to watch something "spicy" without being judged. And sex stigma is the reason why age verification hasn't found so many obstacles. The bait of kids protection has pushed, but porn watchers' silence, due to fear of judgment, have made the rest.
And well, let's even talk about blind people like me: most age verifications are made by selfies. Means that if you're blind, you must ask for someone's help to verify your identity on an adult site. Yes, adult sites are not just videos and images. In this algorithmic era, even sex education and HIV prevention could be considered "mature".
Age verification cuts us blind folks off. Cuts trans people off (documents change, face modification with surgery or whatever, etc). And even teens themselves. Take them away from their sex education contents, they're screwed.
I'm not a scientist, not a psychologist or society expert. I'm a computer user, an accessibility consultant, an HIV advocate. And I share my fears: let's monitor HIV related data for next 5, 6 years. I expect them to increase exponentially and sex contents de facto prohibition will be one of the cause. Not the only, of course. I hate to simplify complex reality. But our politicians all over the world are simplifying reality this way: "minors must be protected -> let's create age verification fences".
* making every profile WAY more precious for Adtech, since it's validated and at least guaranteed to be human
Never forget: Meta is massively lobbying _for_ age verification - it's not a battle againt big tech.
@Em0nM4stodon
In all the discussions I see on this issue, the power and the responsibility of parents - is completely missing. These proposals all seems to be a pretext for sucking up all data about everyone from their earliest years.
@Em0nM4stodon you’re quite right in pointing out that the anonymity is lost. That in itself is bad enough. But far more sinister is that absent anonymity people will start to self censor, knowing that the object of their criticism can find out who they are and come after them.
This is what happens in totalitarian states, not free democracies
@Em0nM4stodon Or just say "that's not worth it", stop feeding the f***ing SoMe nightmare and live like adults. 😉
@Em0nM4stodon like seriously, if authorities around the world cared about age-gating porn like they are on linux systems and the others, the world would have been a much better place.
and definitely will have saved much more children.
@Em0nM4stodon not to mention children and especially teenagers will just use sketchy sites that don't ask for verification and are hosted in countries that dont police that kind of thing and aren't willing to enforce foreign court orders or convictions which will just put them in more danger of course the answer that the people who came up with these laws will inevitably come to is well will just make the ISPs block those sites and we make up them fast enough it will be block any unapproved site
Basically, someone needs to just remind Congress that every time they log into Tinder, Only Fans, or Grindr that information is now available to everyone, because those "age verification" docs will be available for hackers to doxx their computers in about 1 second flat.
@Em0nM4stodon
> scale-up state censorship and discrimination
Oh, this is for the security. Of the Epstein Class. The clanging of sharpened pitchforks and the smoke from the torches being lit can already be heard very clearly over there.
> This isn't about protecting the children.
Actually in EU they are much concerned about the security of your wallet. Peddled in a way that masses think their money but rulers can always say "your wallet needs to keep your government issued papers".
As for the #AgeVer – it needs no identity tied to a device whatsoever. But reasonable parents would like to keep their preschool children free from violence and perversions stamped on the politicians' faces.
@Em0nM4stodon I think taking the same "slippery slope" approach gun people do to this stuff is the way. I don't think 'birthdays' matter much, I don't think 'age' is a big deal to anyone in particular when it comes to user accounts or privacy...
...but when you combine the various components coming together, age verification, no foreign routers, secureboot and TPM requirements, and then add a few more, you end up building The Great Firewall of America, and it's much harder to circumvent than China's.
I think a loud movement of people from across the political spectrum saying "hey, we see where this is going, we know that both dominant political parties would love this level of control, and we reject ANY move in that direction" would be the best strategy.
@Em0nM4stodon
Also, recording absolutely everythign every child does online in every context and amassing precise data exactly on what they are able to see and what they want to see, tied to their real identies.
That data is absolutley required to be collected, because if it's not collected, how could you possibly keep them away from things they shouldn't see?
Yes, the push for 'safety for children' puts them in EXPLICT harm and implicit ridiculous privacy invasion.
