This consolidation of power is a dream come true for the Big Tech platforms, but it’s a nightmare for users. While the megacorporations get more traffic and a whole lot more user data (read: profit), users are left with far fewer community options and a bland, corporate surveillance machine instead of a vibrant public sphere. The internet we all fell in love with is a diverse and colorful place, full of innovation, connection, and unique opportunities for self-expression. That internet—our internet—is worth defending.
What if devices would have a private chip to have the ID, so the website would just request if user is underage or not. Would this be private? Instead of sending the whole id to the online platform?
Yeah I could see something like that. It would be similar to log in with Google or Apple. They would be a trusted 3rd party that has the responsibility of validating age and they just pass on a pass or fail to the site.
Some kind of anonymous token that says “I’m adult” and smart card on credit cards are kind of that, but they have a unique identifier that identifies you. They’re not anonymous which is the only acceptable kind of adult verification. It makes more sense to cordon off all parts of the internet with identity/age verification and consider them destroyed. I’d like to have an IP banlist of all participants in his harebrained scheme, just rip off the bandair immediately rather than have them shit the bed down the line.
i find it interesting that some of the most debased, vile, disgusting perverts to ever live are passing laws to force regular, everyday people to dox themselves just so they can see a tig ol gilf bitty.
I am disinclined to believe that this is a death-sentence for smaller platforms longterm.
Depends on the nature of the platform. It is not good for small commercial entities that will be required to enact a ID verification system because it will increase the cost of entry to the market.
Increasing the cost of entry will benefit large corporations that will easily absorb the cost. Platforms that don’t require it will likely be unaffected.
It is not good for small commercial entities that will be required to enact a ID verification system because it will increase the cost of entry to the market.
As someone who works in this space, I doubt it’s going to be an issue for smaller entities. We already have SSO for basic login identity from a variety of providers (Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple) — smaller sites already love to use these as it provides easy access to existing users, and saves a ton of coding for having to handle login information, password management, etc.
These same entities can handle the age verification. Now I can see arguments as to why centralizing logins and age verification like this could be a problem for users, but if I decided to start my own social media app tomorrow I’d likely rely on the big platforms to handle all of this (as we already see everywhere — heck, app for ordering pizza support Facebook, Google, and Apple logins), and save myself the cost and hassle of implementing this myself (never mind the potential embarrassment and liability should someone hack my site). Then it’s on those platforms to worry about age verification.
All of these services are currently free, and save you from a ton of coding around user accounts and authentication, so using them is usually cheaper then having to DIY it.
I will take your word for it then. Thanks for letting me know.
Hopefully, in the EU at least, the verification will be provided by the government. Like a 2FA, meaning Big Tech would only get a verified token and nothing else.
The government already got passports with our face, and have had it for many years. They could use that information.
That would mean that any platform could implement this verification, and never get hold on any data.
Best case in a shitty scenario, I know.
No. There’s no “hopefully” anything when it comes to this bullshit. It’s bad for the individual, full stop. This is not a thing to compromise on, because any compromise at all will eventually harm the users (though leaks/hacks, or government overreach, etc.) without any actual benefit or offset to them.
Its bad, but a govt service is the best implementation.
Will vpns still work? What would the legal ramifications be if you used one?
You can’t always simply VPN around it. I applied for a job via one of the popular job sites. Tried to log back in to the job site a week later only to to find my account had been blocked until I provide proof of ID to a US based third party company …I’m in Europe. Spoiler alert: I did not provide proof of ID & so have no idea whether or not I was a suitable applicant for the job.
Guess i won’t be job hunting through that site again. The whole thing is farcical.
Well done for not backing down, mate. Fuck the private info scrapers.
there need to be dedicated 3rd party age verification services separate from the site. the people with my identity info don’t need to see what i’m doing on the site, and the site doesn’t need to know my identity any more than a general age group.
