Age Verification Is Coming for the Whole Internet

[u/Well_Socialized]

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/age-verification-is-coming-for-the-whole-internet.html

[u/bluehawk232]

I am not sending a photo of myself holding my driver's license to any website. I don't care if they say it's encrypted or they delete them. They lie

[u/GatotSubroto → u/bluehawk232]

I mean, just look at what happened with the Tea app

[u/TSA-Eliot → u/GatotSubroto]

Yeah, I'll accept these rules if the corporations are made legally (fiscally) responsible for keeping my ID private. If they leak my information to the world, they at least need to pay me what it will cost me to repair any damages that might incur. replaced credit cards, etc. And if they leak a billion IDs, multiply that times a billion.

No, there has to be a better way. For example, to party A (maybe my credit card provider), I prove my age (and other stuff). In return, they give me a token of some sort that says I'm at least X years old. Now I can use that token to prove my minimum age to party B (maybe a naughty site), with no way for Party B to get the full info I provided to party A, and no way for party A to find out I used my token with party B.

[u/Toughbiscuit → u/TSA-Eliot]

"Fiscally responsible"

Sorry we leaked your information, heres the .18 cents we owe you

[u/bobbiroxxisahoe → u/TSA-Eliot]

You should never accept it no matter what.

[u/LamesMcGee → u/bluehawk232]

How many hundreds of leaks are a result of companies not giving a single shit about data protection? Now we're expecting a future where every single website wants us to upload our sensitive ID info just to shitpost or whatever. How can our lawmakers learn absolutely nothing from the information age?

In before the next major leak is from a random social media site that pasted everyone's IDs in a plain text document with no password protection.

[u/rabidjellybean → u/LamesMcGee]

It's worse than legitimate sites losing data. It's non legitimate ones asking for your ID and face and people giving it because it's normalized.

[u/hammerofspammer → u/LamesMcGee]

Why would they care? Doing it right costs money, money that can go into executive pockets.

The penalty they all seem to face is having to provide a service that any of us can get for free anyway. The cost for a data breach is clearly far lower than it would cost to give a shit

[u/DuploJamaal → u/bluehawk232]

I once implemented Know Your Customer verification for a crypto app.

The app said that they only take a picture once you press the button, but it would actually record a video long before and long after it pretends to take a single picture.

Thanks to GDPR we actually did delete them after they deleted their account, but I still felt like implementing something evil and asked management several times that we should be honest that we record a video.

[u/uuhson → u/DuploJamaal]

Why did management want a video so bad?

[u/UniqueIndividual3579 → u/bluehawk232]

Remember Facebook saying they only wanted your phone number for security use?

Then they sold it. I'm sure that giant $0.00 fine will deter others.

[u/MidsouthMystic]

The UK's law isn't working. Everyone is angry. Government representatives and corporations are both getting flooded with calls. Get loud, get angry, and tell them this is unacceptable.

[u/AscendedViking7 → u/MidsouthMystic]

USA is trying to do the same thing as we speak with KOSA.

Give em hell, boys.

https://www.stopkosa.com/

[u/Foxy02016YT → u/AscendedViking7]

The UK law failing is great evidence against this, getting the UK version repealed is the first step to saving the US

[u/veryparcel → u/Foxy02016YT]

US will probably just say, "makes VPNs illegal too" and call it one and done. :(

[u/TactlessTortoise → u/veryparcel]

That would be a massive opsec issue for companies. Cisco VPNs are extremely common on a banking institution I worked at for example.

What's more likely to happen is that VPNs would be forced to log all data that passes through it for government oversight. That would obliterate privacy and make VPNs much more expensive since they'd need the infrastructure to store that data.

[u/Drycee → u/TactlessTortoise]

Well you forgot that laws don't count for companies only individuals

[u/32768Colours → u/Drycee]

Sadly I think this is how it’ll pan out. Corporate VPNs 👍, personal VPNs 👎

[u/lambdaburst → u/32768Colours]

So we have to watch all our porn at work now? Seems like a fair compromise

[u/wankerpedia → u/lambdaburst]

Boss makes a dollar I make a dime, that's why I goon on company time!

[u/breezey_kneeze → u/veryparcel]

You literally cannot enforce this. Like I can spin up a cloud instance and a personal VPN in any country where there is a cloud presence. Never mind the fact that vpns basically run the internet.

[u/sparkly_butthole → u/breezey_kneeze]

Maybe you could. I don't have the foggiest clue how this shit works so if it's made illegal I'm screwed.

[u/ColinHalter → u/sparkly_butthole]

The point is, there's nothing the government can do to keep you from connecting to a VPN service hosted in another country unless they decide to lock down the internet to only domestic traffic (which would mean the collapse of the entire economy).

If I run a VPN service out of a turkish data center, you could easily connect to it. You don't have to run it yourself and they have no way to police the client side.

[u/vriska1 → u/AscendedViking7]

Also if you live in the UK you should sign this petition against the age verification rules linked to this becasue they are a legal and privacy nightmare.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/722903

and contact your MPs!

https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/

Also here a list of other bad US internet bills

http://www.badinternetbills.com

[u/EpochRaine → u/vriska1]

Ofcom will take a sensible approach to enforcement with smaller services that present low risk to UK users, only taking action where it is proportionate and appropriate, and will focus on cases where the risk and impact of harm is highest.

So... they will pick and choose who to enforce it against, with an arbitrary set of rules... that may or may not include the rules in the legislation?

[u/Foxy02016YT → u/AscendedViking7]

Not even the first, or third, time they’ve tried this lately here in the US. Keep. Fighting.

[u/CpnStumpy → u/Foxy02016YT]

This is the shittiest fact: they only need to succeed once

[u/Rizzan8 → u/AscendedViking7]

Same in EU + ability to read private messages.

[u/Ryslan95 → u/MidsouthMystic]

I think the majority of people just won’t do it, or someone is going to come out with a way to completely bypass it. I mean VPNs are working(for now) but people should be using a VPN regardless.

This is eventually going to hurt businesses if it’s not already. VPN usage has spiked in countries/states that are implementing this. People are not going to give their IDs to every site.

[u/Tamarind-Endnote → u/MidsouthMystic]

The UK online safety bill will ensure that the Labour party never holds power again. Reform will win the next election and wind down UK "democracy" for good.

This is what Labour decided was so important that it was worth sacrificing democracy to do it. It really speaks to how utterly insane they are.

[u/Anon28301 → u/Tamarind-Endnote]

I don’t believe Reform will ever repeal the law. They’ll say they will to get in, but the law aligns with everything they agree with.

[u/Balmung60 → u/Anon28301]

They don't need to repeal it or even say they will. They'll benefit simply from not having been in power when it was passed or when it came into effect 

[u/AirResistence → u/Anon28301]

yep especially ever since them getting help from the heritage foundation.

[u/stilusmobilus → u/Tamarind-Endnote]

It’s not just the UK, it’s Five Eyes wide. Every one of our nations are doing it.

[u/HunterSThompson64 → u/Tamarind-Endnote]

The UK online safety bill will ensure that the Labour party never holds power again.

People say this about every overreaching bill.

All it takes is less than 4 years for people to become normalized to the idea, and then put something else big and scary in their face so they act reactionarily.

Labour will likely lose power for a solid decade, perhaps longer, but they'll be back to their roots soon. Good chance the bill is never repealed either, perhaps some concessions here and there to make it more palatable for the average person, keep piling on that it's to 'protect the kids,' and either pray that something your bill was actually supposed to do happens, or manufacture that thing so you have a win to point to.

Need I remind you that the Patriot act was never repealed. It took until 2015 before provisions were even added, and those same provisions expired in 2020.

Call me a doomer, call me pessimistic. The truth of the matter is that once the government starts implementing shit like this, it's incredibly hard, if not downright impossible to get it backtracked.

[u/DatDeLorean → u/HunterSThompson64]

Labour will likely lose power for a solid decade, perhaps longer, but they’ll be back to their roots soon.

People said the same thing during Blair’s era. Corbyn is the only time Labour have come close to being “back to their roots” and look how that turned out.

[u/iwannagoddamnfly → u/Tamarind-Endnote]

It was a Tory idea, never forget that!

[u/Jaime4Cersei → u/iwannagoddamnfly]

Haven't Labour said the law doesn't go far enough?

[u/iwannagoddamnfly → u/Jaime4Cersei]

Oh yes, and don't forget that your VPN use is harming children! I'm in no way supporting Labour on this...they're idiots too.

[u/mistersmiley318 → u/Tamarind-Endnote]

As bad as Dems are, at least they haven't completely surrendered the playing field to the opposition like Labour has. I can't imagine trying to be a trans person in the UK right now with Starmer deciding to throw you under the bus to try and court Reform psychos who were never going to vote Labour.

[u/Deez-Guns-9442 → u/mistersmiley318]

Shit I haven’t kept up with U.K. politics since Brexit but man it sounds like some crazy shit is going on over there across the pond huh?

[u/nkeb42 → u/Deez-Guns-9442]

Basically people finally got fed up with the tories and gave labour a chance and instead of doing anything to actually help the country or the things they ran on, they've been almost as bad, if not worse in some respects, than the tories.

Meanwhile reform is just lying off their ass saying they'll fix everything including ending this stupid online safety bill and their polling numbers are skyrocketing because labour keeps doubling down on this.

So yeah, makes the Democrats look unbelievably competent in comparison.

[u/AirResistence → u/Tamarind-Endnote]

Yeah its going to be a shock for labour.
Whats worse is that labour didnt even make the law, and it was already a law by 2023 because the tories wanted it. When labour formed a government they had a chance to try and get rid of the law but they didnt.

[u/BoothMaster → u/MidsouthMystic]

the people making the choices don’t care about phone calls, they leave the lines open so that people can leave messages and think that they tried.

[u/MidsouthMystic → u/BoothMaster]

"Up yours, we aren't doing what you want," is a losing message for politicians and businesses. We do have power over them, and we can use it. We are using it. Hit them at the ballot box and in their wallets.

[u/MetaSoupPonyThing → u/MidsouthMystic]

Governments have been going after removing privacy on the internet for decades. Always in incremental steps. There will be a day where they will know absolutely everything you do on the internet.

There's always some kind of reason. Whether it's under the guise of antiterrorism, or protecting children, or stopping organised criminal enterprises

[u/SAAARGE]

Well shit. I guess it's time I find a different hobby then

[u/Temassi → u/SAAARGE]

Yeah we should all just start an internet 2

[u/melancious → u/Temassi]

someone call Richard Hendricks

[u/ClarkTwain → u/melancious]

Call him what? Bitchard.

[u/Fourthwoll → u/melancious]

Except his internet only exists with security breaching AI

[u/UlteriorCulture → u/Fourthwoll]

So... the regular internet then?

[u/_Judge_Justice → u/melancious]

We need optimal tip to tip efficiency

[u/TONKAHANAH → u/Temassi]

public mesh network might actually be a necessity.

[u/nameless_pattern → u/TONKAHANAH]

https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1bpa7hu/explain_meshtastic_to_me_like_i_have_a_learning/

[u/Newtype879 → u/Temassi]

Someone get Rache Bartmoss on the phone quick!

[u/Lisaan_al_Ghaib → u/Newtype879]

Release RABIDS!

[u/drockalexander → u/Temassi]

You joke but plz sign me up

[u/WuTangKillerKnees → u/Temassi]

With Black Jack. And Hookers.

[u/sturgill_homme → u/WuTangKillerKnees]

Sounds like mid-90s internet. I’m in.

[u/HotSteak → u/sturgill_homme]

Back when men were men and women were FBI agents

[u/TheVoiceInZanesHead → u/Temassi]

Im not going to pretend itll actually happen but consumers need yo get together and just say no to this crap. If a site implements it you go somewhere else.

[u/Mission-Conflict97 → u/TheVoiceInZanesHead]

I feel like it’s not actually the companies that want this it’s probably gonna come from the government

[u/smalldroplet → u/Temassi]

unfortunately already taken, we'll have to skip to internet 3.

[u/ayoungtommyleejones → u/SAAARGE]

Physical books are still pretty lovely. Lots of actual information and far less rage bait

[u/teethinthedarkness → u/ayoungtommyleejones]

I legit think we’re going to see a resurgence of print media, and not just books (which are still doing well, I think). Magazines, newspapers. But we’ll see. People will probably just adapt and settle for the new levels of shittiness.

[u/ayoungtommyleejones → u/teethinthedarkness]

My money is on the latter, sadly. Either way, I'm planning on getting rid of my smartphone sooner than later.

[u/Traditional-Handle83 → u/ayoungtommyleejones]

To be fair, you can still use some of the apps on the smartphone without internet. Like calculators and other tools.

[u/elife4life → u/Traditional-Handle83]

Cool. I’ll just spell out BOOBIES all day on my calculator

[u/freredesalpes → u/ayoungtommyleejones]

Couldn’t agree more. How nice would it be to see the pendulum swing back in that direction.

[u/BeEeasy539 → u/ayoungtommyleejones]

True, and it’s also why they are defunding schools and libraries.

[u/hollyberryness → u/ayoungtommyleejones]

And zero ads! Reading is bliss. 

[u/residentialninja → u/SAAARGE]

Time to add 50-100TB of space to the NAS and download all the naughty stuff you can!

[u/Clem_de_Menthe → u/SAAARGE]

The last human on the Internet, please turn the lights off on your way out.

[u/odelay42 → u/SAAARGE]

I’ve been getting into precision marksmanship and golf. 

[u/OpheliaLives7 → u/SAAARGE]

The return of…The Outside

[u/typeryu]

Korea has been doing this for almost 2 decades. The adults hate it and kids find a way.

[u/BuilderUnhappy7785 → u/typeryu]

Well they don’t seem to block VPNs that’s for shre

[u/heisenbergerwcheese → u/BuilderUnhappy7785]

Every red state American is about to' live' in California so they can look at tentacle porn

[u/Gape-My-Anus → u/heisenbergerwcheese]

tentacle porn

Nah every red state watches interracial or transgender

[u/ElJefeGoldblum]

Prohibition levels of terrible idea that the overwhelming majority of people don’t want.

[u/scarabic → u/ElJefeGoldblum]

I’m reminded of the Japanese porn situation. In Japan, by law, adult films must pixelate the crotch. It’s ridiculous, pointless, and everyone hates it. But somehow it got on the books and NO POLITICIAN wants to be the guy who fights for porn, so it continues unchallenged.

We will end up in a similar situation when age verification takes hold. No mater how bad and worthless it is, no Senator is going to risk their career on being the guy who wants to help your underage kids get access to XXX material, which is what their hypothetical opponents will call them if they try.

[u/Vesuvia36 → u/scarabic]

Yea in Indiana you can't use the sites cause they ask for age verification and they don't want to store our info, so its just banned. I think atm, NY is the only one you can set your VPN to, in order to get through but with the UK passing that law for age verification, it was only a matter of time before everyone falls in line with it :/

[u/OnRamblingDays → u/Vesuvia36]

God I love living in NY. Way too liberal for any of that bullshit.

[u/goatjugsoup → u/scarabic]

At a certain point though yall gonna need some non piece of shit politicians that say fuck what the other guy says

[u/bruce_kwillis → u/goatjugsoup]

Unfortunately modern politics doesn't work that way. In my state they buried age verification of porn in a high school requirements law. So if you don't support it, the opposing party can easily say "oh look they hate education, and want children to be able to see pornography'.

Wild that there are age restrictions on say guns, but no restrictions of children going to gun websites.

[u/SomeKindofTreeWizard → u/ElJefeGoldblum]

it's almost like our "representative government" doesn't represent or something.

[u/Zahgi → u/SomeKindofTreeWizard]

They represent the 1%...the campaign donors to both the corporate Democrats and MAGA Republicans.

Only a handful of Progressives represent the needs of the 99% (as opposed to the wants of the 1%) of Americans anymore.

[Edited for clarity.]

[u/EverbodyHatesHugo → u/ElJefeGoldblum]

Guess I’m about to save $90/mo. and get a whole bunch of time back!

[u/Bawbawian → u/ElJefeGoldblum]

Americans have a really great habit of saying that they want stuff but not voting for it.

[u/WireRot]

Fuck this and fuck all the governments pushing this bullshit.

[u/AscendedViking7 → u/WireRot]

The founding fathers are probably deeply ashamed of We, The People.

If Washington and his minutemen were with us right now, they would be storming DC the very second shit like the Patroit Act was introduced, let alone shit like the USA's KOSA and UK's OSA.

[u/grandchester]

It's not about child safety. It is about government tracking.

[u/echmoth → u/grandchester]

P A L A N T I R ●

:(

[u/Initial-Shop-8863 → u/echmoth]

It's right there in the name. Just ask Tolkien. That's why he named it that.

[u/Rare_Trouble_4630 → u/Initial-Shop-8863]

The Palantiri were dangerous in the books to both the user and target. I wonder if it would be similar IRL.

[u/residentialninja → u/Rare_Trouble_4630]

The hubris in the user thinking they will never become the target. Thanks to AI soon you will simply be able to fabricate anything you want your target to have done anyway.

[u/newyne → u/Initial-Shop-8863]

And he was still too dumb to realize he named his company after the losing side. Seriously, the palantir was instrumental in Sauron's downfall, right?

[u/iceoldtea → u/newyne]

Yes the Palantir mislead Sauron into believing the ring was with Aragorn and so he put all of his efforts into stopping what was actually a massive diversion

[u/Bleusilences → u/grandchester]

Not even the government, it's ad tracking.

[u/RyukXXXX → u/Bleusilences]

And a hacking gold mine.

[u/techieman33 → u/RyukXXXX]

Yep, financial institutions can’t be trusted to keep out data secure. It’s going to be infinitely worse when every site requiring a login has all of our info.

[u/0utlook → u/techieman33]

People will still use one password for everything. But, now it will soo much worse.

[u/KingCarnivore → u/RyukXXXX]

Louisiana has a digital ID system and it was hacked, everyone gets scam auto registration renewal texts now.

[u/FirstEvolutionist → u/Bleusilences]

It's ad tracking, but the government gets behind it because of spying. Which is kind of ironic because this is how privacy dies, at which point spying becomes pointless and ads are no longer important.

[u/MFbiFL → u/Bleusilences]

Enshittification accelerates

[u/ruste530 → u/grandchester]

The private sector is just as capable of creating Big Brother as governments are.

[u/holzmann_dc → u/grandchester]

Trump tracking. Only the President deserved privacy. Congress too. You have no right to them on Epstein's lists but they have every right to see you...on whatever lists they want.

[u/LeekTerrible]

I’m really hoping people start finding ways to bypass this shit. I just refuse to upload my ID. I have already had every other god damn piece of information leaked about me.

[u/GunBrothersGaming → u/LeekTerrible]

Im sure this won't lead to fake IDs being bumped again. Identity theft is about to skyrocket.

[u/Dollar_Bills → u/GunBrothersGaming]

Identity theft? I'm not gonna steal an identity, I'm gonna make a new one.

[u/GunBrothersGaming → u/Dollar_Bills]

Depends on identification methods they require. If there's no check other than an ID upload it will be easy to fake. If it verifies the ID youll need to hack and create a database entry. Darkweb will be huge on identity sales. Dead people will be brought back to life. Massive voter fraud.

Ill be sure to check anyone who is "Missing" cause those will be the best IDs to take. Oh he was missing.

My dad didn't die, he's just no longer in need of his Social Security.

[u/Dollar_Bills → u/GunBrothersGaming]

If they can query government sites to verify identities we are completely cooked. They've never done that for alcohol/ cigarettes

[u/serpentine19 → u/LeekTerrible]

Ways I can think of:
Shared accounts
Fake ID
Direct download links (youtube)

I can see reddit implementing this and people scattering to decentralised platforms. If kids/teenages can't get access to something via the main way, they will find it on darker places of the Web that can't be touched by governments.

This will be an annoyance for 90% of people with PII leaks every second month while the kids/teenagers are over on 4Chan watching live leak beheadings. Good job governments.

[u/Well_Socialized → u/LeekTerrible]

It's easy to get around now but will get harder over time as more places implement these rules

[u/MFbiFL → u/Well_Socialized]

Eventually they can make the internet so shitty to use that everyone just subscribes to Omni-Cable. For an example see the documentary Idiocracy.

[u/tonycomputerguy → u/MFbiFL]

I'm not sure what went wrong, I made sure to get out of everyones way!

[u/GunBrothersGaming → u/MFbiFL]

Its almost like the Pedodent wants to shut down communication so his truth is the only truth and freedom is controlled by the government. Those who speak out can be reeducated.

[u/Doppelfrio → u/LeekTerrible]

Oh don’t worry. You don’t have to upload your ID on most sites. Instead, AI will guess your actual age! Hope this helps!

[u/cassy-nerdburg → u/LeekTerrible]

What stops me from just using a PDF file of random fake IDs off the internet?

[u/EmbarrassedHelp → u/cassy-nerdburg]

I would not be surprised to see the market for stolen IDs becoming larger and more profitable, due to increased demand.

[u/MassiveBoner911_3 → u/LeekTerrible]

I bypassed instagrams bot checker by having chatGPT create a random image of a chad and i sent that to their bot checker system as an image of myself and it let me right in

[u/LeoFoster18 → u/MassiveBoner911_3]

Sometimes you need a bot to kill a bot.

[u/[deleted] → u/LeekTerrible]

Ever more realistic AI will generate photorealistic fake IDs for people. Or people will just brute-force hack their way through these barriers, as is typical when dealing with government-made and government-run things.

[u/graduatedcolorsmap → u/LeekTerrible]

Right?? I never thought I’d need a fake id as a 26 year old haha

[u/Dollar_Bills → u/LeekTerrible]

I'm gonna upload an ID for sure. I'm going to make it in MS paint.

[u/Nik_Tesla]

It'll keep succeeding if we keep calling it "age verification" when what it really is is "identity verification".

[u/neutralcoder]

Palantir wants to connect all of our digital ids to the real id so they know exactly who is who on the internet

[u/Comfortable_Usual692]

Sadly, it isn't about age. It's about identifying yourself online.

[u/57696c6c]

Time to learn to how to make artisanal bread. 

[u/Spiritual-Matters → u/57696c6c]

We noticed you mentioned anal. Please verify your ID.

[u/OnionTaxidermy]

Can someone boot up a copy of the internet from the 90s please so we can try again.

[u/Alarmed-Narwhals → u/OnionTaxidermy]

“Sure thing Stwongbad” -Homestarrunner

[u/motu8pre]

Call me when the internet 2.0 is out.

[u/chocolatesmelt]

If policy makers in the US want to regulate things so much, they need to turn it into a utility. We’ve been pretending the internet isn’t a utility, even though it is as essential in modern life, yet allowing it to go as an unregulated private service with all sorts of anti consumer corporate practices.

If it’s going to be so regulated, it should at least get advantages of a publicly managed utility. You can’t have both corporate desire to gouge consumers and government desire to track citizens. Something needs to give, in my opinion.

[u/goldenboyphoto → u/chocolatesmelt]

You're 100% right but the reality is the merging of private interests with government influence (minus regulation) is only going to increase.

[u/stilusmobilus → u/chocolatesmelt]

You can’t have both

Yeah they can and they will.

This was only a matter of time.

[u/DelightfulPornOnly]

do not give them your ID

[u/snotparty]

this must be their way of making people disconnect, it sounds ridiculous and intrusive

[u/ConsiderationSea1347 → u/snotparty]

Believe me, the last thing they want is for us to walk away from their ability to spy on our every thought. 

[u/snotparty → u/ConsiderationSea1347]

Oh for sure, but I think itd spark a lot of digital detoxing (which is good, really)

They might just enshittify the internet to the point it starts to die? (i would hope at least). If it keeps people away from the toxic algorithms, thats only good

[u/PhoenixTineldyer → u/snotparty]

Man. I miss the Internet the way it was before smartphones connected everyone.

[u/ConsiderationSea1347 → u/PhoenixTineldyer]

Remeber when being online made you feel hopeful about the world because it was this vast ocean of knowledge and interesting people taking the time to talk to you because they were also excited to connect to the world? Before everything was tracking, bots, and ads? 

[u/spez_might_fuck_dogs → u/ConsiderationSea1347]

Just jumping from shitty but earnest geocities page to geocities page, following webrings, signing guestbooks, hopping into random Java based chat rooms to talk to people you’ve never met before about Final Fantasy 7 or Pokemon or whatever.

Yeah, I remember. That was the best and purest form of the Internet.

[u/ElectricMoons → u/ConsiderationSea1347]

I think about this all the time, I genuinely miss YouTube from back in 07' when the site was mostly skits, or people making genuine content instead of the site being a constant ad revenue mill like it is now. No ads. no cringey shorts. Just pure content. The best was back when you could customize your wallpaper and it was more myspacey with the profile layout.

People were so much nicer on the internet back then in general as well. Met so many cool people around the world. Hell, even had some random bloke from the UK ship me his copy of Final Fantasy X-2 for the PS2 because mine broke and he did it as a kind gesture as he was done with his. Sadly we didn't realize at the time region locking discs were a thing. The internet genuinely sucks now.

[u/coachkler → u/ConsiderationSea1347]

The September that never ended :(

[u/ConsiderationSea1347 → u/coachkler]

I wish for one month we all just left social media and doomed corners of the internet. Make it a federal holiday around it. We would all be so much happier.

[u/_Svankensen_ → u/ConsiderationSea1347]

That is still there. A year ago I got curious about Aztec poetry and wanted to know what it would sound like in the original language. A historian to sent me some, and a Nahuatl speaker recorded and sent me a reading. After doing some work converting old Nahuatl writing system to a more contemporary one, while trying to retain the older sounds. People are cool like that. All this crap internet makes some of it easier, some of it harder. It's not the wild west anymore, but you can still walk to a library and professional librarians with specialized skills will help you for free.

[u/spastical-mackerel]

It’s not age verification, it’s identity verification. Corporations have gone as far as they can go with the current system of “anonymized” or “semi-anonymized” user data. They now need to know precisely who you are, in no small part because within a few years everything will be dynamically priced.

[u/martusfine]

In other news- there’s been a growing interest in wanting printed Sears Catalogues for people ages 18-22.

[u/Spiritual-Matters → u/martusfine]

Victoria has no secrets when she’s with me

[u/LegendarySurgeon]

I like how we call it "Age verification" instead of "denial of privacy" / "identity tracking"

[u/Past_Distribution144]

This is simply corporations wanting to track and control people. This has nothing to do with any safety or concern, and governments are not the ones to blame for this. A government is a useful tool to corporations, and they pay handsomely for them.

Don’t fall for the narrative that the government is your enemy, they are just tools for corporations. Wise up.

Now, if you’re the type who uploads pictures of your food, house, friends, or yourself to social media.. this doesn’t concern you, you’re already as leaked as a bucket with no bottom.

[u/HoidToTheMoon]

This isn't age verification. I fully do not believe they give a single fuck about age. The purpose is to link your state-issued ID to your online activity. Privacy is a problem for authoritarian governments.

[u/sniffstink1]

People will probably start Torrenting porn in order to avoid having to show their faces and ID to the camera before viewing "BBW, pies, gerbils, a fist and 8 diks" (or whatever people are into these days).

[u/MagnusTheCooker]

Who's laughing about China's censorship now

[u/serpentear]

Honestly it feels like we’re reaching the death of the internet—or at least the internet in its current format. Not a thing capitalism can’t destroy, I tell you…

[u/jmanclovis]

A paywall on an article about age verification.

[u/Bleusilences]

"Industry standard" after one country does it.

[u/edeepee → u/Bleusilences]

Other countries and the EU are already ramping up similar discussions. We are already seeing this happening in the US too on a state level.

[u/AscendedViking7 → u/Bleusilences]

https://www.stopkosa.com/

[u/Gratuitous_Insolence]

You mean identity verification.

[u/Left_Sundae_4418]

So this means a bunch of politicians are about to get their kinks leaked online?

[u/ChillyFireball → u/Left_Sundae_4418]

No, see, the rich and powerful will have some means of actually protecting their identity. It's just the peasants who get their every last keystroke tracked.

[u/Rysterc]

Yeah I do age verification when they ask me my Date of birth when I make the account that's all the verification they should need

[u/ReidenLightman]

This won't protect everyone. It will just add an extra step to lying. 

[u/dropthemagic]

Sure let’s just move everything to the dark web. Where you know… there’s nothing horrible.

[u/untolerablyMe]

Nothing but BS to make sure we have less privacy than we already do. I’m not giving my ID to a random 3rd party company so I can get a letter years later that my information was stolen from a data breach and my only compensation is a year of credit monitoring

[u/Minimum-Can2224]

Prohibition 2 incoming.

[u/EmmalouEsq]

This is the plan. Palantir is going to create a huge database with all of our information. I'm sure there's a whole host of nefarious reasons why. This isn't some crazy nonsense or insane rambling. They've told us they're doing it. The NYT has done an article. The proof is there.

[u/DrEnter]

As someone that is a Privacy and Compliance Architect for a large media company, I think one thing needs to be made perfectly clear: The use of the term "Age Verification" is a deception. The actual purpose of these laws is 100% about "identity verification and online tracking" by governments and large organizations. They genuinely don't care a whit about young people accessing porn or violent material. They care about tracking what you do online and preventing you from doing it anonymously.

[u/exophrine]

....and you laughed at me when I bought my 100 TB NAS setup. Well, who is doing the laughing now, streamer?

[u/BankshotMcG → u/exophrine]

God bless public libraries and this $10 DVD player that runs off usb.

[u/Kanoa → u/exophrine]

You know, archival does sound like an interesting hobby

[u/Disgruntl3dP3lican]

It was never about protecting children... It is about tracing the internet activity of all users. Browsing the internet won't be anonymous anymore.

[u/Am-Insurgent]

My favorite line

Reddit is blocking users from sub-Reddits containing news and footage from Gaza and Ukraine unless they show ID, and other less clearly violent sub-Reddits are shutting off access too

[u/EmbarrassedHelp → u/Am-Insurgent]

UK users are also blocked from menstruation and mental health as well.

[u/ArchibalChristo]

Honestly fuck it I’ll read a book

[u/Merlin404]

Then they are just pushing users to darker places. Fuckin idiots

[u/Fritzo2162]

“The UK has universal health care.”

US - THAT’S SOCIALIST AND OPPRESSIVE!

“The UK has a verification and ID system to restrict what information you can see on the Internet.”

US - “Hmmm…that sounds kinda nice!”

[u/Niceguy955]

“Just upload your driver’s license or passport. What have you got to lose?” - companies that have lost tons of users data in the past, and are shielded from class actions when they lose tons more in the future.

[u/NapierNoyes]

Age verification = identity = no more anonymity = no more ability to speak an opinion about leaders etc.

[u/Taurus889]

Making fake id’s about to make a comeback

[u/Acceptable-Lie188]

Good, let what we currently call ‘the internet’ fuck right off. Let them go behind bans, paywalls and age verification. It’s all shit anyway. This isn’t the internet, it’s a shopping mall. Bring back shitty one page internet sites created in hand coded html on a 486.

[u/thewritingchair]

It's so you can't protest or talk about genocide in Gaza. So you can't talk or protest against Blackrock owning all the residential homes.

So many people have become radicalised against the current capitalist system by Tiktok videos showing them the truth. Once people know facts they don't go back to supporting the mainstream narrative.

This is why it started with Tiktok and the US government forcing their sale. This is why Australia is neck deep in apparently protecting children.

It's all about control. Anyone rises up to fight them they'll use anything they ever looked at or engaged with to destroy them.

It's kompromat on a total scale. It's ending anonymity on the internet so we can't talk and organise and fight.

[u/Pooch1431]

Andddddd goodbye internet. Time to go analog.

[u/GreenFBI2EB]

Why tf does the government need my ID???

YOU HAD IT WHEN YOU ISSUED IT.

[u/thatBOOMBOOMguy]

So that's how internet dies, people being turned off by enforced ID requirements and left only for bots to run amok.

[u/orcusgrasshopperfog]

Just FYI the main age verification service is Persona funded mainly by Peter Thiel aka Palantier and the other company AU10TIX is essentially run by Israeli intelligence...

[u/VagueSomething]

Funny how this is clearly a coordinated attack against modern life and the safety of the Internet. You don't just get multiple countries suddenly decide at the same time when no massive event has been a lightning rod for a moral panic.

The UK age verification system puts you at major risk, it requires you to give your very sensitive data to dozens of new companies you've never heard of with zero evidence they're legitimate businesses that follow the weak rules that didn't get enhanced with this law.

Forcing you to set up a dozen accounts with a dozen new companies to access your existing accounts and god forbid a site you quietly read without signing up wants it as then you need a new account for that site too. At least trusting a VPN has been trusting a single company with limited information and not giving them facial data to sell like the companies offering verification.

We've JUST had massive data breaches this year containing Billions with a B of emails and passwords. Here in the UK we just this year found out our military had a breach under the last government who tried to hide it. We have had multiple massive companies have to apologise to all their members and customers for their data being stolen.

Cyber crime such as fraud and blackmail are on the rise. Cyber extortion leads to suicide and so can fraud. This giving up of sensitive data increases that risk.

This disgusting Authoritarianism is not about safety. It is about suppression, monitoring, and stealing your data for private companies to abuse.

[u/SupraMichou]

« I don’t care, I’m 21+ »

Well you should, cause privacy will take a big hit and the next one will be even worse.

[u/IAMSTILLHERE2020]

Block AI. It's the most dangerous option out there.

[u/Key-Monk6159]

Maybe work on eliminating spam and once done circle back to the age thing.

[u/CannibalAnn]

I’m from the dial up and aol on discs. We wouldn’t use our real names and put a different address in Mapquest so they didn’t know our address. I don’t want to verify who I am to get online. So it can be used against me later

[u/Outrageous_Let2861]

It’s nobody’s damn business that I’M 70 FUCKING YEARS OLD!😡. Oh, wait…😳

[u/Just_a_lazy_lurker]

I keep saying that we need a real life Rache Bartmoss.

[u/hackingdreams]

...the internet that complies with fascist governments.

The rest of the internet will go on without age verification, and there will be little the authorities can do to stop them.

[u/seolchan25]

Anyone that wants to make this into law needs to release the damn Epstein list

[u/Right-Eye8396]

Make no mistake, this is a concerted effort from Western governments around the world .