Comment on System76 on Age Verification Laws
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 18 hours agoOn the other hand, setting up a public website/app and trying to lure children to it is expensive, risky, and unlikely to succeed on the modern internet.
Right, when has any website become a platform where kids gather and regularly self-identify?
PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works 18 hours ago
You’re completely ignoring my argument. How many of these websites where children gather and self-identity are created and maintained by paedophiles specifically to prey on childen? So far as I know, there has never been a site like this on the modern internet, nonetheless one that remains up and has been running for an extended period. I don’t see any reason to expect this to change.
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
In light of the Epstein files I would hesitate to say that number is zero. Nevermind that most such platforms are smaller than the giants you mentioned. Or that anyone working for or with kid-filled sites of any size could make it incidentally about preying on said kids. Apparently people manage when they’re just anonymous users.
PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
But like, thats exactly my point. Its platforms like Roblox that predators seek out to prey on children. They don’t create their own. An age verification law will have no effect on that. A hidden backend value thats illegal to share doesn’t make it significantly easier for predators. Even if they did have unrestricted access to user data, wouldn’t a hundred other variables better identify vulnerable users, like use of voice chat and past text messages? Hell, I would expect children with the age flag not set to be more vulnerable, given that it would likely mean the parent is less likely to be tech-savy and/or less likely to be paying attention to their child.
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 15 hours ago
‘This law is fine because it won’t affect child predators’ is a brave argument.
What is it for? You’ve found so many ways to say it’s toothless, optional, trivially dodged. So why fucking bother? Critics seem to agree, it’s a foot in the door for all of the other privacy-defeating efforts going on, now running in protection ring zero. What does this nonsense do, besides set off those red flags? What impact do you honestly expect, versus telling websites to have an ‘18+ only’ click-through?
moonshadow@slrpnk.net 16 hours ago
roblox