Before anyone gets too excited about this because "won't someone please think of the children", remember that government policies never stop where they end. Governments want to be able to track everything single thing you do and "let us spy on you because of DUH CHILDREN" is always their first go-to excuse.
...remember that government policies never stop where they end. Governments want to be able to track everything single thing they do and "let us spy on you because of DUH CHILDREN" is always their first go-to excuse.
Thank you. I thought I was going to have to jump on this and shit talk government age verification, because there are some people here who do let their emotions get the best of them on this issue.
I don't get how anyone can defend it. They'll say things like 'oh, it doesn't affect you, you're not a child.' Wrong. This law gives the government the right to demand identification from you, an adult, before you're allowed to access a website. It's utterly terrifying. Obviously children shouldn't be watching porn, but this is not the way to do it.
My go to example is, they can move it pretty easily to any other currently or future age-gated activity. Guns being a big one. Conceivably, this could slide pretty quickly to stopping people from accessing online gun/militia content. Considering they're trying to push the purchase age up, too, if they ever succeeded, they'd have some level of precedent from stopping legal adults from accessing 2A content.
Handing even more power to the government in regard to the internet is an incredibly retarded idea.
Just having the law creates opportunities for blackmail. Even if you've never visited the porn site, the fact that they are legally required to have a list of everyone who visits makes your addition to that list more credible.
With the assumption as always being that those children are now 100% protected from whatever evil they are trying to banish, and not themselves only slightly inconvenienced in their pursuit of it.
Then maybe the porn sites should have spent some of their money coming up with a more robust solution than asking "are you over 18" with unlimited chances to pick the "correct' answer.
And while I certainly take advantage of the fact things are as lax as they are, I also know I can't even buy an R-rated (possibly even PG-13) movie from the bargain bin at Walmart without an ID check; and that discrepancy always strikes me as a bit absurd.
Yeah, but you can enter Walmart, you can pick up and look at the R-rated movie cases, etc.
The internet is its own beast, and it's hard to do an exact analogy. For starters, you're not buying porn, you're viewing it. There's no explicit transaction, and the government is now trying to patrol and control who can even enter the site. Which again, would be fine in theory, if I trusted the government. But they've shown time and again they want to control everything, perhaps especially the internet.
Barring someone from one site can easily snowball into the people in charge controlling access to all sites. If we set the precedent that the government can ask you for your ID to access a website, the slope isn't so much slippery, as just a cliff. It's a short step to not only all manner of thought policing, but also the end of internet anonymity.
I believe the law relates to making it available to minors for viewing, not just selling. Which is why on occasion leftist teachers get charged with showing porn to their students.
But even putting that aside for the moment, what's the R&D budget for these sites for implementing anonymous "proof of age" systems? Are they funding grad students/PhD candidates in this area? Offering grants? Are they interested in solving this problem at all, or are they simply using "it's impossible" as an excuse and counting on the government's general disinterest in this matter?
I don't like government getting involved in this either, but them getting involved is inevitable when the industry itself doesn't offer an acceptable solution on its own. Nor does it help when the industry practically brags about statistics relating to the average age of kids when they first view porn (which is well under 18).
truly the foundation of every nation: pornography, gambling, sexy movies, and videogaming...
we agree that this ability to demand ID will be misused soon, that much is obvious. but, with all due and sincere respect, get a fucking grip, this rhetoric is pathetic and just makes us all look like uppity, porn-addicted children.
Before anyone gets too excited about this because "won't someone please think of the children", remember that government policies never stop where they end. Governments want to be able to track everything single thing you do and "let us spy on you because of DUH CHILDREN" is always their first go-to excuse.
Thank you. I thought I was going to have to jump on this and shit talk government age verification, because there are some people here who do let their emotions get the best of them on this issue.
I don't get how anyone can defend it. They'll say things like 'oh, it doesn't affect you, you're not a child.' Wrong. This law gives the government the right to demand identification from you, an adult, before you're allowed to access a website. It's utterly terrifying. Obviously children shouldn't be watching porn, but this is not the way to do it.
My go to example is, they can move it pretty easily to any other currently or future age-gated activity. Guns being a big one. Conceivably, this could slide pretty quickly to stopping people from accessing online gun/militia content. Considering they're trying to push the purchase age up, too, if they ever succeeded, they'd have some level of precedent from stopping legal adults from accessing 2A content.
Handing even more power to the government in regard to the internet is an incredibly retarded idea.
The funny thing is they'll never push for any kind of photo ID to vote. That's the one line in the sand for them.
Whoa that's racist bro. Black people are too stupid to get a photo id. /s
Just having the law creates opportunities for blackmail. Even if you've never visited the porn site, the fact that they are legally required to have a list of everyone who visits makes your addition to that list more credible.
With the assumption as always being that those children are now 100% protected from whatever evil they are trying to banish, and not themselves only slightly inconvenienced in their pursuit of it.
Then maybe the porn sites should have spent some of their money coming up with a more robust solution than asking "are you over 18" with unlimited chances to pick the "correct' answer.
And while I certainly take advantage of the fact things are as lax as they are, I also know I can't even buy an R-rated (possibly even PG-13) movie from the bargain bin at Walmart without an ID check; and that discrepancy always strikes me as a bit absurd.
Yeah, but you can enter Walmart, you can pick up and look at the R-rated movie cases, etc.
The internet is its own beast, and it's hard to do an exact analogy. For starters, you're not buying porn, you're viewing it. There's no explicit transaction, and the government is now trying to patrol and control who can even enter the site. Which again, would be fine in theory, if I trusted the government. But they've shown time and again they want to control everything, perhaps especially the internet.
Barring someone from one site can easily snowball into the people in charge controlling access to all sites. If we set the precedent that the government can ask you for your ID to access a website, the slope isn't so much slippery, as just a cliff. It's a short step to not only all manner of thought policing, but also the end of internet anonymity.
I believe the law relates to making it available to minors for viewing, not just selling. Which is why on occasion leftist teachers get charged with showing porn to their students.
But even putting that aside for the moment, what's the R&D budget for these sites for implementing anonymous "proof of age" systems? Are they funding grad students/PhD candidates in this area? Offering grants? Are they interested in solving this problem at all, or are they simply using "it's impossible" as an excuse and counting on the government's general disinterest in this matter?
I don't like government getting involved in this either, but them getting involved is inevitable when the industry itself doesn't offer an acceptable solution on its own. Nor does it help when the industry practically brags about statistics relating to the average age of kids when they first view porn (which is well under 18).
It's already here.
https://cleanbrowsing.org/
The tools are all there, nobody wants to use them because
A: Puritans can no longer pearl clutch because there is an actual solution
B: politicians can't trojan horse digital id
C: coomers gonna coom
D: parents would rather complain to daddy government than actually protect their children.
truly the foundation of every nation: pornography, gambling, sexy movies, and videogaming...
we agree that this ability to demand ID will be misused soon, that much is obvious. but, with all due and sincere respect, get a fucking grip, this rhetoric is pathetic and just makes us all look like uppity, porn-addicted children.
OK, groomer.