I know I'm banging on the same drum here, but every website, every search engine, every private chat or e-mail server might potentially be a host for pornographic content. These laws are a recipe for requiring ID to access the internet at all. This isn't about protecting children: it's about stripping you of your anonymity, and the right needs to stop encouraging it.
You go on some of these porn sites, and they practically brag about how young the median person is the first time they watch porn. So I don't take the industry at its word that they care about the "rights" of their users.
That said, it'd be nice if the industry and/or governments actually put some thought into solutions other than "you have to snap a photo of yourself holding your driver's license" or "we're just shutting off the site in this jurisdiction". And I think a big part of the problem is that the tech industry as a whole doesn't see this as a problem, so they aren't particularly incentivized to think very hard about a solution.
Here's one possible solution I spent 30 seconds thinking about: a "trusted certificate authority" issues "proof of age of majority" certificates the same way they would issue an email cert, a PDF signing cert, or an SSL cert for a web site. All it attests is the person to whom the cert was issued is over 18. Issue it on a secure dongle or smart card so it's harder to put them online, add browser support for the things, and you're off.
Is it perfect? No. Is it better than an "are you over 18?" prompt that gives you unlimited chances to click "yes" if you're stupid enough to click "no" the first time? Yes. Could someone come up with a better solution if they had a team of engineers spend a bunch of time and money taking the problem actually seriously (at least as serious as they treated the "problem" of "online 'disinformation'")? Almost certainly.
Honestly some targeted industry pressure would be enough. We could always find that stuff on the net but back in the day it used to take a few more steps. It's the commercial websites and social media groomers making it easy for most kids to see these days. There used to be the tech savvy kid who would bring internet porn to school to show his friends. Now spez doles out his favorite interracial fetish videos like candy on reddit, and google despite having an adult content policy lets them put a reddit icon on your home screen to make it easier.
People are upset these days that people post pseudonymously. Lots o noobs, basically, saying dumb shit with their real name right on it. They think they are protected from the consequences because they hold popular political opinions
Bingo. They specifically avoid addressing the actual root of the problems because they're using the problems as a tool to push the grossly unpopular solutions they actually wanted all along.
That's exactly the direction the UK is heading with their requirement for Government photo ID and live facial recognition system they favour for implementation next year for anything not "safe for kids". People have mistakenly believed this is just for pornography but they'll be in for a shock when a wide range of websites will have to comply.
I know I'm banging on the same drum here, but every website, every search engine, every private chat or e-mail server might potentially be a host for pornographic content. These laws are a recipe for requiring ID to access the internet at all. This isn't about protecting children: it's about stripping you of your anonymity, and the right needs to stop encouraging it.
It's both, not one or the other. We need to stop these ID laws...
...while striking the entire porn industry HARD for exploitation and (self admitted by undercover reporting) targeted grooming of children.
You go on some of these porn sites, and they practically brag about how young the median person is the first time they watch porn. So I don't take the industry at its word that they care about the "rights" of their users.
That said, it'd be nice if the industry and/or governments actually put some thought into solutions other than "you have to snap a photo of yourself holding your driver's license" or "we're just shutting off the site in this jurisdiction". And I think a big part of the problem is that the tech industry as a whole doesn't see this as a problem, so they aren't particularly incentivized to think very hard about a solution.
Here's one possible solution I spent 30 seconds thinking about: a "trusted certificate authority" issues "proof of age of majority" certificates the same way they would issue an email cert, a PDF signing cert, or an SSL cert for a web site. All it attests is the person to whom the cert was issued is over 18. Issue it on a secure dongle or smart card so it's harder to put them online, add browser support for the things, and you're off.
Is it perfect? No. Is it better than an "are you over 18?" prompt that gives you unlimited chances to click "yes" if you're stupid enough to click "no" the first time? Yes. Could someone come up with a better solution if they had a team of engineers spend a bunch of time and money taking the problem actually seriously (at least as serious as they treated the "problem" of "online 'disinformation'")? Almost certainly.
Honestly some targeted industry pressure would be enough. We could always find that stuff on the net but back in the day it used to take a few more steps. It's the commercial websites and social media groomers making it easy for most kids to see these days. There used to be the tech savvy kid who would bring internet porn to school to show his friends. Now spez doles out his favorite interracial fetish videos like candy on reddit, and google despite having an adult content policy lets them put a reddit icon on your home screen to make it easier.
Anyone on the internet who wants to know who you are is a predator.
This used to be common wisdom, but it has apparently been lost and needs to be recovered.
"Welcome to the internet, where the men are men, the women are men, and the children are FBI agents."
"Never post any personal information on the internet."
"Assume everything posted on the internet could be a lie or a manipulation."
We used to hold these standards as, well, standard. The old ways of the internet.
People are upset these days that people post pseudonymously. Lots o noobs, basically, saying dumb shit with their real name right on it. They think they are protected from the consequences because they hold popular political opinions
Bingo. They specifically avoid addressing the actual root of the problems because they're using the problems as a tool to push the grossly unpopular solutions they actually wanted all along.
That's exactly the direction the UK is heading with their requirement for Government photo ID and live facial recognition system they favour for implementation next year for anything not "safe for kids". People have mistakenly believed this is just for pornography but they'll be in for a shock when a wide range of websites will have to comply.