In principle, banning kids from social media is a good thing. You still have to worry about the teachers, but not giving every freak on the planet access to try to groom your kids should be common sense.
The real problem is the expectation that adults will be compelled to prove they're not children by exposing their identities, which will be a tool to suppress and punish dissent.
It's worse if it's anything like what the UK Government is proposing. Government photo ID will not be enough, you will also need to prove that the person attached to that ID is using the device at any time. That will require biometric data or preferably for them, facial recognition. Ofcom has stated that photo ID alone will not be sufficient as proof of identity when that device is being accessed.
We were also told to not be paranoid because this would only be used for adult websites. Then it spread to social media if Governments get their way. The UK wants to go even further - anything not "safe for kids" or has any age restriction (that is effectively everything bar pre-school websites) so this requirement will potentially affect everyone on virtually every website. This one included as it's accessible in the UK.
For anyone saying "just use a VPN", Governments are planning to ban them outright.
We (in Australia) already had something along those lines, during Covid, with "check in" apps. Especially in South Australia, where those on lockdown were actively monitored, and required to answer random calls from the state gestapo if their location tracking was ever turned off...
In principle, banning kids from social media is a good thing. You still have to worry about the teachers, but not giving every freak on the planet access to try to groom your kids should be common sense.
The real problem is the expectation that adults will be compelled to prove they're not children by exposing their identities, which will be a tool to suppress and punish dissent.
It's worse if it's anything like what the UK Government is proposing. Government photo ID will not be enough, you will also need to prove that the person attached to that ID is using the device at any time. That will require biometric data or preferably for them, facial recognition. Ofcom has stated that photo ID alone will not be sufficient as proof of identity when that device is being accessed.
We were also told to not be paranoid because this would only be used for adult websites. Then it spread to social media if Governments get their way. The UK wants to go even further - anything not "safe for kids" or has any age restriction (that is effectively everything bar pre-school websites) so this requirement will potentially affect everyone on virtually every website. This one included as it's accessible in the UK.
For anyone saying "just use a VPN", Governments are planning to ban them outright.
We (in Australia) already had something along those lines, during Covid, with "check in" apps. Especially in South Australia, where those on lockdown were actively monitored, and required to answer random calls from the state gestapo if their location tracking was ever turned off...
Covid was a dry run for all of this...