4 ms·

Huh? A porn site company runs a porn filter? Surely the individual ISP's have devices in their DC that filter the specified things? Edit, so after reading - th

Huh? A porn site company runs a porn filter? Surely the individual ISP's have devices in their DC that filter the specified things? Edit, so after reading - the filter is less a filter, and more mandated age-check verification? Isn't that like claiming a guy checking ID's at the door to a pub is an alcohol filter?

geofft 8y ago
That's a pretty good analogy, because nobody thinks that bars employing bouncers to check ID is some sort of conspiracy or conflict-of-interest.
- DINKDINK 8y ago
  Strictly speaking, it is classified as a conflict of interest.
  - kelnos 8y ago
    It is, but in practice it doesn't matter too much. In most (all?) jurisdictions in the US, bars can be fined pretty heavily or even lose their liquor license if they're caught serving people illegally, or if they even have people on the premises without their ID with them. Any extra revenue they might generate from letting in underage people isn't worth the risk of the consequences if caught.
    - mark_edward 8y ago
      Lol. You've never been to a college town I take it? It's a gigantic conflict of interest that plays out exactly how you'd expect. I've never been carded going to a bar near my former university.
      - jon__k 8y ago
        I live in a town with 3 colleges in SC and regularly see breweries card people. I've never been carded, but anyone with a young face is an automatic.
        mark_edward 8y ago
        You're right, I'm generalizing unreasonably. But I think can say that this is a problem. I don't think it's a particularly lawless town. Breweries and bars might be different too
  - geofft 8y ago
    It's a conflict of interest in that it's in the bars' (financial) interest to let people through. It's not in the bars' financial interest to create a minimum drinking age via regulatory capture just so they can hire bouncers, or accept bribes or sell fake IDs or whatever. That's analogous to the insinuation I picked up upthread (if I read that comment correctly). Expecting industries to self-regulate until they show themselves incapable of doing so is pretty standard.
esrauch 8y ago
The difference is that essentially no one minds a guy glancing at their id and handing it back, and no one cares if your coworker happens to see you going into a bar. The law is a filter because of the obvious chilling effect: do you really want to risk an inevitable leak where your co-workers will potentially look up info about your porn habits tied to your real name?
- stephenr 8y ago
  > do you really want to risk an inevitable leak where your co-workers will potentially look up info about your porn habits tied to your real name Why would it have your 'habits' tied to it? It's meant to ensure you're over 18 or whatever age - what possible reason would it have to identify individual URLs a particular identity visited?
  - programbreeding 8y ago
    >what possible reason would it have to identify individual URLs a particular identity visited? Money. Marketing. Targeted advertising. Etc, etc, etc. Pornhub (and others) are completely free and use more bandwidth than I can wrap my head around. How do you think they pay for that stuff?
    - brettz 8y ago
      The ID verification is done by trusted third parties. There will be no link to a name and any browsing activity on Pornhub.
      - mykmallett 8y ago
        The age verification is done by pornhubs own company, to think they won't use this information seems incredibly naive.
        brettz 8y ago
        Incredibly naive? I work for Pornhub, the last thing we want to handle is PII, it brings no value and has security risks.

geofft 8y ago

That's a pretty good analogy, because nobody thinks that bars employing bouncers to check ID is some sort of conspiracy or conflict-of-interest.

DINKDINK 8y ago
Strictly speaking, it is classified as a conflict of interest.
- kelnos 8y ago
  It is, but in practice it doesn't matter too much. In most (all?) jurisdictions in the US, bars can be fined pretty heavily or even lose their liquor license if they're caught serving people illegally, or if they even have people on the premises without their ID with them. Any extra revenue they might generate from letting in underage people isn't worth the risk of the consequences if caught.
  - mark_edward 8y ago
    Lol. You've never been to a college town I take it? It's a gigantic conflict of interest that plays out exactly how you'd expect. I've never been carded going to a bar near my former university.
    - jon__k 8y ago
      I live in a town with 3 colleges in SC and regularly see breweries card people. I've never been carded, but anyone with a young face is an automatic.
      - mark_edward 8y ago
        You're right, I'm generalizing unreasonably. But I think can say that this is a problem. I don't think it's a particularly lawless town. Breweries and bars might be different too
- geofft 8y ago
  It's a conflict of interest in that it's in the bars' (financial) interest to let people through. It's not in the bars' financial interest to create a minimum drinking age via regulatory capture just so they can hire bouncers, or accept bribes or sell fake IDs or whatever. That's analogous to the insinuation I picked up upthread (if I read that comment correctly). Expecting industries to self-regulate until they show themselves incapable of doing so is pretty standard.

esrauch 8y ago

The difference is that essentially no one minds a guy glancing at their id and handing it back, and no one cares if your coworker happens to see you going into a bar. The law is a filter because of the obvious chilling effect: do you really want to risk an inevitable leak where your co-workers will potentially look up info about your porn habits tied to your real name?

stephenr 8y ago
> do you really want to risk an inevitable leak where your co-workers will potentially look up info about your porn habits tied to your real name Why would it have your 'habits' tied to it? It's meant to ensure you're over 18 or whatever age - what possible reason would it have to identify individual URLs a particular identity visited?
- programbreeding 8y ago
  >what possible reason would it have to identify individual URLs a particular identity visited? Money. Marketing. Targeted advertising. Etc, etc, etc. Pornhub (and others) are completely free and use more bandwidth than I can wrap my head around. How do you think they pay for that stuff?
  - brettz 8y ago
    The ID verification is done by trusted third parties. There will be no link to a name and any browsing activity on Pornhub.
    - mykmallett 8y ago
      The age verification is done by pornhubs own company, to think they won't use this information seems incredibly naive.
      - brettz 8y ago
        Incredibly naive? I work for Pornhub, the last thing we want to handle is PII, it brings no value and has security risks.