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It always seems like a bad idea to attempt a technological solution to a legal/social problem. Surely the age of people using services is a purely a social issu
by ndsipa_pomu 4y ago
It always seems like a bad idea to attempt a technological solution to a legal/social problem. Surely the age of people using services is a purely a social issue - similar to not allowing alcohol to be sold to underage drinkers. This kind of law would be analogous to making a law that alcohol cannot be physically consumed by underage drinkers.
- thaumasiotes 4y ago> This kind of law would be analogous to making a law that alcohol cannot be physically consumed by underage drinkers. We don't have a law like that in place for alcohol, but we do for any number of other substances.
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoSuch as? I can't think of any examples apart from possibly child-proof caps on medication, but that is serving a slightly different purpose - safety rather than authoritarianism.
- cpa 4y agoI think they were thinking of illegal drugs, which you generally can't possess. Maybe the act of consumption is not illegal per se, though, I'm not sure.
- thaumasiotes 4y agoSee side comment. As best as I can see, consumption is not "illegal", except that there are extremely severe legal consequences if any evidence turns up that you've consumed them. It remains to be explained in what sense that fails to constitute being illegal.
- Semaphor 4y ago> except that there are extremely severe legal consequences if any evidence turns up This is a bit of a sidebar, but what consequences? DUI, sure. But in Germany, where consumption (but nothing else, including possession; IANAL, not sure if someone holding a joint to your face to drag on counts as possession) of weed is legal I know of no direct consequences you’d face for having consumed marijuana.
- thaumasiotes 4y agoHeroin, cocaine, opium, marijuana, methamphetamine, MDMA, LSD... Interestingly, the legal structure around these substances apparently avoids banning consumption, limiting itself to banning the obtaining or possession of the substance. But it's worth noting that consumption itself is also prohibited, just without a firm textual basis. For example, if you give birth in a hospital, you will be tested for the presence of illegal drugs in your bloodstream (your consent is not required for this), and if you test positive, your child will be automatically confiscated.
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoI was more meaning a technological intervention that prevented underage people from being able to use/consume something. Controlled substances are controlled through a legal framework although admittedly, some of the precursors to drugs are also banned which could count as a technological block on making them. I have never heard of a confiscated child due to the parent having cannabis in their bloodstream - have you any source?
- thaumasiotes 4y agoI doubt that particular consequence applies to cannabis. It does apply to other prohibited drugs.
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoI have never heard of a confiscated child due to the parent having cocaine in their bloodstream - have you any source?
- thaumasiotes 4y agohttps://web.archive.org/web/20140323232018/https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/03/6/gr030603.html https://web.archive.org/web/20140323232018/https://www.guttm...
- elpocko 4y ago"We"? Who? What EU legislature makes consumption of any substance illegal?
- worldofmatthew 4y agoIts more politicians blaming technology for social problems. Ones that have existed before the internet.
- noduerme 4y agoI don't think that's the analog. Nor is checking ID at a pub. The analog would be that any time two people speak to each other on the street or in a cafe, they should first present their ID to a surveillance camera and stand within earshot of a microphone. [edit] The social argument for banning or restricting substances is also limited when it comes into too great a conflict with the social argument for tolerating individual choice. To even put the freedom to speak privately on the same plane as the freedom to take drugs is to abandon reason itself, not to mention hundreds of years of hard-won liberties and enlightenment. Anti-drug regimes are merely authoritarian. Anti-privacy regimes are totalitarian. There is a world of difference between policing action and policing thought.
- dekken_ 4y agoI think that's well put. In an attempt to make "safe spaces" for all the state is becoming surrogate parents. It's authoritarian and patronizing.
- ndsipa_pomu 4y agoAgreed - that's exactly what they're seem to be aiming for using the pretence of protecting children (I always thought that was for the parent(s)).
- tpoacher 4y agoI have a sudden urge to play Half-life 2 for some reason.