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The big problem I have with laws like the UK has been that they solve a non-issue at the cost of large infrastructure and potential privacy problems. Teenagers
by cogman10 1y ago
The big problem I have with laws like the UK has been that they solve a non-issue at the cost of large infrastructure and potential privacy problems.
Teenagers have been looking at porn since forever. It's practically a trope of teens stealing their parents' porn mags. I don't think any of this has actually caused major societal issues.
The proposed solutions merely require that a teen steal their parent's identification, briefly, to create a porn account and move on. Heck, they can probably buy that information online if they are innovative enough. They certainly will be selling access to their porn accounts to their classmates. And even if they don't go through all that trouble, getting a porn mag is still pretty possible in the UK.
That makes this just a bad law. It doesn't meaningfully stop the problem it's meant to stop and it's expensive and intrusive. Even if privacy preserving age verification was bulletproof and perfect, you still have the access holes all over.
And then there's the simple fact that other nations exist. Yes, mainstream sites will put up protections, but what about the sealand porn site? Unless the UK wants a great firewall (ala the chinese firewall), they simply aren't going to stop this problem. Even then, VPNs are common knowledge at this point due to streaming.
Bad law, bad effects, and a pointless fight.
- owisd 1y agoHaving a device in your pocket that you take everywhere with no stigma to being seen with it yet it has unlimited access to any genre of porn you can think of is hardly comparable to finding a 90s porn mag in a bush from time to time, so you can't really say this has been happening forever.
- cogman10 1y agoErotic novels have been discreet for a while. It's also not been usual to have a laptop in public since the 90s. There are definitely pictures of people perusing porn on trains (visible in reflections). Briefcases were also a thing as have been strip clubs since forever. Quick access to porn hasn't been a problem since the printing press was invented.
- owisd 1y agoThe difference is the volume and the lack of friction to access, not that these things weren't possible. Physically getting into a strip club or having to look the newsagent in the eye as you purchase a porn mag are much higher barriers to access than there are currently.
- unfitted2545 1y ago> I don't think any of this has actually caused major societal issues. It degrades and oppresses all women.
- impossiblefork 1y agoI don't necessarily disagree, but surely not more than not having it age limited?
- const_cast 1y agoYes, and that's why in sexually repressed time periods like the 1950s, women were significantly less oppressed. Wait... Its tough, because we can make arguments that porn is bad, but we also know for a fact that purity culture is one of the cornerstones of the patriachy. Do we really want to ramp purity culture back up on the off chance it makes people like BDSM or something slightly less?
- can16358p 1y agoIt's 2025 and we're still discussing people's access to porn because of some conservatives, whereas we should be discussing how technology could actually be used to improve world. Unbelievable. Let people watch their thing if they want to, jeez. There are MUCH more important problems on Earth.