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My default reaction to the introduction of any age-verification for any service is the closing account. Goodbye Discord, account closed out of protest. The sec

by antonyh 7mo ago

My default reaction to the introduction of any age-verification for any service is the closing account. Goodbye Discord, account closed out of protest. The second option is ignoring the verification request. Goodbye online-gaming-with-strangers on Xbox. (I see this as a positive). Same goes for Ubisoft who aggressively wanted my secret papers to verify my identity. I've yet to come across anything I want or need outside banking or government use where age verification benefits me, or is so useful/important that I would willingly hand over critical secret documents. I've not even needed to use a VPN for anything. It doesn't mean it won't happen, but when it does, option #1 or #2 is going to cover everything. Which circles back to the main point here - if I ignore it, then effectively I get identified as a non-adult. How does this protect anybody? (UK-based, might not be the same everywhere)

gowld 7mo ago
What's wrong with being flagged a non-adult? Being a non-adult means you are limited to supervised child-safe spaces. Child-safe doesn't mean "no adults" allowed. It means "monitored and censored"
- antonyh 7mo ago
  Aside from the concept of adults masquerading as non-adults, nothing so long as those spaces are moderated fully. I have no problem with skipping the verification, but I do question the moderation of most services. The problems start when the space become not-for-children and identity validation is mandatory to use them, which will exclude people like me who categorically refuse to hand over personal secrets in order to have access. It does not warrant the inherent risk involved with granting access to personal details unrelated to the service offered. I reckon this will happen when someone decides it's better commercially to make a service adult-only than to moderate non-adult accounts. It's a slippery slope, and a predictable next step once adult have become accustomed to handing over papers for some services to have to do it for many, if not all.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- calgoo 7mo ago
  Well, ad are supposed to be different for children, right? So in theory we would get less ads by being ID'd as a child. Now, this would probably cause a new law where they would allow child ads...
  - antonyh 7mo ago
    Less no, different yes. Instead of dodgy meds and dating sites we'd have games and cosmetics and whatever other junk folks are punting at adolescents. If anything, I suspect there would be more ads.
- mghackerlady 7mo ago
  It becomes a problem when platforms are overly cautious in putting an adults only rating on things. The last thing I need as a transgender woman is to attach my personal information to my searches about my health in a country actively progressing towards making a database of us to round up and be sent to camps
chimeracoder 7mo ago
> I've yet to come across anything I want or need outside banking or government use where age verification benefits me, or is so useful/important that I would willingly hand over critical secret documents So far. As these laws proliferate (and companies continue complying in advance), at this rate, it won't be long before you can't meaningfully do anything on the Internet otherwise.

by antonyh 7mo ago

gowld 7mo ago

What's wrong with being flagged a non-adult? Being a non-adult means you are limited to supervised child-safe spaces. Child-safe doesn't mean "no adults" allowed. It means "monitored and censored"

antonyh 7mo ago
Aside from the concept of adults masquerading as non-adults, nothing so long as those spaces are moderated fully. I have no problem with skipping the verification, but I do question the moderation of most services. The problems start when the space become not-for-children and identity validation is mandatory to use them, which will exclude people like me who categorically refuse to hand over personal secrets in order to have access. It does not warrant the inherent risk involved with granting access to personal details unrelated to the service offered. I reckon this will happen when someone decides it's better commercially to make a service adult-only than to moderate non-adult accounts. It's a slippery slope, and a predictable next step once adult have become accustomed to handing over papers for some services to have to do it for many, if not all.
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
calgoo 7mo ago
Well, ad are supposed to be different for children, right? So in theory we would get less ads by being ID'd as a child. Now, this would probably cause a new law where they would allow child ads...
- antonyh 7mo ago
  Less no, different yes. Instead of dodgy meds and dating sites we'd have games and cosmetics and whatever other junk folks are punting at adolescents. If anything, I suspect there would be more ads.
mghackerlady 7mo ago
It becomes a problem when platforms are overly cautious in putting an adults only rating on things. The last thing I need as a transgender woman is to attach my personal information to my searches about my health in a country actively progressing towards making a database of us to round up and be sent to camps

chimeracoder 7mo ago

> I've yet to come across anything I want or need outside banking or government use where age verification benefits me, or is so useful/important that I would willingly hand over critical secret documents So far. As these laws proliferate (and companies continue complying in advance), at this rate, it won't be long before you can't meaningfully do anything on the Internet otherwise.