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> Even on Hacker News the consensus is mostly in favor of anything from age restriction to making all social media illegal. That doesn't sound right. Put up a

> Even on Hacker News the consensus is mostly in favor of anything from age restriction to making all social media illegal. That doesn't sound right. Put up a poll. I'd put money on 90%+ choosing some flavor privacy/anonymity on the internet.

ricree 4mo ago
The main issue is that they are very careful not to frame it like that. In broader contexts, it's always framed as something like "do you favor limiting children's access to social media" without a word on what it would cost to actually institute such a ban.
- rockskon 4mo ago
  It's about as meaningful a framing as asking if you favor world peace and ending world hunger.
  - pibaker 4mo ago
    You can end all wars and eliminate hunger if you point the Death Star at us and kill all life on earth. If someone objects to the collateral damage, remind him that when you said "world peace and no hunger at all costs," you meant all costs.
- causality0 4mo ago
  You don't necessarily have to be in favor of any measures which reduce adult privacy to be in favor of that. Logically speaking, the liability for minors accessing age-gated products and services is the person who provides those products and services to the minor. In the case of the internet, that person is the parent, not the ISP or the website. It is the parent who contracts with the provider and then forwards the product to the unauthorized user, the child. A parent who purchases, say, access to porn and then provides that access to their child is no different than a parent who buys booze and provides access to it to their child.
- Terr_ 4mo ago
  Relevant British comedy clip (Yes, [Prime] Minister) on such polls: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgjEjJkZks https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgjEjJkZks
- miiiiiike 4mo ago
  Yeah, and we’re starting to inoculate people against that kind of rhetoric. It’s a process.
  - Gigachad 4mo ago
    Not really, if anything we are seeing what a good idea taking kids off social media is and how crazy we allowed this to all happen for so long.
    - krapp 4mo ago
      > if anything we are seeing what a good idea taking kids off social media is and how crazy we allowed this to all happen for so long We're not seeing anything of the sort, and couldn't possibly for some time yet. What we are seeing, as evinced by the article, is how ineffective these laws are at actually keeping kids off social media, and how effective the mass collection of identity data is at creating an environment for scammers, hackers, data brokers and the means for widespread political oppression.
    - vlian2088 4mo ago
      [dead]
- cucumber3732842 4mo ago
  Exactly. You frame these things in the general case and HN is against it because obviously it's evil. You frame it as "we've come up with a composite score (social credit) that lets us more efficiently enforce [stuff HN likes but the population likes way less]" and it's mostly all cheering and the one guy with principals is downvoted and flagged.
krapp 4mo ago
> I'd put money on 90%+ choosing some flavor privacy/anonymity on the internet. I can only say what I've observed from numerous threads - people's advocacy for privacy on the internet here does not extend so social media. But OK this could be fun let's put my keyboard where my mouth is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48680434 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48680434
- iamnothere 4mo ago
  Talk to people in person and you’ll get a different view (at least among those under 50), especially if you ask about the negatives. Social media is full of astroturfing.

ricree 4mo ago

The main issue is that they are very careful not to frame it like that. In broader contexts, it's always framed as something like "do you favor limiting children's access to social media" without a word on what it would cost to actually institute such a ban.

rockskon 4mo ago
It's about as meaningful a framing as asking if you favor world peace and ending world hunger.
- pibaker 4mo ago
  You can end all wars and eliminate hunger if you point the Death Star at us and kill all life on earth. If someone objects to the collateral damage, remind him that when you said "world peace and no hunger at all costs," you meant all costs.
causality0 4mo ago
You don't necessarily have to be in favor of any measures which reduce adult privacy to be in favor of that. Logically speaking, the liability for minors accessing age-gated products and services is the person who provides those products and services to the minor. In the case of the internet, that person is the parent, not the ISP or the website. It is the parent who contracts with the provider and then forwards the product to the unauthorized user, the child. A parent who purchases, say, access to porn and then provides that access to their child is no different than a parent who buys booze and provides access to it to their child.
Terr_ 4mo ago
Relevant British comedy clip (Yes, [Prime] Minister) on such polls: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgjEjJkZks https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgjEjJkZks
miiiiiike 4mo ago
Yeah, and we’re starting to inoculate people against that kind of rhetoric. It’s a process.
- Gigachad 4mo ago
  Not really, if anything we are seeing what a good idea taking kids off social media is and how crazy we allowed this to all happen for so long.
  - krapp 4mo ago
    > if anything we are seeing what a good idea taking kids off social media is and how crazy we allowed this to all happen for so long We're not seeing anything of the sort, and couldn't possibly for some time yet. What we are seeing, as evinced by the article, is how ineffective these laws are at actually keeping kids off social media, and how effective the mass collection of identity data is at creating an environment for scammers, hackers, data brokers and the means for widespread political oppression.
  - vlian2088 4mo ago
    [dead]
cucumber3732842 4mo ago
Exactly. You frame these things in the general case and HN is against it because obviously it's evil. You frame it as "we've come up with a composite score (social credit) that lets us more efficiently enforce [stuff HN likes but the population likes way less]" and it's mostly all cheering and the one guy with principals is downvoted and flagged.

krapp 4mo ago

> I'd put money on 90%+ choosing some flavor privacy/anonymity on the internet. I can only say what I've observed from numerous threads - people's advocacy for privacy on the internet here does not extend so social media. But OK this could be fun let's put my keyboard where my mouth is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48680434 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48680434

iamnothere 4mo ago
Talk to people in person and you’ll get a different view (at least among those under 50), especially if you ask about the negatives. Social media is full of astroturfing.