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I guess teenagers don't have any need to sync files, eh? Hate to see this gradual erosion of internet access for young people - I'd bet half the notable members

I guess teenagers don't have any need to sync files, eh? Hate to see this gradual erosion of internet access for young people - I'd bet half the notable members of this very site started their career trajectory by learning how to break/fix computers in middle school or before

iLoveOncall 6d ago
This has nothing to do with that. They probably realized that teenagers are a small enough portion of their userbase that the loss of revenue (and probably lack thereof to be fair) is far outweighed by the opportunity to ask users for their ID.
ta988 6d ago
It will simply teach them how to go around those "protections". And put them at risk of using shaddy services to do so. Exactly like what happened with the war on drugs...
paul7986 6d ago
Hmmmmm today is a very different world compared to when we used the Internet to learn how to code. Now with Ai doing all the coding is learning how to code even happenning? Also, just talked two friends who work for mid-size companies and last week both of their CEOs told them to just point Ai to their Jira tickets to finish all their tasks. Anyone else hearing their CEOs instruct the same thing?
d0mine 6d ago
It is not about age. It is just a way to tie accounts to a real life identity. It won't be surprising if the requirement comes from some alphabet agency.
- dgellow 6d ago
  Dont they already have the payment information?
  - swiftcoder 6d ago
    Not universally. I've had a free dropbox account for nearly 2 decades, and never attached a payment method
- grishka 6d ago
  Don't most countries give people their first IDs before 18? Mine does it at 14.
  - rationalist 6d ago
    In the U.S., you can get a passport for a baby. In my state, you can get a state ID for your child.
    - swiftcoder 6d ago
      I don't believe IDs are mandatory for children, though? School IDs, maybe, but processing/storing those is going to be a data handling nightmare
  - notpushkin 6d ago
    Sure, but they could still check the age while also linking the ID.
hdgvhicv 6d ago
It’s erosion of closed saas, not the internet. That already broke the hacker environments of yesteryear.

iLoveOncall 6d ago

This has nothing to do with that. They probably realized that teenagers are a small enough portion of their userbase that the loss of revenue (and probably lack thereof to be fair) is far outweighed by the opportunity to ask users for their ID.

ta988 6d ago

It will simply teach them how to go around those "protections". And put them at risk of using shaddy services to do so. Exactly like what happened with the war on drugs...

paul7986 6d ago

Hmmmmm today is a very different world compared to when we used the Internet to learn how to code. Now with Ai doing all the coding is learning how to code even happenning? Also, just talked two friends who work for mid-size companies and last week both of their CEOs told them to just point Ai to their Jira tickets to finish all their tasks. Anyone else hearing their CEOs instruct the same thing?

d0mine 6d ago

It is not about age. It is just a way to tie accounts to a real life identity. It won't be surprising if the requirement comes from some alphabet agency.

dgellow 6d ago
Dont they already have the payment information?
- swiftcoder 6d ago
  Not universally. I've had a free dropbox account for nearly 2 decades, and never attached a payment method
grishka 6d ago
Don't most countries give people their first IDs before 18? Mine does it at 14.
- rationalist 6d ago
  In the U.S., you can get a passport for a baby. In my state, you can get a state ID for your child.
  - swiftcoder 6d ago
    I don't believe IDs are mandatory for children, though? School IDs, maybe, but processing/storing those is going to be a data handling nightmare
- notpushkin 6d ago
  Sure, but they could still check the age while also linking the ID.

hdgvhicv 6d ago

It’s erosion of closed saas, not the internet. That already broke the hacker environments of yesteryear.