Online threats to children are real, but the headlong pursuit of age verification that we’re seeing around the world is unacceptable in its approach and far too broad in scope — and we simply can’t afford to get this wrong.
To be clear, parents’ concerns are valid and sincere. Few people would argue that kids should have unfettered access to adult material, to self-harm how-tos, to social media platforms that manipulate them and expose them to abuse.
But it’s the very depth of those worries that is being cynically exploited. Age verification as is currently being proposed in country after country would mean the death of anonymity online.
And we know exactly who stands to gain: The same tech giants who built the privacy nightmare that the internet is today.
At least they’re not a pathetic internet troll. Get a hobby dude. Being angry at the world doesn’t count.
Oh I see you’re the same guy stalking me across multiple comments.
To the blocklist you go.
I knew you didnt read anything you were responding to.
Ya I checked to see if you are as thoughtless as you’re portraying yourself. You are.
You just missed the point entirely.
The reaction to this should not be “oh no, my entertainment”, but “oh no, my information, my communication, my freedom”. Killing anonymity online does a lot more than take way your free entertainment, so while it’s cool that you will have your books and dvds and all, that’s besides the entire point. The internet is an integral part of society now, you can’t just go back to pre-internet offline times because that world is gone and once the new world turns into this authoritarian hellscape, we will be stuck with it.
You’re crashing out over a guy saying he has books.
touch grass