TBH I think there is not one reason that explains everything.
A lot of it is normal 5-eyes shit. A LOT of it, really. Power for powers sake.
But some is also well meant, from clueless politicians. They think… kids are being harmed online. Something must be done! This is something! Therefore this must be done!
They do not understand how tech works. They do not understand the negative impacts.
Some is also terror. Maybe it is little less toxic in Canada (maybe? I hope??) but here in the US many pols are afraid of attack ads. If they don’t vote for the most strict measures to shelter kids, it’ll be all “My opponent voted to give axe murders access to your child on the internet!” Pure emotional appeal and reductionism.
I’m the first to admit that we have bad social problems with kids and tech. I’m the first to admit there are real harms. But these measures are NOT gonna make them better. Worse, maybe. Not better. Also opens the door to authoritarian abuse. Again, I feel Canada is doing better than we are down here. But don’t count your chickens! It’s a never ending fight. We can never rest on our laurels.
I heard Facebook was funding this in the US. Not sure if they’re responsible for it elsewhere too. It’s basically Five Eyes countries doing this, so you can bet it’s to do with their surveillance efforts. How do we stop it? First step is not to comply. Do not complete any age verification. If you are absolutely forced to, at least lodge complaints about it. If you are still required to, try to avoid giving any data, e.g. use a pre-recorded video of someone else or a videogame character to pass the age check. Second step is to use and support alternative platforms that avoid such measures.
Whether true or not IDK, but it would not surprise me. At all! Big tech LOVES expensive and difficult regulations. That’s b/c they have deep pockets. Small competitors don’t. Big Tech can spin up huge compliance teams. And legions of engineers. That cements their monopoly. It squeezes out alternatives. It can squeeze out OSS done by volunteers! Who ofc cannot afford big dollar lawyers and compliance teams.
Meta makes more money eeach year than the GDP of Morocco! And it’s only 1/3 lap behind like New Zealand or Hungary. Smaller competitors do not have bloody sovereign nation levels of revenue.
This is happening in too many countries for it to just be coincidence. Who is pushing it, why, and how do we get rid of them? [Edit for typo]
TBH I think there is not one reason that explains everything.
A lot of it is normal 5-eyes shit. A LOT of it, really. Power for powers sake.
But some is also well meant, from clueless politicians. They think… kids are being harmed online. Something must be done! This is something! Therefore this must be done!
They do not understand how tech works. They do not understand the negative impacts.
Some is also terror. Maybe it is little less toxic in Canada (maybe? I hope??) but here in the US many pols are afraid of attack ads. If they don’t vote for the most strict measures to shelter kids, it’ll be all “My opponent voted to give axe murders access to your child on the internet!” Pure emotional appeal and reductionism.
I’m the first to admit that we have bad social problems with kids and tech. I’m the first to admit there are real harms. But these measures are NOT gonna make them better. Worse, maybe. Not better. Also opens the door to authoritarian abuse. Again, I feel Canada is doing better than we are down here. But don’t count your chickens! It’s a never ending fight. We can never rest on our laurels.
I heard Facebook was funding this in the US. Not sure if they’re responsible for it elsewhere too. It’s basically Five Eyes countries doing this, so you can bet it’s to do with their surveillance efforts. How do we stop it? First step is not to comply. Do not complete any age verification. If you are absolutely forced to, at least lodge complaints about it. If you are still required to, try to avoid giving any data, e.g. use a pre-recorded video of someone else or a videogame character to pass the age check. Second step is to use and support alternative platforms that avoid such measures.
Whether true or not IDK, but it would not surprise me. At all! Big tech LOVES expensive and difficult regulations. That’s b/c they have deep pockets. Small competitors don’t. Big Tech can spin up huge compliance teams. And legions of engineers. That cements their monopoly. It squeezes out alternatives. It can squeeze out OSS done by volunteers! Who ofc cannot afford big dollar lawyers and compliance teams.
Meta makes more money eeach year than the GDP of Morocco! And it’s only 1/3 lap behind like New Zealand or Hungary. Smaller competitors do not have bloody sovereign nation levels of revenue.
That’s the most important step, do not comply. Do not verify your age.
Windscribe has a VPN where you can pay $3 USD for unlimited traffic to 2 countries of your choice. Make them any country not doing this garbage.
Remember when we scoffed at South Korea for implementing an online license? Where here is ours. And I’m tired of pretending it isn’t.