Okay you are ready to take a stand for freedom!

You are going to use an OS that isn’t going to bend the knee and comply with age verification laws. I solute you, comrade!

Here are the likely consequences of your choice:

The Feds aren’t coming after you. You aren’t going to be out on a watch list.

What will likely happen is that if you try to log into your Facebook account you will get a message that says “Your Operating System is not currently supported. Your user experience will be limited to Groups labeled “Everyone”.”

That’s basically it. Your personal user experience will be limited to “kid friendly” areas of the Internet. (Same with apps and games.)

That’s the real driver of these laws. Facebook and other app producers know that the days where they can just shrug off child predators using their products is coming to and end. Regardless of your opinion on age verification is as a solution, child predators are a real world problem and it’s not just the parents fault. The platforms have some responsibility too.

Which is exactly what Facebook and the others specifically don’t want -responsibility for their own platforms. That’s why they are pushing for these laws that off load their responsibility onto the OS makers. Then they can just say “Oh, we don’t have any responsibility for this child being abused in our platform. We asked the OS what the user’s age was and the OS reported 18+. What else could we have done?”

So, that’s the consequence if you choose to use an OS that refuses to comply. You’ll just be relegated to the kid friendly version of website, games, and applications.

(On the other hand, if your OS chooses to falsely report to a website or an app an age for a child that is abused, then the OS should also be held responsible. But at that point you can go ahead and blame the parents too for letting their child use an OS that isn’t safe for them to use.)

  • toor@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 hours ago

    This entire post is the frog sitting in their comfortable pot of water saying “This is fine, nothing to worry about!”

    • org@lemmy.org
      5·
      2 hours ago

      Exactly. I’m super surprised how many people are just kind of OK with all of this.

      “It’s just a date, you can lie, don’t worry”

      “It’s just your ID, if you’re over 18, don’t worry.”

      “They’re only looking for criminals, if you’re not a criminal, don’t worry”

      “They’re only looking for people who don’t act like them, look like them, believe the things they believe, vote the way they do, speak the way they do, so as long as you match them exactly, don’t worry”

      • 1dalm@lemmy.todayOP
        12·
        2 hours ago

        My biggest frustration with the community is not that people don’t like the proposed solution but that

        1. There is so much flat denial that there is actually a major online child predator problem, and/or
        2. No one should be held responsible to fix it, and/or
        3. no one is offering alternative solutions.

        I’m really not upset with individual users here. I understand that you are removed from the problem and don’t understand it. I really don’t blame you personally. I have had training on youth protection and it’s not an easy problem, and just throwing the parents under the bus isn’t fair. When it comes to child predators, they are often just as much the victims as the kids are. (Yes, I mean that.)

        I’m upset with the EFF. They don’t have an excuse for their ignorance. They’ve been taught the problem many times and just refuse to acknowledge it. (Red flag if there ever was one, if you ask me.) If they didn’t like the verification rules then they need to start proposing alternative solutions (which they don’t have).

        • org@lemmy.org
          4·
          1 hour ago

          Age verification laws have nothing to do with child predators. They never have. If they cared, they would focus on the problem—the platform. But they don’t.

          The real single problem here is parents aren’t monitoring their children. When these bad things happen, the parents are ALWAYS like, “I had no idea that was going on.” The fuck are they doing with kids then?

          But nooooooooooooooo…. Asking someone to be responsible for their own offspring is way too much for people to handle.

          It’s 10pm, do you know who your kid has been talking to today?

          If you don’t, you’re a shit-fuck parent and your kids should be rehoused.

          • 1dalm@lemmy.todayOP
            12·
            1 hour ago

            They are focusing on the platforms. That’s exactly why Meta, et. al., are pushing for these laws. To off load that responsibility.

            And if you are blaming the parents then you don’t understand the problem.

            • org@lemmy.org
              3·
              1 hour ago

              If you are saying that parents shouldn’t be responsible for their children, you are the problem.

              • 1dalm@lemmy.todayOP
                13·
                1 hour ago

                Are you saying that you literally haven’t read any things else on this thread?

                • org@lemmy.org
                  2·
                  54 minutes ago

                  That statement means nothing. It’s just an attempt to avoid providing a response by shifting blame or implying ignorance without any reasons.