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.)
I agree that we don’t need age verification laws. At the same time, I disagree that there is no other solution. The certainly is no ONE solution and there are no solutions that will capture all edge cases, but seriously going after specific companies for their lack of care in moderation will certainly help. Better moderation tools for federated social media will certainly help. Better education for parents on how to moderate in the modern internet will certainly help. Better tools for parents to create their own gated systems for their own kids will certainly help.
Most of these systems have tools in place to help parents. The parents don’t give a shit—that’s the actual problem. Everything online is avoidable. There’s always a block button. Having your priest get touchy and not knowing how to handle it is waaaaay different than CR33PYGIRL6969 trying to be a perv online. Push block. Done.
Having been in this advocacy space for a while, when it comes to the internet, most parents I talk to just don’t understand. It’s important to also state that many parents are working multiple jobs, are maybe single parents, and have very little time and energy for anything. That is not a personal failure, that is a systemic failure. At the same time, society is continually moving to an internet-first paradigm for everyone including children, and there is not much these parents can do to affect this situation. You need an internet connected device for schoolwork, for public transit, for after-school programs, and for socializing (because it’s where your friends are, which is a reality we need to wrestle with).
Provide me with a scenario where a child is online and approached by someone of ill will and the child cannot just block them, and/or go to their parents?
It is my understanding that all social media applications have a method to block other users. The same thing goes for games with social aspects, like Roblox.
If the scenario in which this happens is due to poor parenting, then the problem is poor parenting. As far as I’m concerned I should never ever have the effects of someone’s poor parenting touch me in anyway.
If you don’t understand how a child can be manipulated by an adult online, I don’t know how to help you.
And then the parents find out because they monitor their online conversations.
PARENTS ARE AT FAULT FOR NOT MONITORING THEIR CHILDS ONLINE COMMUNICATION.
End of the fucking story.
Do you know where your kid is? Do you know who they talked to today? Do you know the names of their friends online and where they chat? Do you know what websites and apps your child uses?
If you said no to any of these, your child should be rehoused.