I’m asking because I just had to verify my age thanks to YouTube requiring me to watch a video that was age restricted.
You have absolutely f*cked yourself over by doing that. It’s not a matter of if that ID you just gave them is going to get leaked, it’s a matter of when and by who. These ID verification companies are infamous for mishandling this kind of information and are huge easy targets for hackers.
I would highly recommend preparing for the worst now before it happens so when your ID does get compromised you already have things handled.
Do not give these companies your ID unless you really like the idea of someone POS using it to commit crimes on your behalf.
you just did your part to normalize it.
Use Newpipe if your are on mobile, it is from the fdroid store. No need to login to watch YouTube
No no no fucking NO!
Do NOT accept this! Do NOT normalize this! DO NOT COMPLY!
Did you really need to see that youtube video? If it was that important, then find another way. Lie. Get a downloader. Get creative. Or walk away, since it was probably not that important
DON’T SELL YOUR IDENTITY FOR CONVENIENCE. DON’T WILLINGLY FEED THE SPIES MORE INFORMATION.
And when they require age verification of the o/s then what?
Take back control of your OS. Use a different OS if you need to.
The law is being written so ALL operating systems will be covered. Are you suggesting I write my own os?
Tell me you’re American without telling me you’re American.
Afaik there is already an exception being made now to exclude Open Source operating systems from this requirement, so seems like anything Linux-based would be fine for now
For Now there’s an exception in some states in the US. The one that is going through the federal government in the US does not have that exception for what I understand… they are also trying to make a federal law in the United States that says when you activate a new cell phone, you will have to do age verification on it. it will start as just a simple showing government issued ID. But every law gets bigger. So then they’ll just add in some sort of face scan on it.
It damn well better remain an exception. I help manage a few hundred Linux systems in AWS for my employer. We patch those systems on a quarterly basis, which in some cases means building up a whole new instance from scratch. I shudder to think what it would mean if we somehow had to prove our age for each one of these systems. And whose age/identity would it be? Our CEO? Me? My boss?
Are you suggesting that all countries on earth will adopt this law, or that all developers in all countries will comply with the law of one country?
Will all previous versions of all OSs be deleted? Will all OSs become closed source so you can’t just remove the age verification part?
Will you be the only person on earth who is willing to break an unethical law to have basic privacy?
If yes to all the above, then you may need to start learning how to program.
Almost all western type countries are going this route. Canada is headed there. The US. The UK. Just to name a few
all countries on earth will adopt this law
Sure seems like its going that way. Seems like basically everywhere shouted “think of the children!” All at once.
Inb4 getting shouted at for assuming “The West” includes everyone on Earth
Hello Nebula
Not for me it fucking hasn’t.
And won’t.
For YouTube, use a VPN that terminates in Albania. Like magic, no more forced sign ins, or ads, or age checks.
I haven’t age verified anything and I don’t plan to. It’s only normal when you normalize it. If something will no longer allow me access without verifying my age, I will either find a way around it or I will no longer use that thing. If Youtube is not going to let me watch age restricted videos, so what? I will not watch age restricted videos on Youtube. I will instead use an addon to find them on odysee or peertube instead if possible, or I’ll just live my life accepting that video probably wasn’t one I really needed that contained the only key to living a happy life. It’s not that important, certainly not important enough to verify my age to the surveillance police.
If they try to make me age verify my home internet connection, well then I’m gonna have to get real creative, sure, but rest assured I will (with the help of the rest of the privacy-oriented community) find ways to obfuscate the fuck out of all traffic in and out of my network so thoroughly it won’t even matter if they know who owns my internet connection because it won’t even be relevant anymore. VPN everything. Become an open relay. Join the I2P project. Embrace mesh networking. Fuck them, they can’t stop us all.
It doesn’t have to be. While the real issue is like all surveillance, it will get pushed back against and then repackaged later as a “new” idea again.
We’ve been doing this song and dance since the Clipper Chips.
Once the politicians start realizing they cannot legislate math and that they are also at risk under these systems, we’ll see bigger pushback to them again.
Why are you not using a VPN?
I haven’t been able to watch age restricted videos on YouTube for many years since I closed my google account.
I’m used to not being able to watch or go anywhere I want.
Not for me, I don’t participate in any service that requires it
Haven’t interacted with anything forcing it yet.
It only becomes normalized if we continue using those services… If these co’s saw a meaurable reduction in engagement after implenting these rules they would back peddle. The almighty dollar is king afterall.
The problem is they are trying and basically succeeding in age verifying the o/s. The only choice at that point is to never go online or use an electronic device again. Not sure how that works
