Age verification is spreading like cancer.

[fdrc_ff@www.foxyhole.io]

@ToniMassari@mastodon.social @Tutanota@mastodon.social the trick is exactly that there are indeed good reasons for regulating the exposition of the internet to children and minors, which btw doesn’t just apply to porn. The bad news is that age verification for porn is a dangerous back door for introducing age verification for literally everything, which also means having true ID exposed. That scenario, in a time in which dictatorships and fascism are raising, is extremely dangerous for everyone

[roohafzaluvr@mastodon.social]

@ToniMassari @Tutanota next thing you know is social media getting ID-walled for "protecting the children" and the moment you post a dissident opinion someone knocks on your door...

[nocci@punk.cyber77.de]

@Tutanota@mastodon.social

Folks... I don't know who was responsible for the Martin Niemöller allegory.

That's really inappropriate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_They_Came

[kikebenlloch@mastodon.social]

@roohafzaluvr @ToniMassari @Tutanota I mean, it's not like there's a modern day Gestapo disappearing people as they wish, is it?
https://www.404media.co/elite-the-palantir-app-ice-uses-to-find-neighborhoods-to-raid/

[roohafzaluvr@mastodon.social]

@kikebenlloch @ToniMassari @Tutanota its sickening. imagine a bunch of brainless, big men with guns dragging you out of your home for nothing. there's absolutely nothing we can do about it.

[kikebenlloch@mastodon.social]

@roohafzaluvr @ToniMassari @Tutanota Exactly, and those thugs and the fascists who pay them are going to use absolutely every tool they can reach to keep smashing whomever they feel like, be it inmigrants, activists, journalists, lgtbi community, etc. That's why age verification is a trap.

[jathanasiou@mastodon.social]

@ToniMassari @Tutanota Monitoring the internet access of minors can be easily achieved by enabling parents to do so eg via government backed online tutorials and mandatory features like no-data SIM cards and modem parental controls for Internet service providers.

Asking for an ID to be shared every time someone visits an adult website is both ineffective and overly controlling. Not to mention UK politicians have already admitted it's also about controlling adults, not just children.

[art_histories@mastodon.social]

@superboom12s @Tutanota Until Elon Musk with hishateful, lying, kiddy-porn-site isn't banned I will never believe that it is for "the protection of our children". Because protection of children means that social media would be regulated and providers would be held accountable for the damage they do by spreading lies, misinformation, and hate.

[jathanasiou@mastodon.social]

@nocci @Tutanota Why is it inappropriate..? Genuine question.

The similarity seems intentional to highlight that forms of control like this lead to government overreach and authoritarianism or even fascism.

[nocci@punk.cyber77.de]

@jathanasiou@mastodon.social

The issue is that Niemöller's poem specifically addresses the Holocaust and Nazi persecution - the systematic murder of millions. Using it for age verification, no matter how concerning those policies are, trivializes the Shoah.

Age verification absolutely raises serious privacy and surveillance concerns that deserve strong opposition. But we can make that case without invoking genocide. The slippery slope to authoritarianism exists, but comparing a digital rights issue to the Holocaust weakens both arguments.

There might be plenty of other powerful ways to criticize age verification laws.

@Tutanota@mastodon.social

[jathanasiou@mastodon.social]

@nocci @Tutanota

I appreciate the well-put reply but I have to say I humbly and respectfully disagree with the "trivializing of genocide" angle.

Didn't genocide and fascism start with control? ID Checks and marks on people's arms, and monitoring and "removal" of opinions different to the state's? First peacefully, with some half-reasonable excuse "immigrants/<others> threaten our quality-of-life" and then violent suppression.

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