Hacker News Reader

Comment by drankl | Hacker News Reader

5 pointsdrankl6 comments

> Expecting the same basic standards online as in the offline world isn’t authoritarianism — it’s putting children’s lives above the convenience of porn users.

You don't have to pay for the internet. This argument would be novel if it hadn't been refuted 50 years ago by congressmen responding to angry Catholic moms against television profanity.

Does the detestable moral standard of the internet make you angry? Are you horrified by the debauched zeitgeist the free market has converged on? Just Walk Away - It's Free!

And no mention of the real issue, imagine having to submit your biometrics to a logged database that stores it alongside your location, the date, where you were, just to buy alcohol or enter a club.

That would feel authoritarian to most, and this is what's happening here.

And on the business, it's a huge cost, so small niche forums and others might just have to close.

The issue is really people talking over each other. You either care about the above or not. If you do, it has nothing to do with children.

If they could find a non invasive way to perform age verification, that's free to the website, there wouldn't be a debate.

Niche forums and chat servers will likely move to tor hidden services at the risk of losing people because tor is slower. This is probably a decent time to teach people about the Onion-Location header [1] so that people can silently redirect those with Tor supporting browsers to the hidden sites.

[1] - https://community.torproject.org/onion-services/advanced/oni...

Most forums and chat servers won't have to introduce age verification, because the content their users generate while participating in discussion doesn't need to be age-gated, and anything that would need to be (such as pornography) is off-topic and will be removed by moderators anyway.

This link may be of interest: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5383111-online-safet.... It's about how one of the UK's largest forums is complying with the OSA and why they are taking this approach.

You could be right but I predict that the narrative will (d)evolve from adult content to all user-generated content which encompasses all non-static websites, all forums, all chat servers. I hope I'm wrong.

Some clubs digitally scan your identity document (driving licence or passport) on entry, and almost all clubs and shops have CCTV.

This is approximately the same as age verification systems online which either take a selfie video to estimate age, or accept a photo of your ID.

> If they could find a non invasive way to perform age verification, that's free to the website, there wouldn't be a debate.

Google will be introducing this into their Wallet app, initially for railcards and online alcohol purchases. Hopefully should be more convenient and secure: https://blog.google/products/google-pay/google-wallet-age-id...

I expect people will still complain even with systems like this available.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com