this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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I was led to believe people on Lemmy are more technically minded. So can you explain to me how you don't think the government has the technical capabilities to already monitor internet usage of its citizens? The DWP can already access your internet history if they suspect benefit fraud already, for example...
Never said or even implied that.
Then what is the problem with the bill? Everyone is up in arms about censorship and monitoring their identity but that already happens. This bill just means it's harder for kids to access garbage sites? The capabilities to do all the things people think this bill will achieve already do exist in any case...
"The negative things people are upset about already happen, so we should be fine with those things being made easier and happening more."
As my comment said, I'm not against the ban of kids accessing social networks. But I'm against age verification laws that are not protecting anonymity which is in my opinion the logical next step for politicians.
My comment is very much explaining why I want people to be able to verify their age anonymously.
And no, just because governments surveil their population doesn't mean we should make it even easier with privacy invading age verification laws.
And my point is you have already lost the ability of privacy long ago..
Anonymous age verification? You are not anonymous on the internet to begin with. Even doing what you've suggested won't reduce the ability for the government and even data brokers to identify you.
Talk about yourself.
You might have surrendered but many have not.
I'm on linux, extensively use encryption, I'm not on any social network beside Lemmy, so I strongly disagree that anonymity is dead online.
That confirms you didn't read my comment.
EUID has exactly the feature I'm describing in my post. Being able to prove your an adult without divulging your identity.
If you think using Linux, encryption, vpns and Lemmy makes you anonymous to any states or data brokers that want to identify you then you are naive at best.
I have not surrendered my anonymity, I recognised and accepted that in order to have it, a lot of bad things become possible, and the damage it causes... It's just not worth.
That's an entirely different subject though, my point remains. You are not anonymous to governments or data brokers. This bill won't decrease your level of privacy, it will only make it more difficult for children to access social media, which currently is plagued with all sorts of harmful content. This bill is a net positive.
Believe what you want.
But don't point your finger toward people that do their best to maximize their privacy.
Your illusion of privacy shouldn't prevent an attempt to stop children being radicalised and accessing extreme content.. it is having a profound impact on society. First generation ever recorded to be more right winged from the get go? Fuck that... Do you not see the type of country this will be in 20 years time if we don't prevent kids accessing state level propaganda?
You fell for the trap of thinking that you can only protect childrens by accepting to sacrifice privacy.
My post was clearly pushing for doing both :
Proving anonymously that you are an adult without giving your identity.
Again I have to repeat I'm not against preventing childrens from accessing social networks.
Where we disagree is that you think you have to give up on some privacy to achieve that goal. I don't.
Now let's agree that we disagree and I will let you give your faceid to shady businesses and see them leak two weeks later.