Pushing parents to surveil their children with AI as a mandatory default is really, really creepy
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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KOSA and other Bad Internet Bills (US-specific for now)
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#BadIntrernetBills are moving forward again in Congress and multiple states, so it's time to take action. Groups like Fight for the Future, National Youth Rights Association, EFF, Woodhull Foundation, CDT, and the Internet Society have been sounding the alarm, but Congress is now looking at packaging them together—possibly into must-pass legislation. We're organizing to keep them from sneaking these bad internet bills through.
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Icon originally from Why we need to openly protest KOSA on Five Nights at Freddy's Wiki, used by permission.
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How will they know which members of my family are teens if we never submit to age verification? /s
We run all AI locally, offline (as in iptables blocked). Screw data collecting tech giants. We encourage our kids to use our LAN "chatbot" service. Right now it uses a popular model abliterated (guardrails removed, realize its not the best, want to switch when unfiltered models get better).
Guess what, I'm the parent and can help teach my kids right from wrong. Don't need you doing that for me, big tech. Information doesn't make kids dumb, censorship does.
They must also send alerts if a teen attempts to bypass or disable parental controls.
Relevant XKCD https://xkcd.com/838/
For shame if my child attempts to bypass something! What, are you scared they might succeed if you don't intervene...?
How will they know which members of my family are teens if we never submit to age verification? /s
yup, the article mentions this problem, starting with the absolutely true statement:
The bill says it doesn’t require age verification. But like many recent “kids online safety” bills, it imposes obligations that depend on a company knowing whether a user is under 18.
Technically, I think Google could probably scan my Gmail inbox and be fairly confident I'm not a minor anymore (because I have been getting emails minors typically wouldn't for many years). But that wouldn't help for any chatbots other than Gemini.
How will they know which members of my family are teens if we never submit to age verification? /s
They're going to assume you all are and lock you all out of everything. You will be forced to submit.
That's why shit like this has to be defeated politically, not just worked around technologically.
By no means was I abdicating for inaction. People should absolutely be upset by this and speak out, and vote against those that oppress us.
Locking us out of everything is a bit of a stretch. Even if it comes to that point, its not like illegal content is hard to get (see: torrenting, usenet, MEGA, countless others).
For the average user, sure I guess a "fair" chatbot would be hard to come by (or rather too much work). Isn't it already, though, was kinda my point.