Porn censorship is going to destroy the entire internet (mashable.com)
from streetfestival@lemmy.ca to privacy@lemmy.ca on 18 Aug 20:04
https://lemmy.ca/post/50013466

The UK’s Online Safety Act doesn’t just age-gate porn; it blocks material deemed “harmful” to minors. Days after the law went into effect, reports of non-explicit content on social media getting blocked in the region started to crop up. Subreddits from r/IsraelCrimes to r/stopsmoking are now walled in the UK. Video games, Spotify, and dating apps have instituted or will institute age checks.

Given the SCOTUS age verification decision [June '25], Stabile fears that people [in the US] will go “mask off” in the fall and spring, when state legislatures start getting back together. “People are going to attempt to restrict the internet even more aggressively,” Stabile said. “I think people are going to work to restrict all sorts of content, particularly LGBTQ content, but also content that is broadly defined as any sort of threat or propaganda to minors.” Other experts Mashable spoke to agree with him.

“I’m going to jump to the end step,” [Eric Goldman, law professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law] said. “The end step is that most online users are going to be required to age authenticate most of the time they visit websites. That’s going to become the norm.” In a paper he wrote, Goldman called these statutes “segregate-and-suppress” laws.

The stated reason behind these laws is to “protect children.” But as journalist Taylor Lorenz pointed out, in the UK, age verification is already preventing children from accessing vital information, such as about menstruation and sexual assault.

“When we see crackdowns on spaces on the internet, we’re essentially stripping away that potential for self-actualization,” Goldman said. We’ve reached the dystopian stage of the internet, he added.

#privacy

threaded - newest

floofloof@lemmy.ca on 18 Aug 20:32 next collapse

Age verification isn’t really age verification: it’s identity verification. And once you have given your identity to one or two websites, data brokers will ensure that all your other activity on the internet will eventually be tied to it. Burner devices and anonymous VPNs could help, but only until those become illegal too.

This will have a chilling effect on not only every kind of discourse the fascists hate, but also political organization and people’s ability to resist. You won’t be able to organize a protest online without the police knowing in advance who is likely to come and finding a pretext to intimidate or pre-arrest them.

streetfestival@lemmy.ca on 18 Aug 20:51 next collapse

That’s the most insightful and chilling comment I’ve read in a while. I especially like the “it’s not age verification; it’s identity verification” part. (That messaging needs to be more commonplace.) The key(s) for organizing data about individuals online will shift from email addresses only to enough stable identifiers to impersonate someone or maybe even steal their identity. Data leaks and fraud will probably increase dramatically given the value-add of these data.

With the level of quashing dissent these days - eg UK police arresting hundreds of nonviolent people with placards denouncing genocide; military deployments in LA and DC - no wonder certain states/ governments support online identity verification laws.

“No Kings” protests are already a non-story in mainstream news today. Tomorrow, they can be prevented from happening in the first place! /s c/aboringdystopia

WoodScientist@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 03:36 collapse

And one key thing. Fascists and fascist collaborators will claim, “everything you do online and already tracked to your real identity.” But the truth is, if that were already the case, then there wouldn’t be a push for these identity verification laws.

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 20:52 next collapse

You won’t be able to organize a protest online without the police knowing in advance who is likely to come and finding a pretext to intimidate or pre-arrest them.

That’s been true for a while. But it was “The FBI can put a pin in it” true before. And now it feels like “LinkedIn is going to have a second secret file on you” true.

masterofn001@lemmy.ca on 18 Aug 21:03 collapse

Fun fact:

That was the plan all along.

The guy who founded LinkedIn… Paypal mafia
The guys who invested in Facebook. . PayPal mafia
The guys who founded YouTube… Paypal mafia
The guy who founded Square … Paypal mafia
The guy who ran doge and got all your us gov datasets, has literally half of all satellites in orbit sucking up your location and data… Paypal mafia

The guy who decides who attends the bilderberg group, is ceo of the ai that is used by nearly every police force in the USA, and has contracts with military, who funded trump and Vance… Paypal Mafia

These guys have literally created the techno society we are now slaves to.

They are just getting started.

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 21:18 collapse

They are just getting started.

Idk, man. Seems like they’re wrapping up. Not a whole lot left to do when you’re this far up on the board.

Flagstaff@programming.dev on 18 Aug 22:21 collapse

My friend, you have no idea of the hell that awaits… There’s always a deeper layer…

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 22:52 collapse

Sure sure sure. Modern American politics is just the Shepherd Tone.

Flagstaff@programming.dev on 19 Aug 00:55 collapse

idk what that is. Also, I’m referring to the global state of things, not just North America; the identity-tracking mania, as far as I know, began with the EU, no?

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de on 18 Aug 20:54 next collapse

And they dont even have any valid excuses, because its totally possible to implement anonymous age verification that cannot be fooled. These systems already exists and work perfectly, but it was never the plan to do it this way. It was always intended as a political tool of censorship.

CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social on 18 Aug 22:39 collapse

What systems are you referring to?

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de on 18 Aug 23:15 collapse

The EUs eID system. …europa.eu/…/european-digital-identity_en

Depending on the use case, varying amounts of information can be transferred like only age or nationality or everything.

Ive used it for signing EU petitions but also local bureucratic things like residency stuff.

The eID system is kind of overkill if all that matters is age verification. You could build a suuper lightweight system just for that which would make checking the source code much easier.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 15:29 collapse

Does the system know what service is requesting the age verification?

LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 18 Aug 21:07 next collapse

18+ to shop at Walmart. I don’t want my children exposed to harmful things like books, my boys shouldn’t be exposed to cleaning supplies or see women’s garments and my girls shouldn’t have to see that other girls are allowed to pick out their outfits or do manly things like play sports.

Korhaka@sopuli.xyz on 19 Aug 00:25 collapse

In the UK some supermarkets charge extra for children to buy products. You need to register an account for them to harvest even more data and if you don’t then some products can cost a lot more. Children can’t register as they can’t collect that kind of data on children.

I shop at Aldi instead because they don’t do this shit

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 15:28 collapse

Those store loyalty cards suck. When I’m forced to use one, I just enter my parents’ number or something because I don’t want yet another company to spam me with calls and texts.

[deleted] on 18 Aug 21:44 next collapse

.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 15:26 collapse

And even if that’s somehow protected, I’m really uncomfortable with the government having that data.

figjam@midwest.social on 18 Aug 23:48 collapse

Time to start making zines and locally organizing i guess

Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 21:07 next collapse

Nuclear weapons are harmful to children.

Global warming is harmful to children.

Microplastics and forever chemicals are harmful to children.

But, no, let’s just block the porn.

psycho_driver@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 23:17 next collapse

The felon sitting in the Oval Office is harmful to children.

SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 23:25 collapse

*The pedophile king whose name has been confirmed to be in the Epstein files

EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com on 19 Aug 09:05 collapse

The world is on fire

But don’t say “cunt”

Angelspit - Don’t Say

kent_eh@lemmy.ca on 18 Aug 21:36 next collapse

The stated reason behind these laws is to “protect children.”

imgur.com/QqabC7T

wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 18 Aug 21:39 next collapse

I’m ready for the internet to end. This experiment has shown it is extremely harmful to society. Fucking end it already.

pennomi@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 21:57 next collapse

You’re free to leave anytime. You could live a simple life out in the boonies working on a small farm and 99% of internet shit would go away.

wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 18 Aug 22:03 next collapse

Me leaving wouldnt solve the problem of the brain rot it causes 90% of people.

starchylemming@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 08:32 collapse

probably depends on how digitally advanced your country is, but: accessing government services and even things like making a doctor’s appointment will continue to be pushed online

for now there are measures to keep up service for the analog eldery - but for how long?

i expect there will be basically no opt-out-of-online in ~15 years

samus12345@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 01:07 next collapse

The internet isn’t the problem. Corporations mining it for money is.

wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 01:13 collapse

No… I really do think the internet is the problem. People aren’t meant to know 1000s of people all at once. We evolved our social abilities in tribes with maybe a couple hundred individuals. The sheer number of people who are all effectively anonymous who are constantly trying to one up each other and troll people is too much for anyone to bear. And that’s before we get into the innumerable echo chambers of whatever flavor you want that allow people to reinforce their nutjob beliefs in a way that wouldve been shut-the-fuck-down if brought up in a smaller group.

And that’s not even getting into the fact that Amazon is utterly destroying every retailer on the planet which has had cascading effects that are too broad and disastrous to bring up in a brief “the internet sucks” conversation.

No. The internet is the problem. It should be reserved for sharing academic papers like back in the darpa days.

starchylemming@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 08:24 collapse

the “early” internet was great. hell you don’t even need to go back that far.

online games taught us that people all over the world are just like you. they are not some elusive foreign potential threat but chill people. everywhere

we found more common ground than differences, it was beautiful while it lasted . only in the recent times the big us-vs-them rift appeared everywhere

wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 15:20 collapse

Sure but the common ground isn’t necessarily a good thing. It lets you retreat from in person community because you found someone to hang with that you have never met in person. It does encourage some healthy behaviors like work on interesting hobbies - but the homogenizing affects are worse. It has practically halted the evolution of small cultures and arts across the globe because they thrived in isolation. The world is too small; too mundane now. There is no wonder about what’s abroad. Everything is at your fingertips and it’s at everyone else’s too.

starchylemming@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 15:47 next collapse

kind of an insane take to say common ground is not a good thing.

the alternative was historically constantly warring tribes.

best example for it is the european union. former enemies peacefully deciding on common ground. the result: most peaceful time in european history.

wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 20:13 collapse

You’re comparing treaties to upvotes. They’re different things.

Laurentide@pawb.social on 20 Aug 04:12 collapse

My in-person community was toxic and abusive, and I didn’t even realize it until I found a warm, accepting, and much healthier online community to compare with. “Retreating” was a survival need. I’m glad your offline community isn’t harmful to you but don’t assume that is the case for everyone.

I’m also part of one of those small artistic cultures you mentioned and it evolved and thrived way more with the arrival of the internet than it ever did in the days of small in-person gatherings and physical-only publishing. Art is furthered by cultural contact and mutual exchange of ideas, not isolation.

Now, you do have a point that there is a problem with homogeneity and stagnation these days, but the real cause of it is late-stage capitalism. The harder it is for the average person to make a living, the more they are forced to focus all of their energy on making money. For an artist, that means not having any time for masterpieces or experimental projects because Fast and Marketable is the only way to make rent. Arts and culture are starving because a small number of billionaires are sucking up all the financial nutrients (and then passing censorship laws to cut down anything that still manages to grow, until the only things left are as boring and mundane as they are.)

TheBat@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 21:58 next collapse

Somewhere in the UK, a 13 year old has already figured out a way to bypass it and watch porn.

That’s what young me would have done.

Minoot@lemmynsfw.com on 18 Aug 22:05 next collapse

There’s a news clip of a reporter bypassing the restrictions in under 4 seconds. I actually think more teens will get around this than adults lmao. I look at the positives though, the silver lining is at least teens are learning about vpns early.

Oh god we’re so fucked.

Jason2357@lemmy.ca on 19 Aug 03:31 next collapse

They will be using whatever “free” vpns show up on a google play/App Store search - which will expose them to worse.

Minoot@lemmynsfw.com on 19 Aug 09:14 collapse

Yes but at least protonvpn and mullvad are among the free VPNs they’re using.

Oh god we’re so fucked.

moopet@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 15:51 collapse

Most of the bypasses are by using a fake picture though. Two problems with that - if you consistently use the same fakery then your identity is still tracked between things (which is barely better than using your real identity), and if one service reports you for it being fake, you might lose all your connected accounts if they implement some sort of system like that in the future.

Minoot@lemmynsfw.com on 19 Aug 17:30 collapse

Maybe the silver lining is teaching them about the limitations of data obfuscation and misdirection early? The adults of tomorrow will be so much better off once they experience rejection via automation due to dumb shit they did on the internet as kids.

Oh god we’re so fucked.

Korhaka@sopuli.xyz on 19 Aug 00:26 collapse

Google image search for tits works without any age verification

XTL@sopuli.xyz on 19 Aug 07:24 collapse

Will soon be stuck in “safe mode” until you log in with verified if on your account.

Korhaka@sopuli.xyz on 19 Aug 09:19 collapse

Apparently the OSA counts for platforms and Google isn’t a platform? Not sure if that is accurate, or are Google just saying lol get fucked.

burgerchurgarr@lemmus.org on 18 Aug 23:06 next collapse

Please don’t make me selfhost whisparr lol, I’m fucked in the head but not THAT fucked

SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world on 18 Aug 23:24 next collapse

We need to purge our society of these genital obsessed religious extremists

thatradomguy@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 01:28 next collapse

Amen

WoodScientist@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 03:34 next collapse

We should haul them into public arenas and feed them to lions. They get off to that sort of thing.

BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 07:37 collapse

Lions are boring. I wanna see the fanatics fight hippos and a pissed off rhino.

Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 08:32 collapse

I’m thinking hyaenas.

sunzu2@thebrainbin.org on 19 Aug 04:38 collapse

genital obsessed religious extremists

A lot of these people are pedophiles just like the owner class so it makes sense why they always get good representation

DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 14:16 collapse

When they’ve been in Power for so long pedophilia becomes an elite norm.

DemBoSain@midwest.social on 18 Aug 23:50 next collapse

TOR and i2p and VPNs? Are we skating towards a 100% encrypted internet?

Postimo@lemmy.zip on 19 Aug 01:07 collapse

That would be rad, but isn’t TOR glacial? And VPNs are sketch if you’re not paying for them. What is i2p like, and does it have access to the open web or is it more a siloed space?

DemBoSain@midwest.social on 19 Aug 02:21 next collapse

I spent about a month looking for something worthwhile on TOR. The only thing I remember is Dread (kind of a reddit clone, but worse). Everything else was easier to access on the normal internet. Yes, it was really slow. And for obvious reasons all JavaScript is blocked.

I never got i2p to work. I think. It said everything was okay, but I couldn’t connect to anything.

Auth@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 03:08 next collapse

A mostly text site like lemmy could work at glacial speeds.

ICastFist@programming.dev on 19 Aug 23:21 collapse

What is i2p like, and does it have access to the open web or is it more a siloed space?

It’s siloed, you can’t access clearnet while connected to i2p, so it’s a lot like Tor. It technically should be faster than tor, too, I haven’t done enough testing to say if that’s indeed the case or not

vane@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 00:15 next collapse

Bad news for HTTP are good news for P2P.

natryamar@monero.town on 19 Aug 02:16 next collapse

I2P baybee

rumba@lemmy.zip on 19 Aug 02:40 collapse

Ehh maybe. Next they’ll charge the ISP’s with logging what we do and blocking unidentifiable traffic.

vane@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 02:56 collapse

I think ISP are already logging what we do. ( at least in EU )

ISPs may engage in monitoring and filtering of communications data to fight viruses and overall ensure the security of the network

eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex…

and all of the monitoring of course have

this does not apply when the purpose is based on security considerations

so given that there is war next door you can assume you’re being monitored 24/7

also this

Article 6( c ) of the Data Protection Directive lays down the proportionality principle (34), which applies to ISPs, as they are data controllers in the meaning of this Directive, when they engage in monitoring and filtering.

kungen@feddit.nu on 19 Aug 03:24 next collapse

Among many other examples such as IPRED. In a weird way, I’m glad that such an awful directive blatantly states its purpose, instead of all the other “think about the children/terrorists/whatnot”…

rumba@lemmy.zip on 19 Aug 03:54 collapse

0 doubt you’re being monitored, i’m more worried when they stop allowing you to pass secured traffic.

CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 00:23 next collapse

“I’m fairly sure if they took porn off the internet, there’d only be one website left, and it’d be called Bring back the porn!”

- Dr. Percival Ulysses Cox

toynbee@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 00:30 collapse

Percival.

CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 00:58 collapse

Edited. Thank you

toynbee@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 01:02 next collapse

Happy to be of service!

OrteilGenou@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 13:25 collapse

I always thought it was spelled “Percy Valuli sees cocks”

HexesofVexes@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 01:53 next collapse

Remember, according to the UK government you’re legally able to have sex, give birth, choose your future, and (soon?) vote at 16. Heaven forfend if you see a pair of titties though, you’re not mature enough for that…

BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 07:34 next collapse

You can have sex, but you better not look!

I’m not against a bit of spice, but blindfolds at 16 just seem a little advanced. Especially when sex at that age is akin to a oblong peg in a tesseract shaped hole of unknown location.

OrteilGenou@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 13:24 next collapse

No no you’re missing the point. It’s not that you can’t look, you just have to tap the gubmint on the shoulder so they can watch you look

Technoworcester@feddit.uk on 19 Aug 17:13 collapse

oblong peg in a tesseract shaped hole of unknown location

Thanks for that. I just spat out my coffee and laughed a little too hard.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 15:01 collapse

You really dont see the difference between two 17 year olds in a relationship and watching porn online?

HexesofVexes@lemmy.world on 20 Aug 02:22 collapse

Two 17 year olds have no idea how relationships work - one or both is normally carrying a Disney complex, and you’re both heavy risk takers.

Been there, done that, no thanks. It was an experience, but not one I’d voluntarily relive.

A 17 year old consuming pornography? Sounds to me like their parents need to put that shit into some context.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 13:39 collapse

Just to be clear, you are arguing that 17 year olds dating is somehow worse than consuming porn?

HexesofVexes@lemmy.world on 20 Aug 15:03 collapse

I just highlighted the differences. What you conclude from those is your problem.

HiddenPotential@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 02:21 next collapse

Porn makes people into dumb animals same with alcohol just saying and also it creates unhealthy standards and leads to sexual immorality it’s not even real sex

Waffle@infosec.pub on 19 Aug 02:44 next collapse

Just because people can overindugle doesn’t mean I want the government having direct visibility into my interests online.

Empricorn@feddit.nl on 19 Aug 03:09 next collapse

If only you had provided more details, so I could debunk the nonsense. Still, I’m sure you have links to evidence of any of these claims, right…?

You seem to find what other adults do privately to be scary and exhilarating and disgusting and sinful. Which is your right, but “sexual immorality”? Lol. Surely you understand that that’s 100% subjective, and undermines any actual point you might have had…

chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 03:56 next collapse

/s??

ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca on 19 Aug 03:57 next collapse

Porn is the scapegoat for surveillance

Much more harm comes from social media but it’s harder to use that to justify power grabs

limer@lemmy.ml on 19 Aug 04:08 collapse

If it were not porn, then the powers would pick some other thing to justify age checks: graphic violence perhaps

LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 19 Aug 04:29 next collapse

I strongly dislike pornography, and absolutely agree that pornography has genuinely fucked with social perceptions of what healthy and normal sex is supposed to look like. It doesn’t by definition have to do this, but does so largely because of exploitation within the industry itself.

That being said, I am resolutely opposed to any attempt to gatekeep the internet in this manner. It’s really not about pornography. It’s about mass surveillance. Anyone with a VPN can effectively bypass these restrictions. Its the fact that the majority of people will not put in the effort to do so, and will more readily just let the app scan their face and note their identifying information. This has made tracking people significantly easier for the British government, and has opened the door to creating a legal precedent to control what kinds of content minors can access. Principally, it allows the restriction of certain political content from minors view. This allows it to function as a very effective propaganda tool.

sunzu2@thebrainbin.org on 19 Aug 04:34 next collapse

Clutch 'em pearls harder, pussy

gallopingsnail@lemmy.sdf.org on 19 Aug 17:28 collapse

Dweeb.

notannpc@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 03:41 next collapse

The very instant a website wants me to verify my age by providing PII, I’ll just blacklist that website from my network. There isn’t a single website that I can’t go without.

Flagstaff@programming.dev on 19 Aug 04:05 collapse

What if it ends up being all discussion boards?

FauxLiving@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 06:21 collapse

Oh no, where can I go in order to be made to feel outraged by chronically online children, bots, and foreign intelligence services.

/s

Sonor@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 09:21 collapse

reddit?

OrteilGenou@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 13:22 collapse

Sure, blacklist those goobers too

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 15:23 collapse

Lemmy?

SugarCatDestroyer@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 21:07 collapse

I think it’s too early to talk about it, but it’s still worth being on guard, since anonymity is questionable here.

Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net on 19 Aug 04:38 next collapse

Until they ban Tor there will always be porn available.

This isn’t about protecting children.

ook@discuss.tchncs.de on 19 Aug 08:51 next collapse

It never was. But that is hard to discuss. I remember when I still was young and went to house parties decades ago when my country discussed yet again some measures “to protect the children”, don’t recall exactly what, you found lots young people who of course couldn’t be against protecting the children. How could you be against that? It’s such a shitty way to get these things through.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 14:59 next collapse

Of course it is about protecting children. We dont sell porn magazines in grocery stores anymore, despite the fact they are still “available”.

The internet is a public place, having awful things available for children to look at is not a good thing. Personal freedoms have to take a backseat to public health and safety.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 15:21 next collapse

If parents want their kids to not see porn, they should set up filters on their devices and monitor their computer use. That has been doable for decades.

The internet isn’t a shopping mall where everyone needs to follow some set of rules, it’s more like a neighborhood where you can go up and knock on anyone’s door. If you don’t like what they do at their house, the solution is to not visit their house, not force everyone to follow some set of rules on their own property. Websites shouldn’t have to go out of their way to block traffic that doesn’t follow some set of rules, people should go out of their way to not visit sites they don’t want to see.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 20:44 collapse

That usually equates to removing all technology from kids hands as most are unable to research and properly secure what they give their children. Technology is needed, they can’t grow up without knowing how to use it and making that safer is fine by me.

If you want to look at adults only material prove you are an adult or go about it a different way. The internet isn’t the only place porn exists.

ICastFist@programming.dev on 19 Aug 23:01 next collapse

If the parents don’t want their kids to watch porn, why the fuck are they even letting their kids use phones or computers with zero oversight? It should NOT be the government’s responsibility to parent kids, parents should fucking learn how to set up protections and blocks on their devices and networks.

Besides, “prove you’re an adult on the internet” can be faked. ID? Ask an adult friend, or AI edit it. It doesn’t matter if some sites manage to catch it, some won’t and kids will go to those with weaker verification.
Credit Card? Some kids have their own, others can try to sneak their parents’ number.
As an adult, I do not want to give my ID or CC info to every porn site I visit, because I know they will keep that information forever. With so much individually identifiable information, said sites then become really big targets for hackers and government.

When people say this is not about protecting kids, that’s what they mean. At best, it creates a shitty, but hardly impassable barrier for kids to access porn. At worst, it creates immense centers of valuable data that can be used against individuals.

Last but not least, unless the law starts applying to chat groups, that’ll be the easiest solution for most kids who still want to watch porn. Discord, Telegram, Whatsapp are full of places where you can get lots of adult material.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 00:33 next collapse

chat groups

Exactly, and it’s not even hard to find.

Just look at piracy, for example. Studios are really aggressive about taking down copyrighted material, yet it’s still really easy to find it. Porn sites, on the other hand, aren’t as aggressive, so it’s even easier to find.

These types of laws only hurt law abiding citizens.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 01:45 collapse

I hate to break it to you but they dont need your cc or a picture of your face, porn websites make a lot of money off selling user data, and it regularly gets combined with other applications to identify you. Ever wonder how peoples porn accounts have been linked to them publicly?

This is about putting the responsibility on site owners to do their best to ensure content is appropriate for children or that it is unavailable to children.

This is simply people throwing a fit about “my freedoms”. Noone here actually cares about other people or society in general, just selfishness.

ICastFist@programming.dev on 20 Aug 14:49 collapse

porn websites make a lot of money off selling user data, and it regularly gets combined with other applications to identify you. Ever wonder how peoples porn accounts have been linked to them publicly?

That’s true for the entire corporate run internet. As is, however, all porn sites work fine with an AdBlock, which also blocks tracking. Unless the user is logging in with an email they use for everything else, it’s not as easy to connect their porn history with the rest of their online activities. People that use burner emails and throwaway accounts for porn sites aren’t being exposed. The infamous Ashley Madison leak showed that a LOT of accounts used work emails - those people are asking for trouble.

This is about putting the responsibility on site owners to do their best to ensure content is appropriate for children or that it is unavailable to children.

You know that’s not true. No porn site will do “their best”, they’ll do the bare minimum not to get sued. Even YouTube, with infinite money from Google, doesn’t do “the best” to ensure kids don’t see shit they’re not supposed to. Instagram is frequently bombarding kids with content that is not age appropriate, if they start following the “right” accounts.

This is simply people throwing a fit about “my freedoms”. No one here actually cares about other people or society in general, just selfishness.

Look in the mirror. People are rightfully complaining that this will give too much burden and POWER to corporations that are already too big and hoarding too much data, and you want corporations to be the nannies of the internet, dictating whether a user is or isn’t an adult. What kind of mental gymnastics is needed to equate greater corporate and govt control of the internet with “you’re just throwing a fit, you’re all selfish”?

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 21:17 collapse

Corporations dont want to do this, it costs money. We can talk about possible misuses of data if you’d like but I’d say we are swimming in an ocean of misuse at this point.

I’m saying people are selfish because this type of stuff has happened over and over and noone cares, but as soon as it affects porn the internet throws a tantrum. Sorry for noticing a pattern there but it seems like people won’t admit how addicted to porn they really are.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 00:40 collapse

No, it usually equates to parents not filtering anything because that’s the laziest option. That’s not great, but violating everyone’s privacy for an ineffective law is worse.

Commercial products exist for those who want them. Use those instead of asking governments to handle parenting for you.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 01:38 collapse

If personal privacy is that important to you then download your porn from torrents, or just dont watch it. Porn isn’t a necessity. You aren’t owed porn.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 02:22 collapse

But it’s not about porn, it’s about government interference on the internet.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 13:42 collapse

Is it though? Seems funny to me that porn websites had to hang up “no kids” signs and now people are claiming its an issue about freedom and privacy.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 15:05 collapse

The “no kids” signs were fine because they didn’t violate anyone’s privacy. The “scan your face” BS goes way too far.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 21:13 collapse

Considering there are other options for age verification I’d imagine companies using face scan tech will take a huge hit in traffic. I doubt that will be a mainstream way of doing it, as it barely makes sense to begin with.

[deleted] on 20 Aug 22:56 next collapse

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sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 22:57 collapse

Any form of identify verification is a privacy concern, since someone is going to be logging that crap. And young people are just going to get that content (or worse content) somewhere else, so it’s not even solving the problem effectively.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 21 Aug 07:24 collapse

It gets the main public porn sites back to being private sites for adults. There was always other ways to get porn but that doesnt make the change negligible.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 21 Aug 18:22 collapse

Sure, assuming the age verification actually works. But it also adds risk to people accessing those sites since now they need to do some form of identity verification.

The net result here is going to be less traffic to those sites, and more damaging leaks when those sites inevitably get breached, and kids are still going to access porn, and probably worse porn than what’s on the main sites.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 21 Aug 23:27 collapse

I’d have to hear a good example of more damaging leaks, unless you just mean linking people to their porn history?

Kids won’t access worse porn because they won’t even be aware of it to begin with. Pornhub and the like have some awful categories that I’m sure you are aware of. All this stuff front and center on such well known and easy to access websites is not okay when its obvious children will end up there.

Porn advocates should feel lucky they had a “golden age” where kids were discovering porn completely on their own by the age of 10. Personally I dont think thats a societal benefit and its not helping men especially.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 22 Aug 00:24 collapse

unless you just mean linking people to their porn history?

Pretty much that. Think of an Equifax style breach, but with porn, and all the blackmail that could create.

they won’t even be aware of it to begin with

Are you sure about that? I grew up with dialup and a publicly placed family court computer and I was definitely aware of porn, despite even simple images loading at a crawl.

Children will find porn, that’s a given, our choice is where they’ll likely go. Do we want them going to a place parents are aware of and can look out for, or do we want them going to the sketchy corners of the web to find what they want?

Locking down the main sites just endangers adults and pushes kids to worse sites.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 22 Aug 14:41 collapse

There aren’t worse sites. The current way porn is presented is with no restrictions. Addind restrictions won’t push kids to “worse sites”. Kids dont need porn to begin with, acting like they will find it and abuse it no matter what is an awfully bleak take. Do you assume that all kids are going to try hard drugs too? How about armed robbery? Maybe we should keep drugs and guns in as public a place as possible so parents can “monitor” kids using it easier.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 24 Aug 16:17 collapse

Do you assume that all kids are going to try hard drugs too?

That’s a ridiculous comparison. Kids know the harm of drugs, they can see people strung out on the side of the road downtown and have heard horror stories from friends about bad trips. So most kids stick with weed, alcohol, and nicotine (all bad) because they’re not complete idiots. They want to break rules and have fun, not destroy their lives.

What’s the equivalent for porn? They’ll have trouble forming relationships and may objectify their partners some months or years down the road? They’ll learn things incorrectly (things they should’ve learned from sex ed in school or from their parents)?

They’re not in the same category at all. Here’s what will likely happen from a kid seeing porn:

  • well before puberty - "mom/dad, there’s naked people on the screen!!"
  • around puberty - they’ll learn to wank it
  • after puberty - they’re probably seeking it out to wank it

That’s it. They’re not going to start raping people or anything, they just want to release the sexual tension they’re feeling.

Now, if the safe places are blocked (i.e. places that care about regulators), they’ll go to forums and whatnot and probably be exposed to actual abuse, like CSAM, actual rape, etc. That’s much more problematic than role play between consenting adults or whatever.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 24 Aug 18:36 collapse

I disagree that the effects are negligible. Trouble forming relationships and having expectations that dont match reality are hard things to overcome. We are extremely social as a species so you should take that a bit more seriously.

As for CSAM, rape, and anything else like that, its already on pornhub and other sites. If you watch porn on those sites the chances are you’ve accidentally seen some of it. Thats without mentioning the abuse of power situations that lead to people being in porn they’d rather not be.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 24 Aug 19:46 collapse

As for CSAM, rape, and anything else like that, its already on pornhub and other sites

Comparing that to what I’m talking about is like comparing weed and meth. The CSAM there is generally 17yos lying and claiming they’re 18+, and the rape is generally people who didn’t consent to having their films published (but did consent to the sex), or it’s roleplay with one of those as a the theme (e. g. step father nonsense). That’s way different from “harder” CSAM and rape content where the victims are obviously not consenting. The difference is massive in terms of what viewers understand.

I’d much rather kids watch the former than the latter, but ideally they avoid both.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 24 Aug 21:00 collapse

Oh I get it so pornhub has the okay kind of CSAM, got it. You keep digging that hole my man.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 24 Aug 21:58 collapse

No, my point is the issues on Pornhub are violations of their policies, whereas the issues on other sites are the whole point of those sites and they’re much more severe. The issues on Pornhub can be corrected by reporting them, the issues on the other sites won’t.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 25 Aug 04:26 collapse

You think that if kids can’t get to pornhub they will go to sites explicitly for abuse? Thats quite a stretch, why do you think that?

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 25 Aug 05:44 collapse

Kids are interested in porn, so they’ll get whatever they can find. If the safer sites are blocked, they’ll find something else.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 25 Aug 22:38 collapse

Some kids, I disagree its the majority. I think you are projecting possibly.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 25 Aug 23:34 collapse

Whether it’s the majority is irrelevant. My point is that if kids want something and the easy-to-access stuff is blocked, they’ll find workarounds. They always have and always will.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 26 Aug 03:21 collapse

I dont think you are saying much there though.

Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net on 19 Aug 17:17 next collapse

Funny how broad “awful things” gets determined to be. Can’t have people learning that the LGBT and political dissent exist, can we?

The dark web is a public place too. Are you expecting that to be banned as well?

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 20:45 collapse

People aren’t learning that lgbtq people exist by casually stumbling upon it on pornhub. This is besides the point.

Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net on 19 Aug 21:21 collapse

It isn’t besides the point, you’ve just missed the point:

brookings.edu/…/childrens-online-safety-laws-are-…

And you’ve conveniently ignored my second question.

BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 23:42 next collapse

The person you are talking to repeatedly and loudly advocates for fascist, oppressive, totalitarian policies. I would not expect any productive or good faith exchange with them.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 01:53 next collapse

Well bless your heart for warning them, they might get into trouble if they talk to me! Oh no!

Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net on 20 Aug 02:44 collapse

Yeah, you’re right.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 20 Aug 01:52 collapse

I can’t speak for people using the law to also target lgbtq people, it doesnt seem to be the goal of it but I’ll accept that there will be people who try to twist it. At this point it seems literally everything is twisted against that community.

As for the dark web, its so unpopular I dont consider it having a societal effect but If there was a site or service on there popular enough that it shows up in regular life for non-tech users, then yes it should regulated. I’m not for banning content, but rules and regulation can mitigate negative effects of something like widely available pornography.

vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 19:49 collapse

Freedom is a prerequisite to health and safety.

Rekorse@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 20:45 collapse

No its not, or else I’d be free to hurt people as well.

FE80@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 19:15 collapse

This isn’t about protecting children.

This is about narrative control on the internet.

Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net on 19 Aug 19:16 next collapse

Bingo

SugarCatDestroyer@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 21:04 collapse

You dare argue with the Ministry of Truth?

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today on 19 Aug 09:33 next collapse

UK isnt so puritanical as the US, the sudden shift is very suspect of the actors behind these legislations all over the world.

regedit@lemmy.zip on 19 Aug 13:06 next collapse

The first time this PII is leaked about some politician’s online search history, it will all get repealed.

Wanna stop this? Get some whale to buy up the data and find people pushing this shit and any mass adoption for these things will die. Politicians like to eat up religious lobbyist’s shit until it’s used to expose their less savory activities to the greater population.

pyre@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 13:36 next collapse

or we could just ban their ip range from every website idk

melsaskca@lemmy.ca on 19 Aug 14:15 next collapse

It was porn watching that initially pushed the internet technology to be better. Everything comes full circle.

quick_snail@feddit.nl on 19 Aug 14:44 next collapse

It literally only* affects corporate websites.

Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 15:43 collapse

I knew what you meant to say, and now I’m left wondering how clumsy my fingers must be if I can accurately read a typo where 75% of the letters are wrong.

quick_snail@feddit.nl on 19 Aug 16:33 collapse

Context :) fixed

GreenShimada@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 14:55 next collapse

“Poorly Implemented Attempt to Censor Porn will Ruin Corporate Internet”

There, FTFY

BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 23:37 collapse

Poorly implemented? There is no good implementation of censorship or any other restriction on freedom of expression. All attempts to do so are dangerous, existential threats.

GreenShimada@lemmy.world on 20 Aug 06:51 collapse

Yeah, but it’s like it’s total slop on top of the censorship part. It’s literally adding insult to injury.

_cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 19 Aug 15:36 next collapse

“This isn’t the end of a battle,” he said. “This is the beginning of one.”

I love that line so much, it goes hard and is kinda punk as fuck.

Yezzey@lemmy.ca on 19 Aug 16:49 next collapse

We have the dark web as backup.

fossilesque@mander.xyz on 19 Aug 17:54 next collapse

We need to consider building on and spreading the word about other protocols like Tor, Yggdrassil etc etc. Show people that the Commons cannot be stolen again.

DanVctr@sh.itjust.works on 19 Aug 21:58 next collapse

I think the problem is that most of the people who have casually heard of Tor already associate it with CSAM

ICastFist@programming.dev on 19 Aug 22:35 collapse

good thing there are alternatives, like the aforementioned yggdrasil and i2p, though ygg doesn’t guarantee anonymity

Chakravanti@monero.town on 20 Aug 00:43 next collapse

'Need" means what? I can’t hear you.

“Cotton” swabs his ear with a Bowling Pin

Zexks@lemmy.world on 20 Aug 14:25 collapse

No. None of those or other prptocols are above legislation or javlass politics. This starts and ends with the public amd who they vote for. Just moving the goal post isnt going to stop this.

Comrade_Squid@lemmy.ml on 19 Aug 18:07 next collapse

Kids shouldn’t use the internet without a parent or teacher monitoring them. We can blame big tech for targeting our most vulnerable and pandering to them, kids are very easy to manipulate vis-à-vis a great target to advertisers, they will fill participation metrics, they will sit on one site for hours. And our solution is to keep the unsafe pseudo kids park online while handing power to faceless corps who we are to trust with our private and identifiable data? Roblox for example is an open pedo network targeting kids, this won’t be fixed. The sad truth is many children are encountering sexual content through these online play grounds made for kids.

Chakravanti@monero.town on 20 Aug 00:47 collapse

Blaming is literally just relabeling the excuse to do what they accuse you of “not doing” while actually brainwashing anyone not paying attention.

Usually because they just left their third job and are driving to their first. Apparently they all forgot what to sleep was and never woke the fuck up. Pun intended.

biotin7@sopuli.xyz on 19 Aug 18:22 next collapse

Pornographic content is literally & figuratively the canary in the coal mine of the internet.

Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club on 19 Aug 18:24 next collapse

Dicks are going to destroy the internet, regardless of pr0n.

[deleted] on 19 Aug 18:58 next collapse

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switcheroo@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 20:29 next collapse

It’s not about protecting the children and never has been with the Party of Pedos. It’s about control.

Outlaw porn. Then start calling LGBTQ folks pornographic. Now it’s illegal to be gay. You KNOW they are going in that direction.

SugarCatDestroyer@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 21:00 next collapse

Comrade, it seems you have just committed a thought crime. The thought police are already coming for you. Please do not resist. :)

FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world on 20 Aug 04:20 collapse

Stephen Fry’s character in V For Vendetta is a perfect depiction of this

youtu.be/jtVWdplyDx8

SugarCatDestroyer@lemmy.world on 19 Aug 20:37 next collapse

Now it’s all gone. I’ll have to buy from resellers, like I’m some kind of drug addict lol.

They will come up with any excuse for total control. I can just see how they look at China and they are burning inside like how come they have everything under control, and our peasants still have freedom of thought, how should this be understood?

[deleted] on 20 Aug 02:34 collapse

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ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online on 20 Aug 04:03 collapse

Here’s the thing. When prohibition took effect in the US, anyone with half an idea on how fermentation and distillation worked made their own alcohol (I made my own ‘prison hooch’ at home using EC-1118 yeast, sugar, and fruit juice. It is fucking EASY to do). The problem with stuff like this is that some people often produced toxic stuff, since they had no idea how to separate ethanol from methanol and other toxic byproducts during distillation, and this shit got people killed. Not only that, the complete lack of regulation (since it was 100% illegal after all) meant that people adulterated the booze with all manner of bullshit. It was a common trope in prohibition era and post-prohibition films to showcase it.

With porn? Look, the porn industry is rife with abuse for everyone involved. But having a legal industry and legal sites like pornhub and many others means one thing: The shit isn’t going to be illegal. There were actual porn videos featuring underaged girls on pornhub, and those were removed almost immediately upon discovery. Dark web stuff is… holy shit! One main reason why I don’t do much dark web stuff is very specifically that I fear I will click on a link that’ll take me to some child porn site… and the stories I heard on true crime videos show just how horrific many of those pornographers are. They are far more than just naked kids posing, some of them involve almost killing children.

And banning porn will only make it that there are no protections whatsoever against anyone, be they adult or otherwise. If there is one good thing about modern porn is that a lot of it (and I would even say the best) is amateur made. With the people involved all willingly making the stuff to post online.