> Australian government forces Google to soon ask Australian users to show ID to view some content<p>There, I fixed it. I'm getting tired of every headline trying to bash on Google/Facebook/etc. for clicks.
Although the title is correct, it's worth noting that Google is not doing this because it thinks it's fun to require verification. The Australian government is requiring google to take this action.
What kind of problem solves this measure? If someone think that minors won't access adult content that person is pretty naive. Only with TV shows, series, movies, music, and games they are going to watch a lot of violence and sex scenes, and most of us knows there are a lot of easy ways to access to this kind of content outside mass media.<p>Letting the usefulness of this measure aside, I think there should be other ways to get your age without using your ID, like using a credit card for example. I don't know if there is any way to get the age of a person using the credit card, to be honest, but at least is an identification method with a expiring date and possibilities to cancel in any moment, not a unique number you can't never change in your whole life (at least in most Western countries I know).
Semi-ironically, the site pops up a full screen "subscribe with email address" window upon loading.<p>There's an easily visible link to close it without subscribing but fuck it's tone deaf for a site called "reclaim the internet".
> Governments all over the world have started pushing for ways to collect ID on social media users, often under the guise of providing a safe space for kids online.<p>Does anyone know how these work on a technical level? Are they actually verifying these IDs with some sort of government API? What's preventing people from just sending fake IDs?<p>I'm also curious how non-tech giants are going to implement this. It's a big ask for small websites run by single or small groups of people. If they face consequences too, it seems like a win for the social media sites to keep their market positions.<p>Finally, what's preventing the children from just using non-tech giant sites to get at adult content? If it's literally just for Facebook, Youtube and the like, it'll be about as useless as the "Click here to confirm you're 18+!" verifications since they'll just search elsewhere, on one of the millions of other adult content sites...
I find it somewhat hilarious that a site "reclaim the net – Push back against online censorship, cancel culture, and privacy invasion. Informed by principles on digital rights" wants me to give them my email for their newsletter on my very first visit. Before showing me the article, or anything.<p>Yes, I would like to reclaim the net. From sites such as that one.
The Australian government made a big push to make Google and Facebook pay Australian news sites for links to content on their platforms.<p>Google made a number of moves to head that off, including pumping money into local initiatives and a deal with the local media companies.<p>Not fighting back hard against the current social conservative government's moves on censorship and cracking down on online rights is consistent with Google's other moves to protect profits and avoid paying media companies for links.
I am curious if the ID will be validated somehow or just dates checked. If the former, I wonder of this endpoint would be given to any site owner to validate age. If the latter, I can imagine someone creating a "this ID does not exist" service to fill this need. More likely VPN providers are about to get a bump in clientele.
Important to note that YouTube added this in the EU back in 2020: <a href="https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/using-technology-more-consistently-apply-age-restrictions/" rel="nofollow">https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/using-technology-more-c...</a>
Is there a KYC service where I can proof I am 18+, without actually revealing my information to Google, Facebook, etc.<p>Will Google and Facebook support it unless required by law?
This dovetails nicely with Google unilaterally deciding to age-restrict things like presidential candidate campaigns.<p><a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/la-video-d-eric-zemmour-restreinte-par-youtube-20211202" rel="nofollow">https://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/la-video-d-eric-zemmour-restr...</a>
For YouTube, that has been the case for a while in Germany. Certain videos (usually semi-pornographic, I think I only encountered it for black metal music videos) will require age verification. And that is despite my Google account being 18 years old…
I used to believe, at least in the early days, that these tech companies were successful in upholding the values of freedom of expression, speech, and exchange of information, subsequently the values that the early internet itself formed around. They were anti-authoritarian.<p>Now it seems they willingly accept being pushed around, succumb to any request to compromise its values in the interest of shareholder value, and willingly collude with authoritarian requests from governments.<p>It's all so typical, in a way. Whatever shred of idealism I had left for these companies is now completely gone.
Regarding adult content, don't you think that there is a better solution? Websites could add a HTTP header containing content rating; if the header is missing then it is considered 18+ content. Browsers use this header to restrict access according to OS settings.<p>This way the problem can be solved without any IDs and credit cards.<p>Also I don't understand why age verification is needed for Google Play. Isn't adult content already banned there?
I think this is more about getting people on board with requiring social media to be able to identify users, which is also happening. People hate having to provide ID to Facebook so that they can be identified when the law asks, and the chilling effects of de-anonymization. But stopping kids viewing decapitation videos, sure.
Welp time to re-up a mulvad subscription I guess. The Australian government has been embracing cronyism and corruption for a while, but until half the country stops rewarding the incumbent party with votes while complaining about everything they do because "the other guys will be worse" then here we are.
We really need to have the OS and browser cooperate on this, otherwise we will need to show our ID to each website we visit. But browser makers are busy with chasing benchmarks or other less relevant stuff that are fun for devs to work on or that might make more money.
Given that both major parties in Australia have a bad history of bad tech law, I'm not hopeful that even the upcoming election would get in the way of this one.
Sounds like exact quandary that the emerging DID spec (Decentralized Identifiers) [<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/" rel="nofollow">https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/</a>] is hoping to solve. I.e. you can submit your proof of age to an attestation service (in this case, perhaps the australian government itself) and receive an anonymous DID from which you can issue proofs of age without revealing other aspects of your identity.
So are all the Fox News idiots that wanted to come and liberate us from authoritarianism going to do it already? Or is that just for liberal state governments with barely any power that don't share your political views?