Not just the kids. The kids who were exposed to this stuff way back now have kids. It’s generational now.

It looks like it will be handled by third party verification services in Australia. You will likely provide some form of ID with age which is likely to be government id and the service will check it then inform the social media company you pass. The legislation doesn’t allow direct government involvement in running the verification service and the verification companies have to conform to privacy laws.

It is certainly a flawed system. If kids want to access things they will and there is potential for abuse. However when considering harm mitigation you need to look at the whole population.

A lot of the more extreme libertarian views on the Internet originate in the US where their “freedoms” of speech and firearms have obviously just been a distraction while they were robbed blind. They couldn’t even protect their school kids from mass shootings because they put ideology and theoretical bullshit ahead of morality, empathy and the survival of their families. I used to buy into the Internet libertarian stuff in a huge way in the days of IRC and Usenet before the mega rich tech bros moved in and turned the Internet into a shitshow of scams, mass-surveillance and brain washing. Still a big proponent of free software and agree with a lot of stuff from the EFF but the oligarchs ruined it. Now I want to burn it down. Anything to keep these nonses away from our kids is good with me.

The idea in Australia is to place the responsibility on the social media companies.

The government isnt filtering traffic or enforcing behaviour. It is fining companies if they don’t implement a form of age verification that is compliant with privacy laws.

We can’t even make these companies pay tax and obey other laws so I am not very optimistic but at least it raises awareness of the problem.

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They exist. Firefox and chromium are open source. Big companies pay their dev costs but they can be forked. Chromium is a descendent of WebKit which is a descendent of khtml from the KDE project. The engines have been open source for decades It’s the proprietary crap they put on top which is the problem.

I am not the enemy and I am genuinely sorry for your hardship (though not nearly as much as for people born into poverty, war and genocide in far lass fortunate countries)

Americans trying to justify themselves on social media seems like a waste of energy and focus and its probably not good for mental health. Outside opinion that contradicts the narratives we have in our heads is important. My opinion might be wrong but its a genuine observation. My very real fear is we can’t rely on US citizens to fight for their democracy anymore and that has global implications for the world and my children’s future. Please prove me wrong. I love to learn new things. The BLM protests were huge but perhaps they turned from grass roots outrage into a social media phenomenon instead of a real effective political movement.

Protecting our kids is an issue that cuts across all beliefs, races, classes to the heart of our humanity, the most basic goodness that unites our species. I think the turning point, if such a thing exists, may have been Columbine, 1999. Not the bad guys on 9/11, not Putin election interference or MAGA. That is the issue that would have really outraged most countries. Millions on the streets protesting. Politicians of all parties scrambling to act. The shootings kept getting worse every year and it was swept under the carpet. More than the homelessness, wealth inequality, healthcare, that makes me worry a lot for your future and by extension the rest of us. We are definitely drifting to the right here and are a worse society as a result but for all our similarities and weaknesses that is still the the most fundamental issue that separates your politics and society from ours which is why I think we can never really be in your situation (we also don’t have the historical acrimony and economic disadvantage stemming from a bloody civil war).

And if people think they are alone and have no power perhaps consider reading books about Abolishionists, Underground Railroad, Suffragettes, Labour Unions, Socialists, the Civil Rights Movement, Gay rights, Anti-war protests, Environmentalists and all the other ordinary Americans who made a fucking effort and delivered real improvements to peoples every day lives while the thoughts and prayers brigade wasted the last decade taking selfies and lamenting their disenfranchisement on social media. The template is there. Just read a fucking book.

Sorry, but I think you and those like you are deflecting. I still see posts from Americans saying this wasn’t us. We are nice people. We have no power. It is crazy. Why are you even online telling us this? You think we blame you personally?

I live in the other side of the planet. If I am going to help anyone its going to be some poor unfortunate struggling with poverty, war and genocide imposed on them.

Not delusional people from the richest country on earth who had everything and lack the will to influence their own fate.

Thankfully I live in a rich liberal democracy where over 90% vote and we still have a fairly decent though far from perfect society.

I can be outraged by what Americans let happen to their country because I’m human and a parent but I can’t help and shouldn’t help. American society needs to find its own solutions, in its own time and on terms it can live with.

You can’t pass this off onto me.

Exactly. In Ukraine parents fight and die so their 4 year old will have a country to return to. In the US they let their souls die instead and leave their kids to fight their own battles.

You are a nation of Uvalde cops.

Downvote me. Argue. In your hearts you all know it is true. You are broken. You were clearly broken since at least the 90s when you met Columbine with platitudes instead of tens of millions of mothers on the streets screaming in pain.

They won’t. They couldn’t even get upset over kids being massacred every week in their schools. They are a broken people. Have been for decades. Their military.and economy didn’t fail. Their moral fiber did. They substituted thoughts and prayers and other virtue signalling for community organisation and direct action.

If you think I am wrong then don’t reply. Go outside and prove it. Nobody gives a shit what people write in social media. It means nothing.

It’s a coalition of crazy. It isn’t entirely clear who is going to be in control of what or for how long. It could get very messy.

Deviant Ollam posted an interesting video, This is How a Constitutional Crisis Will Begin about changes happening in prisons and makes an interesting point that the trans community make a convenient target for triggering a constitutional crisis.

You target a small, basically insignificant and harmless group, then ignore any court rulings while the media and public remain silent and disinterested. Its a pathway to uncontested executive power that can then be extended to persecution of other groups.

Arguing for privacy from government feels alarmist, distant and theoretical as long as there is rule of law and a sound participative democracy. But what happens to constitutional guarantees and legal protections if the courts lose their power and independence? Suddenly privacy becomes a very real pragmatic concern. Not only could you be in a targeted group but you could be guilty by association.

Just did a rewatch with daughter. She wanted to watch after seeing the musical episode. Still stands up in my opinion even though we know Joss and some of the cast weren’t perfect.

The Season 6 rapey tech bros were still a very hard watch and skipped an episode or two in that season but hard not to see it as a bit prescient - it was before Gamergate and the right wing radicalisation of young men online. Should have paid more attention. It went a bit over my head first time.

Working through Angel now. Will see how that holds up. Has been a long time between watches. I kind of started House again though so …

Wife can watch unlimited Supernatural and I think she might hold a record for rewatches of Voyager.

Ensemble comedies like UK Ghosts and Community seem popular for rewatching with family. I think that is probably a general theme along with animations. Less serious shows tend to do better I think. Psych and Monk are probably more likely to get a rewatch than a serious procedural.

Prosecution only happens for criminal offences here and copyright infringement would be a civil matter. I have not heard of civil actions against downloaders for years though I may be out of the loop. The notices scare people off and some ISPs might kick you off under their terms of service but they don’t take people to court.

I have never seen a copyright warning. My old, old ISP never forwarded them on principle. And now there are VPNs.

Reply that you work for Meta and Mark said it will be ok.

Can’t relate to the whole listening to oldies radio stuff but listening to new music from fantastic young bands and realizing you are probably never going to another live gig in your life is a bit unsettling. Also realizing you should have learned stuff like musical instruments decades earlier when you had more flexibility and it felt like learning was faster.

Heads up if you get a lot of tech news/discussion from HN they appear to be heavily censoring submissions along these lines.

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