Age Verification Legislation

[starbreaker]

i wonder how (indie) website hosts will deal with it.

neocities, nekoweb and leprd allow NSFW art/writings, but... is there a danger for them currently? i didn't see any posts about it, so i'm confused.

can anyone more tech-y than me explain how it works?

My site is hosted by Nearly Free Speech, which is based in the US. I suspect that if the UK government demanded compliance with the Online Safety Act their lawyers would send a response that translates to "Bugger off. We don't answer to Parliament or the Crown. There was a war over this back in 1776."

[crazyroostereye]

i wonder how (indie) website hosts will deal with it.

neocities, nekoweb and leprd allow NSFW art/writings, but... is there a danger for them currently? i didn't see any posts about it, so i'm confused.

can anyone more tech-y than me explain how it works?

My site is hosted by Nearly Free Speech, which is based in the US. I suspect that if the UK government demanded compliance with the Online Safety Act their lawyers would send a response that translates to "Bugger off. We don't answer to Parliament or the Crown. There was a war over this back in 1776."

Kinda, Platforms are Required to do the Age Verification in the UK. So if Nekoweb, Neocites, etc are accessible from the UK they do have to Implement the Age Verification to all people from the UK. They can Avoid it by blocking all traffic from there, or do what other Platforms use and implement an Age Verification Service to all Traffic from the UK. But yeah every Company and Person has to implement smth like that if they are Accessible from there.

That is the Legal part, so it doesn't matter where the Server or Company sits, It's from where it is reachable that is important. And Treaty between most of the Western world would require these Companies to be Fined and Judged in the UK. Tho this is a bit of more unchartered territory.

On the Technical side, how do they know where you are from. Simply the IP, the IP that is given to you to Access the Internet with is Geotagged by you ISP. This is normal, every Public IP is tagged, the Accuracy of tagging can get as Accurate to City level or as in accurate as only saying your in that Country. This Depends on the ISP.

[rina]

i dont think the owner of nekoweb even has the resources to implement age verification even if he wanted to. especially now when he's escaping war.



nekoweb isnt even a company its his side project. the UK can go fuck itself for including individuals in their 1984 bullshit

[XEmoCatX]

The age verification law is stupid, they don't care about kids. They wanted to control information. [] I remember the E safety videos where they said don't show your face, real name and address to strangers on internet, now it's the opposite.

⚑ Moderators Note ⚑

Details of this post have been held back for moderation because they appear to be factually untrue.

[goat]

I remember the E safety videos where they said don't show your face, real name and address to strangers on internet, now it's the opposite.

i'll be damned if i kowtow to the powers that be and surrender my irl data, just so i can shitpost among friends.  the moment that osa thing came into effect, i went and got myself a subscription to nord.  just over ten quid a month.  what's that?  a few beers?  a meal?  a new shirt?  it's a small sacrifice tbh, but the very fact that i had to do that, just to post some silly memes?  it's absolutely absurd.

ofc they have been paying very close attention to vpn usage spiking in popularity and their next thing now is sinking their talons in further with attempts to apply these orwellian tactics to vpn users:

https://www.biometricupdate.com/202601/uk-proposal-for-age-checks-on-vpns-begins-to-look-like-a-policy-traffic-jam

absolutely none of this concerns the safety and well being of children.  that's just a very convenient scapegoat.  it's about control of you, your data, your life.  little by little, we're all being reduced to nothing more than metric data, something they can sell to the highest bidder. 

don't give 'em the satisfaction.  <3

[goat]

So if Nekoweb, Neocites, etc are accessible from the UK they do have to Implement the Age Verification to all people from the UK. They can Avoid it by blocking all traffic from there, or do what other Platforms use and implement an Age Verification Service to all Traffic from the UK.

this happened on spacehey.  an started that site as a project during covid lockdown and with no advertising or data harvesting, it's not exactly a profitable venture for him.  so he's not in a position where he can afford to implement the gubberment sanctioned age verification stuff.  to avoid being fined, he blocked access to the uk when the osa came into effect.  australia followed suit, as did parts of the us.  it's stuff like this which is going to end up creating a bottleneck effect, and its smaller sites that will suffer as a result.

sad times tbh but we do what we can to fight it.  <3

[cyberfun1 (dizz)]

absolutely none of this concerns the safety and well being of children.  that's just a very convenient scapegoat.  it's about control of you, your data, your life.  little by little, we're all being reduced to nothing more than metric data, something they can sell to the highest bidder. 

don't give 'em the satisfaction.  <3

i actually think the age verification trend is a byproduct of the AI bubble. i think its ai companies trying to put their software into crucial points of the internet so they can have a permanent source of income. I also saw an article on mastodon about how tech companies in the united states are creating oppressive laws in europe through right wing parties but i dont remember the link

[goat]

i think its ai companies trying to put their software into crucial points of the internet so they can have a permanent source of income.

ai slop being fed into the maw of the internet machine, purely to ramp up profits for its investors?  this is sadly already with us.  i quit instagram solely because of all the ai stuff that was being relentlessly shilled on reels.  but it's also tiktok, youtube, facebook - all of them following the same blueprint.  any of these places are nothing more than a viable marketing platform for opportunists.  which is why i started gravitating towards places like this.

tl;dr human slop > ai slop <3

[cyberfun1 (dizz)]

ai slop being fed into the maw of the internet machine, purely to ramp up profits for its investors?  this is sadly already with us.  i quit instagram solely because of all the ai stuff that was being relentlessly shilled on reels.  but it's also tiktok, youtube, facebook - all of them following the same blueprint.  any of these places are nothing more than a viable marketing platform for opportunists.  which is why i started gravitating towards places like this.

tl;dr human slop > ai slop <3

No, the ai slop hasnt been profitable at all for any of the companies involved. It's said Microsoft and OpenAI are set to lose billions of dollars, with OpenAI facing bankruptcy by 2027. Im saying that age verification might be being done because companies are trying to do everything they can to make this stuff useful. And also, quit being so uptight! If ai is making you depressed, thats the exact goal of ai marketers. I made a post about this on another thread: https://forum.melonland.net/index.php?topic=5131.msg49623#msg49623

[goat]

If ai is making you depressed, thats the exact goal of ai marketers

lol i'm not in the least bit depressed.  though i am 100% disenfranchised with the direction the internet (and irl) is headed.  like if you go into any major supermarket now, or call up a financial provider, guaranteed you're straight through to an ai "representative".  just one of the many things re: modern life that grinds my gears on the regular.  i don't think i'm alone in that camp either tbh.  :3

[PurpleHello98]

From an optimistic, thinking-the-best-of-others perspective: surely there's got to be a better way to protect children, right?

From a pessimistic perspective: it feels like the Internet is on fire. Coming to the UK recently and being straight-up unable to access Spacehey really opened my eyes to what these laws actually mean. I'm lucky that my home state in America hasn't implemented them (at least not yet), but it's so scary to realize what this censorship can really mean for the small Web. I agree with keeping kids away from porn and other adult content, and I agree in principle with it being the parents' responsibilities (although a lot of people I know had bad parents growing up that didn't give two shits about them, so maybe some other prevention might be the responsible thing to do) but these laws are putting the Internet on track for doom.

[arcus]

The age verification law is stupid, they don't care about kids. They wanted to control information. []

The part mods removed wasn't far off. Discord dropped a provider after the source of their verification software was discovered, showing that it does a lot more than verify one's age. It is still used with multiple services, with Roblox being one of them.

Twitter added a verification system recently, and those that have used it claim that their real names have been searched up on Google.

Sources:

Discusses surveillance, current events, and genocide

The former Discord verification partner.
Twitter.

[close]

Don't use ID verification. If you really have to, fake it.

[Capybara]

I've never sent my ID to any site, but the moment the sites I use start forcing it, I'm out. The UK is looking awful already and I really hope the US doesn't follow suit. So much for conservatives loving freedom and want a small, non-intrusive government lol.

From an optimistic, thinking-the-best-of-others perspective: surely there's got to be a better way to protect children, right?

[...]

I agree with keeping kids away from porn and other adult content, and I agree in principle with it being the parents' responsibilities (although a lot of people I know had bad parents growing up that didn't give two shits about them, so maybe some other prevention might be the responsible thing to do) but these laws are putting the Internet on track for doom.

What makes me angry about these laws in particular is they're such a band-aid solution. It IS important for kids and teenagers to not be exposed to grooming or porn online when they're too young to understand it. But the solutions for that is more resources for parents to balance work and childcare, and more offline social avenues besides public school for minors. Especially for disabled, homeschooled, or rural kids who have the internet as their only social outlet. Parents nowadays just throw their babies in front of an iPad instead. 

Speaking from experience, I wouldn't have spent so much time online from age 10 onwards if I had IRL friends or social avenues instead of helicopter parents. Parental controls just taught me to be more secretive. I also wouldn't have looked at NSFW material when I was age 13-17 if I was given proper sexual education besides "don't have sex before marriage and gays are going to hell" lol. The answer is safety nets and real life infrastructure, not controlling the internet. "Think of the children" has always been a thought-terminating cliche.

[Cele]

Because of social media algorithms, I'm not even opposed to it (social media with algorithms) being "banned" from children. But I'm not sending my ID to a foreign company! And if a local one requires ID verification, they always give you the possibility sign in with your bank account. And demanding something like ID verification for forums and chats is too much, I understand it for places where you trade items and real money though. I'm fine with the bank login for serious things but for example, Google and Microsoft asks you to send a photo of your ID or driver's license and there is no way in the universe I would do that. If Discord demands it, I'm out.

[crazyroostereye]

While I doubt that the Age Verification Legislation is a result or related to the AI trend, and more of a Trend evolving out of more Internet/Tech Regulation.
It started with good Privacy Regulation, then Competition and now to age verification. It feels to me as a Natural Progression of catching up with the still fairly new Space. And I can agree with the Goal of Age Verification on the Internet and general Digital Platforms.
The Issue I see with the current push it States grabbing the full Authority on it, that's where the whole Facial Scans and (Digital) IDs comes from. The Govs want to ban Children from more Adult Online Spaces, instead of leaving the Judgment to the Parents. IMO we should implement Legislation that allows Parents to easily control it globally for their Child, without having to deal with Parental controls of differing quality, layout and security for every Platform. For example, I recently heard of a proposal from California that from the sound of it is exactly like that. It gives the Device Administrator (usually the Parent) to set a Device Account an Age Group which then other application should respect. That places the control to parents, will not be a major inconvenience for everyone else and preserver mostly the Privacy of the User.

I find its more Productive to think of a Solution to the Issue and champion good approaches. Then being outright against it. As IMO it's a very reasonable Issue.