this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2026
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[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 175 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

The death of anonymity for most people, yes. Not me though. I'm going to make my own internet. With blackjack. And hookers. And protonmail too, probably.

[–] Tiral@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

How would one HYPOTHETICALLY get in on this at the ground floor?

[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 47 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I mean, the fediverse that you're already on already kind of is the ground floor. Most of these places are not going to be affected by age verification.

But if you want to climb a few floors up to where the blackjack and hookers are probably hanging out, there are things like I2P it's delightfully sketchy. the best kind of sketchy.

It actively divests itself from any centralized shit like SSL or DNS, it's a raw HTTP only darknet that operates through its own peer-to-peer proxy network, totally anonymized and encrypted and segregated from any hint of open network traffic.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

That makes no sense, when the age verification is being pushed to the OS and ISP levels.

Sure, you can connect to Lemmy, and not have to prove your identity to Lemmy, but Windows users will have to prove to microsoft, and also you'll have to prove it to Verizon, or Comcast, or whomever your ISP is.

So before you even turn on your computer, you've already proved your identity twice.

[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

I don't have to worry about my OS because it's open source. Yours should be too. They can't actually enforce age verification on an open source OS because my OS can lie, and I can use its source code to make it lie if I have to (which I won't, because many other people will do it for me). For that matter they'll find ways to make Windows lie too, but you still shouldn't be using it, it's shit.

I don't have to worry about my ISP either because I live in a still-civilized country, but yeah, if they really lock it down at that level that's going to be tough, you'll probably have to identify someone for that if that's the next place where they go to. There are countermeasures and workarounds though. VPN, mesh networking, borrowing somebody else's wifi or mobile data hotspot, finding open networks. Maybe we'll get to the point where we need point to point links, pirate satellites, datajacking ourselves into communication lines, who knows.

But we're not there yet. We'll continue to develop more countermeasures as these sorts of hostile police surveillance state measures encroach on our freedom as it becomes necessary. You don't have to let your identity be associated with anything beyond your ISP if you're only using your ISP to get to somewhere you do trust with a VPN. If they block VPNs, then we will find other ways around the blocks. Are you familiar with I2P? If you aren't, maybe you should get familiar with it. We already have plenty of ways of sneaking information into and out of even more totalitarian of states like China, Russia, at least until there's an absolute shutdown like in Iran. You should also consider not living in a totalitarian country, and doing what you can to stop yours from becoming more totalitarian, because it's only going to get harder the longer you let them do this. Give them your ID in exchange for internet access for now if you absolutely have to and can't find any other option, but you might not absolutely have to, yet. And if you do have to, do it with caution: start learning and planning what you're going to have to do after that and how you're going to get very active in your resistance to being monitored and observed.

You sound like you've got a little bit of learned helplessness, but people in shitty, scary countries have been dealing with this for a long, long time. Yes, it sucks, but it's not the end of freedom. You have to learn how to fight it.

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[–] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Ugh. That's disgusting on a thousand levels. Even proposing such a bill should be considered a jailable violation of the constitution, as an example to the rest of the authoritarian bastards.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I mean, I agree with you, but this isn't just a United States thing. China has had this since forever. They have something called a "social credit score".

So if you litter, and cameras catch you littering, your social credit goes down. And you best believe they track and monitor every single online interaction.

The UK the past year has been really slamming hard on online verification.

This is a global thing that is seeping into the united states, but it's by no means the only point of contention.

[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 weeks ago

From what I understand, social credit score is mostly an invented bogeyman to demonize China in the west, and while many frightening "consequences" of low social credit score were imagined, none ever materialized and it was rarely even actually tracked. Yes, they could, in theory, but we imagine a massive level of administrative competence and effectiveness that I think serves both western interests and Chinese ones without necessarily being reality. As far as I can tell (granted, not very far as I'm not in China and haven't been for a very long time) it actually had very little real impact in China itself and has already been mostly forgotten. China's got lots of problems, but social credit score isn't really part of any of them. They don't need to have social credit score to genocide Uighurs. They didn't need social credit score to massacre Tienanmen square. They don't need social credit score to prepare the South China Sea for war and try to subvert Taiwan. They've got bigger fish to fry, and they're frying them, and social credit score is a silly distraction that nobody there is taking seriously and neither should we.

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[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Well, are you a blackjack dealer or a hooker?

[–] PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

For the right money, either!

[–] Tiral@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm probably a better hooker. I feel like I'd just let you down as a blackjack dealer.

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[–] voidsignal@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

yea. I already have my own internet with blackjack and hookers and don't rely much on anything else. I'll be fine. But the vast majority of people will willingly rush into 1984 instead of throwing their shit devices away.

Oh that sweet scrolling rush....

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[–] Maiq@piefed.social 97 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

This is the obvious end goal. Never had anything to do with children.

[–] Insekticus@aussie.zone 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The poor police forces and intelligence agencies can't firebomb your house when you're talking bad about the pedo class online without your ID attached.

Billionaires and politicians are people too, you know :'(

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[–] Bieren@lemmy.today 74 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That’s the plan. It’s about control.

[–] 4grams@awful.systems 33 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I’m glad someone else sees it. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills every day lately. People don’t give a single shit, will minimize the danger and do anything they can to give up their rights, time and time again.

A few of us see it, sadly too few to matter.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 15 points 2 weeks ago

People in the privacy communities have known this for a while.

But because it's slightly technical at minimum, and nuanced, and about something not immediately tied directly to people's financial interest, the average person will never ever know, understand, or care about this.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Whats wrong with you?! Why aren't you thinking of the children??!

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (10 children)

already been accused/harassed on here of being pro-pedo for not being pro age-verification.

it's always the yahoo idiot opinions that gain political traction, and rarely the common sense ones.

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[–] blah3166@piefed.social 63 points 2 weeks ago (14 children)

if they want to censor and monitor the internet, its time to start building on a new one that's private and encrypted by default: https://reticulum.network/

[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is interesting, I think people should be aware of and check out i2p as well. I actually don't use it (because there's not that much of a community yet 😭) but I run a i2p router to support the network, that bitch does ~15TB a month in bandwidth. I think the main use of the network is torrenting currently.

But with governments and tech companies getting so oppressive hopefully i2p and other similar systems can flourish into the new free net.

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[–] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago

Either that or don't play by their rules. If I refuse this patch and I can't connect to a website because of this check, I'll will just treat that wesite like any other broken website and move on to another one

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[–] BillCheddar@lemmy.world 43 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

That's why they're fuckin doing it.

[–] orbitz@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 weeks ago

I hate short replies that don't add much (so added more than agreed!) but I've always enjoyed being anonymous in forums, I'm quite a shy person.

Never was a jerk intentionally or anything just said my bit. But everyone possibly knowing who I was I'd probably say nothing ever. Fuck it I was private before I can be private later. But I'm old and recall before Internet when I had no (or little) interaction.

Like we all haven't seen data breeches over the years....oh it's the government that holds the master authentication? Fuck that shit is all. Nothing, from a person who does programming these days, like that is remotely better.

Some countries may be better but we're all democratic right? Takes a single election till shit stops working as a safeguard, then new ones in make a different law. The whole system was not built for current tech.

[–] Solrac@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
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[–] MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zip 34 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The age verification is really just an alternate means for these companies to try to find out which of us are real people or not with the intent to scrape AI training materials more "cleanly". But it's all moot in the long run, as it turns out that it will be easy for anyone who wants to break the law to pretend to be someone they aren't.

In a world where identity theft is more rampant than ever, you'd have to be some kind of numbskull to think that this will be effective at doing any of the intended affects. It's literally a complete waste of time & money.

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Unfortunately it seems like 90% of the population has to learn lessons by experience, constantly and repeatedly, rather than listen to the other 10%

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[–] deadymouse@lemmy.world 31 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The good times are gone, fascism is back.

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[–] GMac@feddit.org 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

What is being pushed for implementation is better described as identity verification, not age verification.

I would have little issue with a solution that purely gated services on age in a secure and privacy respecting manner. This OS level garbage is not that, its creating an oligarchy run identity gate to control access to personal computing.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Thank you. Now I just wish somebody at the government level would understand this and the implications of what this entails. Like maybe mention that all their weird online fetishes could be tracked back to them. It’s like this one company doing the “verification “ would be rolling in kompromat.

[–] queueBenSis@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

it’s all by design. they don’t want the general public to put it together that these are identify tracking surveillance system, just a carefree age verification to keep kids away from the baddies 🙄

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[–] Iusedtobeanalien@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I am old enough to remember when the internet was run by hobbyists and enthusiasts, companies were happy to pay "to be online" it wasn't riddled with ads and profits wasn't the default reason to create content.

Thems were heady days

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[–] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

So if you don't accept this "age verification patch" to your OS (and you know they won't stop with that), I assume that any attempt to connect to a website that does this check will fail and you won't be able to connect to it, right?

Well, I am just FINE with that. If I can't connect to a website, I will treat it like any other broken website and move on to another one. This is how the Internet routes around damage.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

Totally valid idea, you just need to hope that there are enough people with you to give that decision weight or you'll eventually run out of alternatives.

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[–] zelahdieliekeis@piefed.blahaj.zone 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

We should not platform idiots just because they state the obvious, when they promote bullshit out of the other side of their mouth.

Edit: removed the link because news site is grabby. Look it up, nerds.

Edit2: maybe this link is better idk https://techstory.in/proton-mail-faces-backlash-over-claims-of-political-neutrality-amid-ceos-praise-for-republican-party/

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[–] Slashme@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

Lawmakers who are pushing age verification: "Win - win"

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

…and extend the ability of governments and especially corporations to control what you see and hear. From ads to what “facts” they want you to see.

[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe that asshole shouldn't have been supporting the fascists then...?

[–] bagsy@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Meta is pushing this so Zuck doesnt get sued for addicting kids. He can point his finger and say its the parents fault for kids seeing bad or addicting content. We are losing our rights and our privacy because a shithead like zuck doesnt want to get rightfully sued.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago

For once Yen and I see eye to eye.

given it's just because it will hurt his business, but i'm still happy for some W

[–] MJKee9@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'll stop interacting online outside of a professional context. So this obviously sucks from an online perspective. It's will dampen online organization. But hopefully it increases community level interactions IRL. It'll probably be good for day-to-day mental health.

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[–] Guyonthecouc@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is an easy fix. We just make our own internet. With the usual, blackjack and hookers.

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

There are other protocols one can use.

https://yggdrasil-network.github.io/

Interesting one.

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