Submitted 3 weeks ago by remington@beehaw.org to technology@beehaw.org
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/28/australia/australia-passes-social-media-law-intl-hnk/index.html
This is not good. This isn’t about “protecting the children” this is about control. This will hurt those who are most vulnerable. If it weren’t for the internet I probably would have died a while ago.
Adults, take my warning, they will come for you next. Its a matter of time
You think they’re going to raise the drinking age too? This is not inevitable.
Yeah, maybe I’m being too negative, but people need to act,
This seems like it’s going to be really bad for LGBTQ+ minors. Finding community online at around 13-14yo literally saved my life.
About time somebody tried it
And they expect that a 16-year-old won’t figure that out…
I guess we’ll see what happens.
Unlike in the past, current-day teenagers are less technologically competent than older people. The vast majority will not be able to figure it out, especially those who were using TikTok as a search engine (I wish I was making this up).
You are correct.
Gen-X and older mostly had computers come into their lives during adulthood. It’s something they had to force themselves to be familiar with.
Millennials grew up with Computers. Most of us had the Internet by the time we were tweens/teens. We had to learn shit as it was created. We remember all the weird little iterations in tech, and know lots of ways to use a computer. We had to know how the computer worked to use it!
Gen-Z and younger grew up immersed in fully corporatized technology. The iPhone turns 18 years old next year - there’s not a child alive who remembers a time before the iPhone. Nearly every computer they touch was designed to be as easy to use as possible.
While many of us remember running “install.exe” files from floppies to install software in DOS, kids now literally just browse a bunch of colorful icons with “install” buttons beside them.
I grew up in a world that prioritized computers for learning. We now live in a world that prioritizes computers for entertainment and profit. I used to have to go out of my way to find community online, now I have to go out of my way to escape the largest, most corporately controlled communities online.
I’d prefer for kids to learn to navigate social media whilst they have access to adult supervision and oversight. 16yos aren’t going to listen to their parents’ advice.
16yos aren’t going to listen to their parents’ advice.
That’s why I started and continued to talk to my two sons about it from a very young age (5 years old). Now they are teenagers and don’t have any online problems.
What did you go over?
It’s not enough just to discuss it in the abstract, they need to interact with it in a controlled environment
Awful
But didn’t they already have a popup window asking if they’re old enough? That should have fixed it already.
Something the article doesn’t clarify is whether this is meant to only to apply to kids in Australia. Normally that would be obvious, except that Australia already has tried to demand social media companies remove content even for non-Australian users on the basis that Australians could bypass geo blocking with VPNs. If age checks are location/ IP based, they could make the same (bad) argument.
Australia hopefully has their own home grown social media sites by now. Every other country that decides to wholesale ban all foreign social media tend to have replacements ready when they do it.
*Mass Identification Scheme
Which empire has the best firewall?
Commiunism@beehaw.org 3 weeks ago
Wonder how it’s actually going to be enforced. Judging from the article, it’ll all be up to the tech companies themselves which historically didn’t turn out to be that effective (examples: age fields on services like Discord and Gmail and porn).
The only effective way I can think of is having to send a picture of your ID but that’s hella invasive
DdCno1@beehaw.org 3 weeks ago
There are existing systems that use a digital token created with the ID document. Only this token that confirms the user’s age is sent to the social media site, which means its minimally privacy invasive. Unfortunately, it seems like nothing like this is planned to be used in Australia.
todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
I can’t see how that would ever work.
What if I lose my token? How do I get a new one? Does the old one stop working?
If the old one stops working when I get a new one, then neither was ever anonymous.
If the old one works forever even after I get a new one, then there will be a booming black market for fake IDs.
amju_wolf@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
Someone still needs to create that digital token from your ID, which means someone’s still using and storing your data, and potentially selling it or having it leaked.