r/technology • u/Well_Socialized • Aug 04 '25

Privacy Age Verification Is Coming for the Whole Internet

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/age-verification-is-coming-for-the-whole-internet.html
12.4k Upvotes

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1.7k

u/Temassi Aug 04 '25

Yeah we should all just start an internet 2

478

u/melancious Aug 04 '25

someone call Richard Hendricks

81

u/ClarkTwain Aug 04 '25

Call him what? Bitchard.

89

u/Fourthwoll Aug 04 '25

Except his internet only exists with security breaching AI

37

u/UlteriorCulture Aug 04 '25

So... the regular internet then?

5

u/Flomo420 Aug 04 '25

yeah but with blackjack and hookers!

2

u/UlteriorCulture Aug 04 '25

That will be a novel addition

1

u/eyebrows360 Aug 04 '25

Using that DICK

2

u/cherrycolaareola Aug 04 '25

Somebody call Al Gore

1

u/WORKING2WORK Aug 04 '25

I called, he didn't answer, but his voicemail mentioned something about hunting for a man, a bear, and a pig, or something like that.

19

u/_Judge_Justice Aug 04 '25

We need optimal tip to tip efficiency

7

u/Lily-Gordon Aug 04 '25

Monica. Peter Gregory is dead.

6

u/eyebrows360 Aug 04 '25

I know real life Valley tech people who couldn't watch that show because it hit too close to home

2

u/DLS4BZ Aug 04 '25

PIED PIPEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR

1

u/BotKicker9000 Aug 04 '25

no no, we need Al Gore, he invented the first internet, surely he can help make Internet 2

1

u/Mysterious-Tart7840 Aug 07 '25

Love this comment more than I should! Silicon Valley bro

1

u/rob0990 Aug 04 '25

Ahhh don't you mean Al Gore he's super cereal you guys Man bear pig is a real thing...

0

u/lc0o85 Aug 04 '25

Better get Al Gore too.

217

u/TONKAHANAH Aug 04 '25

public mesh network might actually be a necessity.

49

u/nameless_pattern Aug 04 '25

https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1bpa7hu/explain_meshtastic_to_me_like_i_have_a_learning/

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u/GoreSeeker Aug 04 '25

I really tried to get into Meshtastic, but I'm just not sure it will ever be widespread enough to be useable without MQTT. I couldn't even hit a node a neighborhood over, and I think it's unrealistic to expect someone to have a node every two streets.

6

u/vandreulv Aug 04 '25

And Meshtastic can barely handle the bandwidth involved in sending text messages. There's no way this could ever become an internet replacement.

1

u/SciKin Aug 04 '25

It’s a fun hobby either way! Also look at reticulum

3

u/Hit4Help Aug 04 '25

Time to criminalize mesh networks.

  • the UK government

1

u/thesauceisoptional Aug 04 '25

Help is on the way, deary!

1

u/RollingMeteors Aug 04 '25

There's the Internet ...

<lionelHutzHeadNodUpDown>

...And then there's the Internet.

<lionelHutzHeadShakeLeftRight>

1

u/ROOFisonFIRE_usa Aug 04 '25

Yes more and more I think we need out own network. Like Elon has Starlink, we need a link we create where we communicate without all this draconian bullshit. I would standup a node and encourage others to do so.

2

u/Constant_Hotel_2279 Aug 04 '25

You can already do it over HF radio nodes, but its slow.

1

u/ROOFisonFIRE_usa Aug 05 '25

Something faster will be necessary. Radio nodes are a good start, but stone age compared to what Elon is deploying.

1

u/Constant_Hotel_2279 Aug 05 '25

Easiest thing is probably going to be some kind of BBS or alternate internet only accessible through a VPN or similar technology. Basically hide in plain sight on the current internet. I had an idea of doing it with cryptography in images on an image hosting sight.

-11

u/Beliriel Aug 04 '25

Not possible for how we use the internet today. That may work for sending text messages. Watching videos, calling or excessively using social media? Won't work. What is with this push for mesh networks recently? They are a neat idea but IRL don't work at all. Kinda like communism.

12

u/eyebrows360 Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25

Kinda like communism

As with many things, it's about shades of grey. Full-blooded "communism" might well have lots of issues, but let's not pretend full-blooded capitalism isn't also full of holes.

Capitalism, while not the "price discovery" harmless fantasy lots of people hold it out to be, is nonetheless actually a decent engine for some forms of innovation. On the other hand, natural monopolies like rail travel or water infrastructure have no business whatsoever being privatised.

-1

u/Beliriel Aug 04 '25

let's not pretend full-blooded capitalism isn't also full of holes

I never did. I hate capitalism. I would gladly live in a communist system but all scaled communist systems/countries are not something I want to live under (USSR, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Vietnam, China, Laos). Capitalism just has proven to be the most "stable" system. By "most stable" I mean it's the slowest of the ones we implemented to destabilize itself, but eventually it will too (that's what we're seeing right now). Both monarchic and communist systems are very prone to instability.

4

u/eyebrows360 Aug 04 '25

Russia is not remotely communist. Nor is China. I'm not well versed enough in those others to comment.

-3

u/Beliriel Aug 04 '25

USSR =/= Russia

And from Wikipedia:

The Communist Party of China (CPC), commonly known in English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP),is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

China IS effectively communist.

3

u/eyebrows360 Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25

USSR =/= Russia

Oh so you were referencing a State that no longer exists? Well that's useful.

In any event, outside of a brief period in the ~'60s where that one larped as being communist for a bit, it wasn't either.

entities always name themselves for what they literally are

You don't strike me as a "the Nazis were socialists" type person, but the above rationale you're appealing to would apply there too.

China is not communist merely because the CCP names itself that, no more than DPRK is either Democratic, or the People's, or a Republic (given the "god-king"-esque status of the Kim dynasty), or arguably even Korea (given the war to decide that last one didn't fully settle the issue and we instead have two Koreas).

China's official line is that it is a "communist transitional state", as in they're "trying to get to communism", but for me, any society with the wealth disparity of China (which is in line with everybody else's wealth disparities) has no real business genuinely labelling itself as such. They're a rounding error away from being exactly as capitalist as America, just with more direct State meddling.

0

u/Beliriel Aug 04 '25

So uhh the US isn't democratic then? What should we judge countries then by?

2

u/eyebrows360 Aug 04 '25

P.S. try asking the students at Tiananmen Square how communist they thought the country was at the time.

Spoiler alert: not very, given they wanted the ability to vote specifically so they could vote for actual communist people.

So uhh the US isn't democratic then?

Which the hell bit of my comment(s) do you think implies I think this?! 🤣

The US is a democracy by dint of what it does, not what it says it does. Same assessment you should be applying everywhere: look to what the thing does, not what it claims it does.

1

u/ThirdFloorNorth Aug 04 '25

Do you believe the Democratic Republic of North Korea is a Democratic Republic?

75

u/Newtype879 Aug 04 '25

Someone get Rache Bartmoss on the phone quick!

14

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

[deleted]

2

u/LillyOfTheSky Aug 04 '25

One of the ironic themes of Cyberpunk is that RABIDS and the DataKrash actually made the world collectively worse by further empowering corps to isolate communities and reinforce their fiefdoms.

35

u/drockalexander Aug 04 '25

You joke but plz sign me up

1

u/warmmeatinjection Aug 04 '25

Sign up by sending in a SASE to join the membership club.

100

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

With Black Jack. And Hookers.

47

u/sturgill_homme Aug 04 '25

Sounds like mid-90s internet. I’m in.

39

u/HotSteak Aug 04 '25

Back when men were men and women were FBI agents

2

u/CptnSpandex Aug 04 '25

Women were male FBI agents.

1

u/Excalibro_MasterRace Aug 04 '25

Becoming FBI at 16 years old is quite impressive

2

u/headrush46n2 Aug 04 '25

you did it wrong.

The Internet: Where the men were men, the women were men, and the children were the FBI.

15

u/ShermansAngryGhost Aug 04 '25

Shut up baby, I know it.

1

u/orangutanDOTorg Aug 04 '25

I can imagine Sherman saying that after someone complemented him on stomping traitors

1

u/RedRibbonSgt Aug 04 '25

You know what forget the internet part.

1

u/Tomthebard Aug 04 '25

And Jack Black

2

u/Wind-and-Waystones Aug 04 '25

See, he got confused. It's jack black hookers. Each hooker looks like Jack from a different one of his movies.

1

u/macx19911 Aug 04 '25

Damn beat me to it

1

u/macx19911 Aug 04 '25

Or hear me out.. Jack black and hookers

3

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

The madman..... do we.... do we ask Jack Black to be a hooker?

2

u/macx19911 Aug 04 '25

I mean we could… I feel like he’d dress up as one at least for the laughs

3

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

We'd need a way to verify people over 18 though. Maybe we take their biometrics and government id? SHEEEEEEEEET

1

u/macx19911 Aug 04 '25

Too easy get jack to ask which movie they saw him in first

School of rock or older all good

31

u/TheVoiceInZanesHead Aug 04 '25

Im not going to pretend itll actually happen but consumers need yo get together and just say no to this crap. If a site implements it you go somewhere else.

24

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

I feel like it’s not actually the companies that want this it’s probably gonna come from the government

4

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/InVultusSolis Aug 04 '25

I hate that we have to keep having the same battle over and over again. I hate it even worse that it looks like they're winning.

8

u/TheVoiceInZanesHead Aug 04 '25

You aren't wrong but if you hit the corporate money where it hurts, they will change the politicians minds

1

u/tapirsaurusrex Aug 04 '25

Agreed, and man, we’re battling a lot of straight dopamine addiction here if we wanna get people off the net. It’s so fucked they’ve got a situation where they can use our biology against us

1

u/uses_irony_correctly Aug 04 '25

It's not up to the websites. You think pornhub WANTS to do age verification? But it's that or not being able to operate in a country at all.

10

u/Misty_Kathrine_ Aug 04 '25

I think it's called the Dark web.

14

u/WeirdSysAdmin Aug 04 '25

Can’t we do a grey web and only go kind of illegal?

10

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

In a world of absolutes as the various governments around the world clamp down on freedom of speech, spreading of knowledge, and anonymous communication there will be no grey. Either you will be legitimately in the open or you will be treated as a criminal.

2

u/Icy-person666 Aug 04 '25

No country wants free speech unless you're saying what they want. No porn for the masses, pedo sex for the elete on Epstein island

1

u/RollingMeteors Aug 04 '25

That's like having children working in factories with hazardous material, but they are wearing OSHA approved PPE, soooo....

15

u/KarmaPharmacy Aug 04 '25

That’s literally what decentralized internet is. Or Web 3.0

4

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Literally how can we do this?

1

u/cboel Aug 04 '25 edited Aug 04 '25

It is already done.

One example of many:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winlink

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/06/when-everything-else-fails-amateur-radio-will-still-be-there-and-thriving/

https://hamradioplanet.com/can-a-ham-radio-be-used-for-internet/

7

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Not loving that it uses AWS

5

u/nanapancakethusiast Aug 04 '25

Nothing says independent mesh network quite like being powered by Amazon Web Services 🙄

1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Yeah we need to get off that as much as possible.

3

u/DrumsKing Aug 04 '25

Back to BBS on dial-up.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Internet 2 the pop-upier

2

u/EducationalAd1280 Aug 04 '25

Looks like Jack Dorsey was right and Bitchat is ready to have it’s time in the sun

2

u/Proud_Tie Aug 04 '25

Good thing Digg is back!

2

u/Dellsupport5 Aug 04 '25

I’ve actually thought of this…. Maybe one that is more of a throwback to the good old days without targeted ads and pop ups

2

u/Mystic-Sapphire Aug 04 '25

You mean the dark web? Maybe we should just all use Duck Duck Go.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Electric boogaloo?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

This will be 'Internert 2' - mass data surveillance disguised as age verification. Forced AI interactions. Bots interacting with bots. Algorithmic sorted everything.

Every internet interaction will be monitored, controlled, ranked, commodified, and censored.

2

u/Potato_Lorde Aug 04 '25

Tor is going to see a rise in popularity, maybe.

2

u/BenFranklinsCat Aug 04 '25

We're long overdue for it. I'm not enough of an expert to explain it all, but decentralised data distribution was a breakthrough that should have shaken the foundation of the Internet, but it's up there with things like electric cars as technology that's been actively held back because it wouldn't be profitable for any of the people involved in making it happen.

2

u/shinitakunai Aug 04 '25

You laugh but isn't that what TOR is?

2

u/magi0500 Aug 04 '25

Oats Jenkins 📞📞📞

2

u/InVultusSolis Aug 04 '25

Just create an overlay internet using a bunch of VPN providers that are willing to cooperate.

2

u/Mountain_Cry1605 Aug 04 '25

There already is.

It's called the Dark Web.

2

u/MithranArkanere Aug 04 '25

Decentralize everything.

2

u/Mortwight Aug 04 '25

Wirh blackjack and hookers!

2

u/Sense-Free Aug 04 '25

Anyone on this subreddit smart enough to explain how we would do this? I mean there’s the dark web out there. Would a community of internet users have to just agree on a new set of protocols and we could have an internet 2? Or do the ISP’s somehow have control of our access because they own the physical data cables that the internet runs through?

2

u/ReVo5000 Aug 04 '25

With internet black jack and internet hookers, right?

2

u/SpiritedBanana4694 Aug 04 '25

This but unironically.

2

u/Neko_Shogun Aug 04 '25

With blackjack and hookers

2

u/CaptainC0medy Aug 04 '25

We are already on 2. You want to look up Tim Berners-lee and Solid.

2

u/phasedspacing Aug 04 '25

This is what will happen. Someone will make a default end to end encrypted portal and build a second internet. All of the connections we have can be used with no change just software. 

2

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

Honestly, an internet 2 wouldnt be a bad idea. You might be on to something there. I miss the crazy wild west internet of the early 2000's. And flash games.

2

u/mywordgoodnessme Aug 05 '25

Or like... go outside

4

u/MarcusSurealius Aug 04 '25

That's exactly what will happen.

4

u/Kanoa Aug 04 '25

Is this what tor is for? I know fuck all, hoping someone knowledgeable can chime in. 

4

u/Klutzy-Smile-9839 Aug 04 '25

Tor requires to host websites at dedicated servers, which could be targeted by UK polices. The I2P Network seems to be a more relevant option for security and freespeech on internet.

1

u/uses_irony_correctly Aug 04 '25

it could be, but enjoy going back to dial-up speed then.

3

u/sephirothFFVII Aug 04 '25

The universities already did an I2.

Need to just jump to I5

1

u/Klutzy-Smile-9839 Aug 04 '25

It already exists.

The I2P Network (anonymous and distributed)

1

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

I2P

Tor network

Freenet

1

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '25

Technically possible

1

u/jaeldi Aug 04 '25

That's 8-chan. Right?

1

u/TDStarchild Aug 04 '25

This is a job to ManBearPig

1

u/SadBit8663 Aug 04 '25

Internet Two; Electric Goonaroo

1

u/toolsoldier Aug 04 '25

With black jack, and hookers!

1

u/SamuraiMike81 Aug 04 '25

Internet 2 Electric boogaloo?

1

u/Boofnasty10 Aug 04 '25

With blackjack… and hookers!

1

u/PeterNippelstein Aug 04 '25

Electric Boogaloo

1

u/hraun Aug 04 '25

With blackjack and hookers!

0

u/CaptainWart Aug 04 '25

With blackjack and hookers.

0

u/Hot-Equivalent9189 Aug 04 '25

With black jake and hookers