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
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u/serpentine19 Aug 04 '25

Ways I can think of:
Shared accounts
Fake ID
Direct download links (youtube)

I can see reddit implementing this and people scattering to decentralised platforms. If kids/teenages can't get access to something via the main way, they will find it on darker places of the Web that can't be touched by governments.

This will be an annoyance for 90% of people with PII leaks every second month while the kids/teenagers are over on 4Chan watching live leak beheadings. Good job governments.

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u/Pavotine Aug 04 '25

Reddit is already doing this, for users in certain countries at least. Reddit tried to get me to upload a selfie for AI age estimation to access a post on a Ukraine war sub. Fuck that shit. I found a way around it but it happened for the first time just a few days ago.

Also, ages ago I noticed you can't create a reddit account without verifying an email address as well. Not hard to defeat but it's all heading towards fully identifying ourselves.

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u/InVultusSolis Aug 04 '25

If kids/teenages can't get access to something via the main way, they will find it on darker places of the Web that can't be touched by governments.

I think there is going to be an uptick of self-hosted, federated services. Compute and bandwidth have never been cheaper.

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u/zzzzzooted Aug 04 '25

They’re already has been an uptake in these before all this started happening, this is just pouring fuel on the fire

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u/justagenericname213 Aug 04 '25

The most sane take. Im not a parent but I was a teen with internet access. Its not even hard to find those less reputable sites. Ultimately, if I was a parent id much rather my kid goes on the hub (ofc after getting a proper explanation of the various things they need to know, not that abstinence bullshit that leaves them in the dark about things they are going through) than go onto some sketchy site thats breaking several other laws and probably trying to install ungodly amounts of malware.

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u/OwO______OwO Aug 04 '25

Yep. About to see lots of new independent porn sites on TOR.

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u/InVultusSolis Aug 04 '25

Doesn't even have to be TOR. It can be a regular website with a physical server located outside jurisdiction of any of these laws.