Age Verification - Linux.org's Official Stance

[CaffeineAddict]

parental control software... Trusting software what your kids can have access to....
That seemed to work well in the past, but the web these days.. Not so much.

Parental control is configured with an elevated system account, a child uses non privileged account and can't bypass anything.
For web, IDK but VPN may exist that limits which sites one can visit.
I know DNS servers do exist that are kid friendly for instance.

There are many options.

 

[Deleted member 197709]

Parental control is configured with an elevated system account, a child uses non privileged account and can't bypass anything.
For web, IDK but VPN may exist that limits which sites one can visit.
I know DNS servers do exist that are kid friendly for instance.

There are many options.

I'll leave this one be.. Just saying, some kids,, wow! My cousins lil boy, 8 or 9, knows more about these devices than your average adult. My solution in a previous post wouldn't even work with him! He would dismantle anything you did, just for fun, even by manipulating sim cards LOL. Not all kids are created equal, that's for sure.

 

[Deleted member 197709]

Not to be totally off topic as it has to do with age. I think I was probably 8 yrs old. I decided to take the lawnmower apart by removing every screw and bolt i could find, even yanking the piston out. I was so proud fully intending to put it back together.

I'll never forget Dad standing there holding the upper bridge of his nose closing his eyes, then rubbing his temples. He mumbled something and just went to watch a football game,

A new lawnmower showed up days later. He just took me to the garage and pointed to it. He said this one is mine boy! That one over there, and over there, and all over the place, is yours! Merry early Christmas! LOL

Then he smiled.

Parental control at its best? I wasn't old enough to be a small engine mechanic on my own., but I tried anyway without a clue.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Parental control at its best? I wasn't old enough to be a small engine mechanic on my own., but I tried anyway without a clue

Pretty much the same here, but with computers.. Like 1-2 years ago Yanking bits out of one, putting them in another.. Questioning why my hodge-podge of a Optiplex 390 shoved in a Dimension Case with the back end of it cut off did not work. Even tried to Jump the Motherboard with a paper clip, fully intending to get the don thing started. PSU was toast, and fried the MB. Not much of an Idea, but It's how you learn! Life skills. You only really learn when you try then fail, then try again!

 

[Deleted member 197709]

Pretty much the same here, but with computers.. Like 1-2 years ago Yanking bits out of one, putting them in another.. Questioning why my hodge-podge of a Optiplex 390 shoved in a Dimension Case with the back end of it cut off did not work. Even tried to Jump the Motherboard with a paper clip, fully intending to get the don thing started. PSU was toast, and fried the MB. Not much of an Idea, but It's how you learn! Life skills. You only really learn when you try then fail, then try again!

I think the point I was making.. in a bad way maybe... was sometimes when we're young and dumb, we bypass asking for help before we create a monstrous mess! LOL

It took some time, but Dad helped me make that lawnmower run again, even bought new piston rings and educated me on compression. Then said... There you go Son!! Now go cut the grass!! LOL.

As he sat in a lawn chair with a beer and a radio watching me. I think I was learning another lesson as we had a huge yard to mow. HaHa!!

A year later I think, using Dad's lawn mower, I would tie a long rope to the tree in the middle of the front yard and the other end to the lawn mower frame, then tie the self propelled lever bar down, and watch the lawn mower make circles around the tree in the huge front yard. I would catch it at the end and cut the little spots it missed when going round and round. Before starting the lawnmower I would plop a lawn chair next to Dad's, then ran over and started it up and ran back to sit next to Dad. I asked if I could have a beer too? He would laugh, give me a sip of his and say.. Don't tell your mother!! Dad was amazed and called me a cheater as we would watch the lawnmower do it's thing! hehe

Sometimes I think about all the antics and lessons I went through as a kid, before computers or devices were even thing or a thought. It was stuff like tearing up Dad's lawnmower, football, baseball, basketball, guitars, Learning to drive.. Wow what a fiasco causing me to get grounded a few times. Building little Cox motor driven airplanes outta balsa wood. Watched one fly away and was so excited, till I realized it wasn't coming back as it flew away to who knows where. Building tennis ball cannons out of campbell soup cans taped together with duct tape and a coke can at the bottom with a little notch to ignite, and some lighter fluid. Snug fit for a tennis ball. That got me grounded as I was shooting flaming tennis balls up in air with a loud thud! Snake and lizard hunting! Liking girls instead of saying Yukk!! Cooties!! Never was I in a trance pecking on a device ignoring the world around me. I think of it as a golden age, because if all this computer tech was around when I was little growing up, I think I would've missed out! It was dangerous at times but ... Ummm very worldly with out screens distracting us! So much cool stuff! There's a point to all the above... Maybe not even the one I'm trying to make LOL. Times were different before screens and devices. Good? bad? ..... Age? Absolutely!

Hope it's not taken the wrong way... I think when I was really little you could make a call in a phone booth for a dime. Then it costing a quarter when I was still little. I can't help but look back.. and then look around and say Wow!! Seeing good, and a lot of bad.

Mom and Dad had a whole set of encyclopedia books A to Z, and common trips to a library which was always fun. I was like Wow!! Fiction and Sci-Fi section!! What a fun treat!

Age verification? It's always been a thing, even before computers to some extent.. Should any of us be surprised?

 

[lnman]

Hey, this is our central thread for age verification discussion - whether it's about linux.org specifically or the broader Linux ecosystem. Any other threads on the topic will be removed.

Our stance is pretty simple - the internet should be free and we're not gonna ask you for your ID. Linux.org has always collected age at signup and that's as far as we're going with it.

Worth noting that California's law, which is what's got everyone fired up right now, isn't even real verification - it's just self reporting. Pick your age range, click submit. Any kid who wants around it will be around it in about 4 seconds.

These laws were written for TikTok, not a Linux forum.

This is your thread too - let us know what you think.

Some rules:

• keep it civil
• no politics beyond the topic itself
• discuss the issue not the people making the laws

I agree with you Rob.. I deleted Windows exactly for this reason and I'm glad Mint and most other distros are standing up to what is going on.

 

[f33dm3bits]

There's a new national bill for this for the US now, please contact your representatives about this and that this bill is a bad idea and explain why.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8250/all-info

Representatives | house.gov

www.house.gov

U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators

www.senate.gov

 

[KGIII]

I don't want to get political. So, I'm just going to say that folks should think about who they've voted for and what they'll do about this proposed legislative action. It doesn't matter who proposed it. What matters is how the majority deal with it. As of now, there's a single party with the majority in both houses, and the executive branch is also a part of that majority.

I'd comment further about this, but it'd end up going into politics. Those statements above are just statements of fact.

That said, we are (collectively) a country full of batcrap crazy people. We get a whole lot of nonsensical bills that never make it out of committee, without any chance of becoming a law.

This next bit might lean too political. If it is, just say that you think it is, and I'll remove it. I'll make it generic.

Over the years, and this is DEFINITELY not a "USA-only" thing, I've noticed that many of the most restrictive laws are touted as being 'for the children'. It's like, "We need to take away these liberties to protect the children!" (I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't protect the children. I'm just pointing out that if you vote against such a law, then your opponents will frame it as if you aren't interested in protecting the children.

There... I think that's generic enough, but I'm the one who wrote it. So, I'm obviously biased/blinded.

And, as I've said from the very first day, it's the parents' job to monitor their children's online activities. It's not my job to keep your kids off my sites. It's your duty to raise your children -- which includes deciding what they're allowed to do online AND verifying what they do online.

I will say that's one thing that has changed generationally. Lots of people look at the past and do so through rose-colored glasses. In reality, generally speaking, the past was the worst. But today's parents plonk their kids down in front of a screen and expect their schools to do the things parents used to do. That's not an absolute statement. There are still many great parents out there. Bur there sure are a lot of people who have children while expecting the world to raise them on their behalf.

 

[Mike-BTU]

This next bit might lean too political. If it is, just say that you think it is, and I'll remove it. I'll make it generic.

I think you're safe, David.

Personally, I don't like words beginning with politic* because of the endless bickering that I've seen about candidates, countries, forms of government, politicians and political parties.

Too political would have to be something like arguing which party, candidates, etc. is better. That kind of talk is why my late grandfather forbid political discussions in his house. It's a recipe for heated arguments and hard feelings. That stuff crosses the line here, too. And that's the way it should be.

Having said that, I simply cannot imagine you posting anything here that's "too political", and I believe that 99% of the members here would agree with me.

I rest my case.

 

[KGIII]

Having said that, I simply cannot imagine you posting anything here that's "too political", and I believe that 99% of the members here would agree with me.

Thanks for your vote of confidence. It's not always easy to express a clear thought without stepping over the line. So, I take care in what I write and (more importantly) how I write it.

As for politics... Well, it's a murky subject. There are things most folks will agree to, but then there's always some crazy person who thinks things like anarchy are viable solutions. But I've never had a representative who actually represented what I believe.

I won't get into what I believe. That would be political.

There's a funny thing about voters and politicians. If a person is elected and then changes their mind about something, people call them 'wishy-washy' or worse.

The thing is, that's what you're supposed to do. When you learn more correct information, you're supposed to change your mind. You're supposed to change how you think.

If you told me that you had an invisible green dragon in your garage, I wouldn't believe you.

If you were able to conclusively prove to me that you had an invisible green dragon in your garage, I'd change my mind.

Should the scientific consensus change to say that the moon is made of cheese, I'll then change how I think about the moon.

When you learn new things, you change how you view the world.

Also, it's perfectly okay to say, "I don't have the ability to form an authoritative conclusion." That's why you rely on experts. Yet, we have so many people who think they understand the science (for example) and believe that their opinions should be considered.

But, no... It's just hard for some people to admit that they don't know something.

This post may seem like it's off topic, but it really does relate to the above. We have people proposing laws who know nothing about operating systems and started their thought process by thinking that 'something has to be done' and concluding that it requires a law to do it.

Hint: It shouldn't require a law. It should require good parents.

I'll propose a law. How about if you don't know the totality of what your kids are doing online, and you have no way of knowing because you didn't prepare for that, we fine you $500. The fine then doubles every day until you fix that.

Let's see that get proposed and see how far that gets.

Your kid has a social media account that you don't know about, that's $500. It doubles every day until you show the courts that you've set up monitoring software and use it.

And, no... It's not 'spyware' if you're monitoring your kids. It's parentware.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Stop Killing Games, Mozilla, EFF and others release statement urging UK policymakers to keep the web open

 

[MikeWalsh]

Stop Killing Games, Mozilla, EFF and others release statement urging UK policymakers to keep the web open

I said this just the other day on another forum I regularly frequent. Essentially, very few politicians actually understand the technology they so blindly propose to curtail.

They're all taking the path of least resistance.....which just happens to oh so neatly dovetail with government wet dreams of total population control. They also seem to be under the blinkered impression that simply signing something into law automatically makes it happen!

Yeah, ri-i-i-ghttt. Good luck with that one.

At the end of the day, all any politician really cares about is looking good for the next election.

Not going any further with this. I've said what I wanted to say.

(shrug...)


Mike.

 

[KGIII]

Not going any further with this. I've said what I wanted to say.

Good idea. You're pretty much swimming in the Rubicon, almost crossing it to the other side. Some may even suggest that you've crossed it.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

OK now the shiet is happening and is taking a full swing:

Von der Leyen opens door to EU-wide social media ban for children

European Commission will present plans for an EU-wide social media ban for minors as early as this summer amid growing pressure from several member states to strengthen protections for children. #EuropeNews

www.euronews.com

 

[f33dm3bits]

OK now the shiet is happening and is taking a full swing:

Von der Leyen opens door to EU-wide social media ban for children

European Commission will present plans for an EU-wide social media ban for minors as early as this summer amid growing pressure from several member states to strengthen protections for children. #EuropeNews

www.euronews.com

The European Commission has established an independent expert panel on online child safety to assess possible measures aimed at tackling issues including addiction and social anxiety among minors.

I don't like where this age verification thing is going but seems it's not going away, but if they made it default that if you don't age verify that you are seen as a minor and illegal for showing ads to minors I wouldn't mind. As I don't care for viewing any adult content on any social media platforms anyways and I hate ads, so that would be the only light in the tunnel if it went that direction.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

if you don't age verify that you are seen as a minor and illegal for showing ads to minors I wouldn't mind.

Don't put your hopes too high, you'll be seeing ads, but they're likely to be kid friendly.

Not sure if I should worry much about age verif, as I understand it will apply only to social media giants, but I don't use them.
However I don't believe this will stop just on social media, it may spread to all sorts of web servers including forums like this one and what not, and when that happens internet will be truly dead.

 

[f33dm3bits]

However I don't believe this will stop just on social media, it may spread to all sorts of web servers including forums like this one and what not, and when that happens internet will be truly dead.

Don't put your hopes too high

Yeah agreed just trying to think of maybe a positive outcome even though I don't like the entire direction this is heading. Maybe ads could cause addictive behavior in teenagers as their brains aren't fully developed yet?

 

[CaffeineAddict]

just trying to think of maybe a positive outcome

You'll have more luck by spinning a few turns on roulette in your local casino

Maybe ads could cause addictive behavior in teenagers as their brains aren't fully developed yet?

Maybe, but scientists will have to prove it first.
They will likely say that it makes young people teach about spending culture or similar because that's what ads are.

 

[Iamgeese]

Is Ubuntu going to comply with age restrictions? I hear they may but I really hope not. At this point I am exhuasted with the amout of government overreach going on around the world under the guise of "protect the children" which some idiots fall for. Last week I sent a 7 page document to my local MP(bet they love me, right) about how unbeliveably stupid the online safety bill is trying to get everyone to upload I.D.

At what point will these wierd freaky pigs just leave us the alone? or is this some sort kink for them? I dont get it. I have also noticed that a huge amount of people dont seem to realise how dangerous and how insaine this is. These are mechanisms that facists can and will use.

Some people including relatives of mine think these are good ideas? Why? Because they dont have an effing clue how things work. I also mentioned Linux and open source because apparently these fools who only appear to have just worked out where the power button on their PC is, thinks the world is just Windows and Mac. They do not understand the bills the are writing.

Edit: found a pile of repeats and spelling errors

 

[f33dm3bits]

You'll have more luck by spinning a few turns on roulette in your local casino

For real!