Indonesia, Australia, and Greece Target Minors With Digital ID Mandates; Experts Warn Tech Won't Stop Surveillance Creep
Proposals in Indonesia, Australia, and Greece aim to restrict social media for users under 15. These policies mandate complex age verification processes involving central registries or biometric checks.
Commenters split into two camps. One group accepts that algorithmic addiction harms minors, suggesting regulation is necessary. The other group, including 'autonomoususer,' shouts that all age limits are just Trojan horses for total adult surveillance. 'BrikoX' specifically targets Australia's model, arguing the required data collection is the real surveillance vector. On the technical side, 'misk' points out that Zero-Knowledge Proofs fail to stop secondary data logging like IP addresses.
The overwhelming sentiment points to systemic distrust. Skepticism dominates the thread: users believe child protection is merely a smokescreen for invasive, centralized data grab. The fault line is between admitting algorithmic harm and accepting the trade-off of permanent digital profiling.
Key Points
The stated goal of child protection is a cover for mass surveillance.
Multiple users agree the policies allow authorities to spy on the adult population, making the stated goal moot.
Age verification mechanisms force invasive, centralized data collection.
'BrikoX' noted that the proposed mechanisms, like linking to civil registries (as detailed for Greece by 'undefinedTruth'), are the true problem, not the age restriction itself.
Technical fixes like Zero-Knowledge Proofs are insufficient.
'misk' correctly points out that ZKPs do not solve systemic logging risks, such as the collection of IP addresses or verifier abuse.
Online browsing fundamentally differs from regulated physical life.
'Alexstarfire' argues that while age checks are fine for payments, basic browsing should not require identity disclosure.
The true culprit is the platform's addictive design, not user access.
'DosDude' insists the problem lies with the 'ultra addictive algorithms' coded into the platforms.
Source Discussions (3)
This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.