Comment on System76 on Age Verification Laws

• PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  This is a slippery slope falicy. Just because the option is provided to self-identify age, doesn’t mean that it will be replaced with more complex data collection later - esspecially considering that if its based on this law, it would be literally impossible. 4a bans the collection of data from your system besides age, and the fact that it is all handled locally and sharing it is prohibited means that it would be impractical to implement anything fancier than a text box to collect data. If anything, this looks like a way to be seen “doing something” without having to change anything for most users. Hell, if California wantted to implement a law for data collection, why would they have implemented the CCPA, why would they have written this law to ban the sharing of data, and why wouldn’t they just write the data collection law instead, given (as you said) there is already significant backing for the idea.

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  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    The worst-case scenario is already happening - aforementioned facial scans are not theoretical. Only their scope has been limited, and suddenly we’re talking about legally-mandated age gating at an OS level.

    Pattern recognition is a requirement for survival.

    Many abuses start small so that people like you will let it happen. Some caveats only exist for you to point to while bickering with critics, and when you’re not looking, they quietly vanish. Others were just empty words the whole time.

    This law is not some compromise over widely-demanded change. It would be a pointless intrusion even if, by some miracle, it stopped right here. It will not stop here. Be serious. You lived through last year; you know the general state of everything. These exact companies have been spying on you. These governments sure aren’t stopping them, for some mysterious reason. Scoffing about blindingly obvious expectations is a choice of comforting fantasy over worthwhile argument.

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    • PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Okay, but should we not oppose laws about data collection and facial recognition in that case, rather than a law that implements an entirely separate, optional, user driven approach. Saying this is bad because those are bad is not an argument any more so than saying CCPA and GDPR are bad because the government want to collect data. Your argument isn’t against this law, or even the concept of having age verification in general. Its against government overreach as a broad concept. You’re again relying on slipery slope falacy to say that because I’m okay with this one specific form of age gating, I’m okay with every other one, which I have repeatedly made clear is not true.

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      • Senal@programming.dev ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        If you’re going to reference the slippery slope fallacy so much, you should probably read where and when it actually applies.

        From the wikipedia entry:

        When the initial step is not demonstrably likely to result in the claimed effects, this is called the slippery slope fallacy.

        You yourself just acknowledged that the worst-case is already happening, so the assumption that the worst case will continue to happen is reasonable.

        Unless you wish to argue that :

        The worst-case scenario is already happening

        followed by you saying

        Okay, but

        isn’t an acknowledgement ?

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      • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Mandatory OS integration is not separate, optional, or user-driven.

        I have explicitly argued against, in itself, for its own sake.

        Under the other submission, I am even arguing against age verification in general.

        But sure, let’s talk about this on its merits, in a vacuum, like there’s nothing else happening. What the fuck is it for? You endlessly insist it’s super minor, barely an inconvenience, and obviously any idiot can bypass it. That is your defense. If you freely acknowledge all of the other went too far and didn’t work, why is this one worth trying? How is this encroachment on all operating systems not a waste of time, at best?

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