Comment on System76 on Age Verification Laws

• PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Companies shouldn’t even be allowed to demand more than a username and password, on any machine I could pick up and throw. Making anything beyond that a legal requirement is intolerable, in itself. My age is not this object’s business. It sure isn’t this website’s business.

  Stop excusing these intrusions against adult life, for the sake of children who will bypass them anyway. You know they will. You use the flimsiness of this alleged protection as an excuse for enabling it. There is literally no benefit if it doesn’t fucking work. Even pretending the immediate goal is something you should want - this won’t do that.

  I do know they will. The whole reason I’m even okay idea is because it is completely optional for the user. I don’t see how it’ll impact adult life. That is why I’m so confused at the backlash. Its asking for an option to increase user control and user choice over their experience. Hell, from my understanding, this would provide a means for users to make it actually illegal to collect any user data, but I need to re-read the CCPA to confirm this. It seems that the benifits of user choice provided by this option far outweight the loss of having one more fingerprinting metric - nonetheless one that is illegal to share.

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  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If I had to take a photo of my genitals to sign into my own computer, promises against storage or sharing are not addressing my complaints about privacy. Asking my age is a lot less personal - but it’s still information about me, which this object does not need.

    ‘I’m only okay with this idea because I know it won’t work’ is, just, why are we even talking? What is the function of an argument when you’re not listening to yourself?

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    • PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      If I had to take a photo of my genitals to sign into my own computer, promises against storage or sharing are not addressing my complaints about privacy. Asking my age is a lot less personal - but it’s still information about me, which this object does not need.

      If you’re that concerned, leave the field at its default value, or (since its your PC and there will absolutely be a way to) set it to a null value. Or set it based on the amount of legal protections you want on your data, because that also appears to work.

      ‘I’m only okay with this idea because I know it won’t work’ is, just, why are we even talking? What is the function of an argument when you’re not listening to yourself?

      Saying it can be bypassed doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Like most safety and security measures, the point is to disincentivise and prevent errs of convenience - esspecially since children particularly lack impulse control. In the same way, having a railing or fence on a cliff won’t prevent people from passing, but will make them think twice. It doesn’t mean having that railing/fence is pointless.

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      • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Or set it based on the amount of legal protections you want on your data

        … do you ever step back and wonder if civilization was a mistake?

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