The idea that one should be forced to verify one's age or identity to use one's own computer absolutely baffles me.
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@neil what’s next?
Verify age before using dishwasher, washing machine, robo-vacuum , robo-lawn mower and other household appliances that have computers in them?@dahukanna @neil I vote the age required to do dishes is always greater than my own.
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Except that all activities required to participate in society will require you to use one. Buying and selling (other than bartering items), access to information (other than underground sources), communication (other than face to face), driving a car, taking public transportaion, etc. Everything.
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Yeah, I agree with that and would try to do the same as much as I could. Just saying that it'll be made as difficult as possible for us since everything will be structured to require it.
Like it's getting to be now with smartphones. Most of the infrastructure around doing things without them has disappeared and now we're expected and (almost) required to have one, which I hate.
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The idea that one should be forced to verify one's age or identity to use one's own computer absolutely baffles me.
@neil I think what frightens me most is how fast it's happening. The processes of reviewing and dealing with this stuff are glacial, but then you have a few people just pushing it out there with only "Claude" to decide if it's ok or not and suddenly most people who do frequent/automatic updates already have the basis in place for at least some of it right now practically overnight...
It's f-ing my computer and if age-gate crap installs on it I WILL break that age gate crap. I am quite significantly past the age of 18, but I don't care. Software developers have absolutely no right to force this on me — especially since I don't even live in California (though I argue that even if I did lawmakers have no right to force this either and the law is surely illegal.)
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@neil I think what frightens me most is how fast it's happening. The processes of reviewing and dealing with this stuff are glacial, but then you have a few people just pushing it out there with only "Claude" to decide if it's ok or not and suddenly most people who do frequent/automatic updates already have the basis in place for at least some of it right now practically overnight...
It's f-ing my computer and if age-gate crap installs on it I WILL break that age gate crap. I am quite significantly past the age of 18, but I don't care. Software developers have absolutely no right to force this on me — especially since I don't even live in California (though I argue that even if I did lawmakers have no right to force this either and the law is surely illegal.)
@neil I know this is dangerously close to a "slippery slope" fallacy, but I'll say it anyway: next step is verification (probably online through brokers who will leak data) and then finally full identification. Yes this sounds like a "slippery slope" argument, but it's also quite literally the recent history of every single thing in tech that goes this direction.
And when our operating systems themselves identify us, we're in deep deep trouble.
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Perhaps I am some kind of dangerous computer radical these days, thinking that one should be able to buy or make a computer, install one's choice of OSs and software, create a local user account, and get on with one's affairs, privately and without interference.
Quiet enjoyment of one's computer.
* No age or ID verification
* No jumping through hoops to install software, or third parties restricting the software that one can run
* No third party accounts
@neil
It's peculiar that there(afaik) is no move to prevent the purchase of computers by any age of person, but once you buy it you can't use it? -
The idea that one should be forced to verify one's age or identity to use one's own computer absolutely baffles me.
@neil (They don’t see you as owning it. They see themselves as owning you.)
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@neil
I believe a distinction is necessary between using a computer as a personal tool and using it as a means of communication or for economic activity, which require adulthood and other forms of accreditation to operate in the market or in society at largeand it may be necessary to assume legal responsibility for economic activities
"using it as a means of communication or for economic activity, which require adulthood..."
We had phone boxes where you could communicate with anyone without proving you are an adult. Long before that, we had (and still have) post boxes, where anyone can post a letter to anyone else without having to identify themselves.
The idea that communication is an activity which suddenly needs identification of all participants just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
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@neil I think we've already gone that way with cars. It's difficult (impossible?) to buy one now that just belongs to you with mno ties to the manufacturer or seller.
Yet we all accept it. -
@neil I do worry that we're seeing the beginning of the end of personal computing, in the sense of being able to own a machine that you control and that does your bidding.
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@neil
It's peculiar that there(afaik) is no move to prevent the purchase of computers by any age of person, but once you buy it you can't use it?Age restrictions on the potential victims - while the perpetrators are free to download the tools for abuse from the various app stores.
