From reading the article, it sounds like an enforced standardisation? Like, asking for account age bracket and then having a standard API to ask for it would be easy, right? Just write it to a root owned `~/.age-bracket` for each user or something (obviously something better).
It's a feature many apps implement in all kinds of ways already, especially games and social media stuff, so this, in theory, just makes it easier and consistent?
I'm against leaking our kids ages, and all the privacy and other concerns as much as anyone, but are we just getting overly angry too quickly on this one?
It passes responsibility and accountability from the large platforms to the open-source communities and to parents who are most likely tech illiterate.
Facebook, etc. can wash their hands when they "accidentally" serve gambling ads (or whatever) to children and say "well it's not our fault the parent has the laptop misconfigured"
I disagree. The parents are the ones who should be supervising. The work should not be pushed off to OSS devs or random website operators. Facebook is bad, but I'd rather deal with one Facebook than kill 1000 normal sites with bad legislation.
This is censorship; it is like saying you can't eat a steak because a baby can't chew it. They will try to ban Linux or fine Linux developers unless it reports the user's age.
There seems to be an astroturf campaign to spread hysteria online about any age-related controls. A cynic might wonder if this is being done by the social media companies themselves.
That said, TFA is misreporting what the Illinois bill does and you can read it and decide for yourself.
“Devices must provide an interface at account setup for the primary user of the device to self-report their birth date or age. Then, after receiving consent from the user, the device can share that age-range signal with online platforms or companies to provide age-appropriate safeguards and privacy protections for minors.”
I’m not looking forward to updating my array of 3D printer controllers with Raspbian in them and having them suddenly ask me for some sort of age attestation. Why would I be glad about this? My kids just aren’t allowed to use social media and have super locked down devices, so even the alleged advantage doesn’t help me.
> The law also stipulates that all transmitted digital signals have to be encrypted.
I'm hoping there's nuance, but I'm surprised the article didn't go deeper on this too. ARP? ICMP? DHCP?
I can't actually load the bill to read it ATM.
From reading the article, it sounds like an enforced standardisation? Like, asking for account age bracket and then having a standard API to ask for it would be easy, right? Just write it to a root owned `~/.age-bracket` for each user or something (obviously something better).
It's a feature many apps implement in all kinds of ways already, especially games and social media stuff, so this, in theory, just makes it easier and consistent?
I'm against leaking our kids ages, and all the privacy and other concerns as much as anyone, but are we just getting overly angry too quickly on this one?
I get that it's a slippery slope too.
It passes responsibility and accountability from the large platforms to the open-source communities and to parents who are most likely tech illiterate.
Facebook, etc. can wash their hands when they "accidentally" serve gambling ads (or whatever) to children and say "well it's not our fault the parent has the laptop misconfigured"
It's classic blaming the victim.
I disagree. The parents are the ones who should be supervising. The work should not be pushed off to OSS devs or random website operators. Facebook is bad, but I'd rather deal with one Facebook than kill 1000 normal sites with bad legislation.
This is censorship; it is like saying you can't eat a steak because a baby can't chew it. They will try to ban Linux or fine Linux developers unless it reports the user's age.
How? Linux developers don't live in Illinois or even in the USA for the most part.
They sell the OS to Illinois residents.
I have paid for Redhat just once. Since then ubuntu FTW
It's possible for Ubuntu too. Dell sells Ubuntu laptops to Illinois.
There seems to be an astroturf campaign to spread hysteria online about any age-related controls. A cynic might wonder if this is being done by the social media companies themselves.
That said, TFA is misreporting what the Illinois bill does and you can read it and decide for yourself.
“Devices must provide an interface at account setup for the primary user of the device to self-report their birth date or age. Then, after receiving consent from the user, the device can share that age-range signal with online platforms or companies to provide age-appropriate safeguards and privacy protections for minors.”
https://epic.org/illinois-passes-childrens-social-media-safe...
The primary source seems to be experiencing the hug of death at the moment. https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/BillStatus?GAID=18&DocNum=5...
I’m not looking forward to updating my array of 3D printer controllers with Raspbian in them and having them suddenly ask me for some sort of age attestation. Why would I be glad about this? My kids just aren’t allowed to use social media and have super locked down devices, so even the alleged advantage doesn’t help me.