• Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    The fact that people even considered this with a straight face, discussed it and passed it is just indicative how tech illiterate we’ve become.

    • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      44 minutes ago

      I don’t know how they are going to do over there.

      Here the plan for the same goal is force any social media company to request a digital certificate when entering, or directly overtaking the ip of the social media and force a certificate check to let the user through. This certificates would be expedited by the government to people over certain age.

      The haven’t implemented yet, as they were going to start using the system to ban porn for minors and got a lot of backslash.

      It’s technologically doable, some kid will always find a way to enter but vast majority will not (next to a bunch of adults that will stop using them because they cannot be bothered with the same system). Moral considerations aside.

  • BMTea@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    I support this move. Some here are delusionally arguing that this impacts privacy - the sort of data social media firms collect on teenagers is egregiously extensive regardless. This is good support for their mental health and development.

    • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 hours ago

      This ban does nothing.

      Anything that does not force ID verification is useless.

      Anything that does verify ID would mean that adults also have to upload their IDs to the website.

      What will happen is either this becomes another toothless joke. Or the government say “okay this isn’t working, lets implement ID checks”, and when that law passes Lemmy Instance Admins would be required to verify ID of any user from an Australia IP.

      Y’all want that to happen?

      So what hapoens if other countries start catching on and also pass such law?

      Eventually the all internet accounts would be tied to IDs. Anonymity is dead.

      • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Government provided open id service which guarantees age. Website gets trusted authority signed token witch contains just the age. We can do this safely. We have the technology. They could even do it only once on registration.

        Digital id’s exist already in the EU, and many countries run a sign on service already. We aren’t far from this.

        • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          38 minutes ago

          Depending on what the token contains.

          There are two implementations I could think of:

          “This user has been verified to be at least [Age]. Sincerely, [Government Authority]” Assuming this is an identical token thats the same for everyone? Sure. I’m not opposed to this.

          “This user has been verified to be at least [Age]. Unique Token ID: 23456” Hell No. When the government eventually wants to deanonymize someone, they could ask the website: “What was the token ID that was used to verify the user?” then if the website provides it, now the government can just check the database to see who the token belongs to. And this could also lead to the government mandating the unique token id to be stored.

      • lemba@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 hours ago

        This ban is a wake up call to Tech Industry to implement and enforce rules against hate speech, grooming, fake news, etc. They surely cannot verify the age of a human without any official ID made in the real world. This leads to other problems but that’s not the concern of the government! Social Media wants it’s users, not the government.

        • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          This ban is a wake up call to Tech Industry

          what? Why would tech industry care? If anything it’ll have the reverse effect and dimiss tech role in brain rott because “see, kids are not on it! It’s all good here”

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 hours ago

    performative nonsense which does nothing for kids or their mental health and harms queer kids who lose one of the first places they can find community.

    • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com
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      4 hours ago

      Then it seems there is something other to fix in society than making sure facebook knows anything about that kid.

      The Zuckerbergers of the world aren’t the ones to trust with that.

      • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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        4 hours ago

        My child’s kindergarten teacher assured me he always wears a condom while teaching, just in case.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    3 hours ago

    Not a bad idea all things considered

    Edit: Save for the “Showing your ID” part, anonymity is healthy for the net and far too rare these days

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      People should be allowed to do as they please. I think, however, people should be presented with all the potential risks in very clear language if they’re going to, in the same way a pack of cigarettes has a warning, access to social media should present similar disclaimers.

  • JoYo@lemmy.ml
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    10 hours ago

    Now ban parents posting pictures of their children under 16.

    I DGAF about your kids.

    • Eezyville@sh.itjust.works
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      6 hours ago

      Yeah I agree with you on this. It’ll protect them from the being de-clothed using AI as well. I understand wanting to share moments with your family because kids grow up fast but sharing it with these companies as an intermediary is not a good idea. Sadly I don’t have a solution for them aside from setting up a decentralized social network like Pixelfed or Frendica but that requires skill and patience.

      • Madis@lemm.ee
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        2 hours ago

        Frankly, decentralized networks make it even harder to take content down.

  • rcbrk@lemmy.ml
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    10 hours ago

    The ban and age verification requirements apply to pretty much all services which allow communication of information between people, unless an exemption is granted by the minister.

    There is no legislated exemption for instant messaging, SMS, email, email lists, chat rooms, forums, blogs, voice calls, etc.

    It’s a wildly broadly applicable piece of legislation that seems ripe to be abused in the future, just like we’ve seen with anti-terror and anti-hate-symbol legislation.

    From 63C (1) of the legislation:

    For the purposes of this Act, age-restricted social media platform means:

    • a) an electronic service that satisfies the following conditions:
      • i) the sole purpose, or a significant purpose, of the service is to enable online social interaction between 2 or more end-users;
      • ii) the service allows end-users to link to, or interact with, some or all of the other end-users;
      • iii) the service allows end-users to post material on the service;
      • iv) such other conditions (if any) as are set out in the legislative rules; or
    • b) an electronic service specified in the legislative rules; but does not include a service mentioned in subsection (6).

    Here’s all the detail of what the bill is and the concerns raised in parliament.

  • Zozano@lemy.lol
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    9 hours ago

    Obviously there are workarounds, but I suppose it provides a good justification for parents to deny their kids access to social media.

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      This isn’t even delegating. It’s more of an equivalent of stuffing your fingers into your ear holes and going “nanananan CAN’T HEAR YOU”

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      That would require us paying one parent enough to cover the other parent being a child care expert. But nobody gets to profit off of that so fuck society, everybody works, and nobody gets community goods except the wealthy.

        • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          but but that requires actually effort and budget that we’d have to take away from Australian oligarchs!

        • merde alors@sh.itjust.works
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          7 hours ago

          if social media is fediverse, you’re right; if social media is agents of surveillance capitalism, fuck social media

          what’s “social” about what most people call social media?

          • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            7 hours ago

            Governmemts doesn’t care, any platform that empowers civillians to communicate with each other is “social media”. Governments love to control and restrict communications.

            Lemmy would be considered social media. Eventually they would be requiring social media to verify IDs. So Lemmy instances will be required to verify IDs or be banned from certain countries.

            • merde alors@sh.itjust.works
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              6 hours ago

              even YouTube got in an exception list. So it’s not an “all or nothing” approach, it seems.

              • Lemmy is too small for governments to care
              • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                5 hours ago

                Youtube got an exeption because Alphabet Inc. lobbied them to do so to get kids used to Youtube. Lemmy does not have the lobbying power like a mega corporation, plus, its a good excuse to get rid of a left-leaning platform, since governments tend to be against the left.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          A social safety net you say… like a place we could gather all the children to teach them things and let them play under supervision?

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              11 hours ago

              What? No! They can have their own age appropriate place to learn and play under supervision.

              • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                10 hours ago

                Well I hope Australians are a homogenous society. Like they don’t have racial minorities or LGBT kids that have to keep their identities closeted and have no one to talk to. Every Australian is so open and accepting amirite?

                Imagine kids have conservative parents that would kick them out if they came out as LGBT, classmates are just constantly using “yo thats’s gay” as an insult, while teacher and administrators dismiss any reports bullying. Have no adult they trust, and the same conservative parents would not let them see a therapist because that being “weak”. Then when they wanna go online and vent and just have someone to talk to, the government steps in and “help” them by banning online communications.

                “We Saved The Kids” Amirite?

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  10 hours ago

                  But what about those Parental Responsibilities you were talking about earlier? Are you saying we now need extra social safety nets for kids who don’t fit the mold and get bullied? Extra places for them to learn and play under supervision? Because I don’t think that’s going to be economical without boarding them there, away from their parents.

    • BangCrash@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Parents should be Parenting?

      If they haven’t been parenting what have they been doing for the last 40 years?

      And if thwy have been parenting how’s that workout for us so far?

      There’s been no age ban on social media since the internet was founded but there’s record mental health crisis on young people.

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Yeah! Parents should totally be allowed to give their car keys to their 14 year old to go out and drive drunk if they feel their kid can handle it.

  • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    the rules are expected to apply to the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, per the Prime Minister.

    Sites used for education, including YouTube, would be exempt, as are messaging apps like WhatsApp.

    The law does not require users to upload government IDs as part of the verification process.

    Sounds like a pretty weak law. It will require a birthday when creating an account and accounts under the age of 16 will be restricted/limited. As a result users (people under 16) will lie about their age.

    Companies don’t like this because it messes with their data collection. If they collect data that proves an account is under 16 they will be required to make them limited/restricted. However they obviously collect this data already.

    I wonder if Facebook and other apps will add/push education elements in order to become exempt.

    • JeremyHuntQW12@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      The law does not require users to upload government IDs as part of the verification process.

      No, it merely requires the sites to provide an alternative, such as face scanning using a mobile phone unlock. Using a computer ? Then you’ll have hand over your ID.

      The law also explicitly gives sites the right to onsell private information if its outlined in the terms of agrrement.

      • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Re verification per AP,

        The amendments passed on Friday bolster privacy protections. Platforms would not be allowed to compel users to provide government-issued identity documents including passports or driver’s licenses, nor could they demand digital identification through a government system.

        So it sounds like an ID will not be a requirement.

        I suppose a face scan is possible, but I find it unlikely. Obviously if it heads in that direction then the law should be amended to clarify that is also not acceptable.

        In terms of selling information I assume that just clarifies the status quo and isn’t new. Not that that makes it acceptable, it just means that’s something to tackle.

        • rcbrk@lemmy.ml
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          3 hours ago

          So it sounds like an ID will not be a requirement.

          Sure, but gov ID is permitted as an option if another non-ID option is also available.

          Simply choose between submitting your government ID or, say, switch on your front facing camera so we can perform some digital phrenology to determine your eligibility.

      • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Oh I agree. I wouldn’t want a stronger law. I’m just not too concerned with this one. I think if there are concerns with social media we should discuss how to solve them for everyone.

        We generally say 16-21 you are an adult so fuck it, whatever happens to you is your fault and ignore the predatory nature of organizations.

        We should outline the specific concerns and determine what, if any, steps we can take.

        As an example, gambling. I think it’s fair and reasonable to allow gambling. I think ensuring gambling isn’t predatory is a reasonable limitation. I expect for most people it isn’t a problem but I think providing help to gambling addicts is also reasonable. Social media should be viewed through a similar lens.

    • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      I wonder if Facebook and other apps will add/push education elements in order to become exempt.

      I doubt it, and if they do, they’ll classify a whole bunch of nonsense as educational content in order to do so, e.g. religious content as science.

      • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        I mean YouTube has educational content, but that is far from its primary purpose. Assuming YouTube is completely unrestricted it wouldn’t be hard for Facebook to add enough content to be arguably educational.

        Hell plenty of people use TikTok for educational reasons. I’m not saying it’s right, but you could argue TikTok is educational in the same way you can argue YouTube is educational.

        Now if YouTube is forced to classify it’s educational content the same way they classify children’s content (aka poorly), maybe that’ll work.