Comment by hedora
3 months ago
For there to be a solution, there needs to be a problem. These bills are not addressing a problem. Assume the online platform has a video feed of my kid, or their SSN, or a zero-knowledge-proof of age, or whatever.
Now, what will the platform do with it? Concretely? As in: Name one bad outcome a reasonable parent would care about that's prohibited under these bills. If the bad thing happens due to willful negligence, then there needs to be some actual material consequence to someone at the platform provider.
The Illinois bill prohibits financial transactions, and feeds engineered to be addictive.
How do you define a “feed engineered to be addictive”? How do you distinguish between addictive and just good quality?
This isn't from the bill, but this is what I would like to see: Any endless scroll "feed" can only be chronological content only from people/orgs/entities you opt-in to see ("follow", "subscribe", what-have-you).
Will that be bad for "engagement"?
Yes. That's the point.
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You could engineer the feed to maximize user satisfaction, rather than maximizing usage.
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>Name one bad outcome a reasonable parent would care about that's prohibited under these bills.
the bad outcomes don't need to be prohibited under these bills. it's already illegal to, for example, distribute pornography to minors. which i think is something that a reasonable parent would have a problem with.
but if there is no way to determine who is a minor and who isn't, then it's impossible to determine the difference between "willful negligence" and regular old negligence and enforce any consequences for breaking that law. age verification laws are about mechanisms to make other, already existing laws actually enforceable.
> distribute pornography to minors. which i think is something that a reasonable parent would have a problem with.
I'm sorry what?
This is not even close to consensus, as you present it.
Also, a thought exercise, just for you:
1. Should stabbing people be illegal? 2. Should we make it impossible to stab people?
Think about those things, and how they relate to eachother. What would the consequences be of #2?