Comment by brigandish
5 days ago
The web has not had age gating via large-scale government coercion since its inception. To claim that it's absurd to think we can do without it is to detach from that reality, and is itself absurd.
The irony.
5 days ago
The web has not had age gating via large-scale government coercion since its inception. To claim that it's absurd to think we can do without it is to detach from that reality, and is itself absurd.
The irony.
I am not making an argument based on tradition. I couldn't care less that the web has not been government-gated for the past X years, because through this logic you should adhere to any dumb tradition or custom humans have ever had. I am concerned with the present and the future of the web's impact on the world, which of course requires government intervention like any other big phenomenon or technology in the history of humanity.
Before snarkily calling "irony", at least understand the topic of discussion and make appropriate comparisons.
P.S.:
Not only is your assumption false, since in its first years the web was only accessible to academics so the gating was implicit, but the internet itself from its beginning to the present day requires heavy governmental intervention and international collaboration to make it work. Do you know what's behind the cables that carry your bytes? The ICANN? The IANA? I hope you never do, if you dislike government involvement this much
> I am not making an argument based on tradition.
I know, and neither am I. Perhaps you misread my comment.
> I couldn't care less that the web has not been government-gated for the past X years
That is clear.
> because through this logic you should adhere to any dumb tradition or custom humans have ever had
Not only is that statement a non-sequitur, since neither of us is making an argument based on tradition, it's also entirely irrelevant.
> I am concerned with the present and the future of the web's impact on the world, which of course requires government intervention like any other big phenomenon or technology in the history of humanity.
An assertion that is a) going beyond the subject, thus creating a straw man, and b) when applied to that actual subject, completely undermined by my comment.
My actual comment, not the one you appear to have decided to respond to that I haven't written, wouldn't write, and thus doesn't exist.
> Not only is your assumption false, since in its first years the web was only accessible to academics so the gating was implicit
The subject is *explicit* age gating. Nothing implicit, and nothing that isn't age gating is relevant.
> Do you know what's behind the cables that carry your bytes? The ICANN? The IANA? I hope you never do, if you dislike government involvement this much
Firstly, that is snark, but fair's fair I suppose. The irony.
Secondly and much more importantly, I dislike age gating via large-scale government coercion, the subject of this discussion.
Could you respond to that? Specifically, age gating via large-scale government coercion.
Operating a motor vehicle requires a license, and you have to present it. Drinking and other activities and purchases require showing ID to prove your age. Since the web contains the digital equivalent of many age-gated activities it's entirely reasonable, once technology advances enough, to mandate the IRL age gates to certain websites or services.
Since the government currently has all of our ID data and since mathematically secure algorithms have been invented to prove personal information without revealing it, I'd say we have reached the point where digital identification can be implemented without infringing on people's privacy any more than a clerk checking your ID.
1 reply →
Web will not have age gating after this either.
The authentication requirements for some web pages have exited for a long time.