Comment by sneak

> Right now, there is a LOT of shrill propaganda from the tech bros, who call themselves “privacy advocates,” about how mandatory age checking is the gateway drug to comprehensive identity checks on the entire Internet, and ridiculing the valid civic concerns governments are trying to address as merely “think of the children” strawman arguments.

Oh, it’s not a slippery slope. It’s a single step: age verification IS identity verification, and it abolishes anonymous publishing on the internet, allowing on day one for violent retaliation against political speech.

If you think that authoritarian governments won’t be abusing this instantly, you are sorely ignorant of history.