Parents Decide Act (H.R. 8250)
www.govtrack.us
To require operating system providers to verify the age of any user of an operating system, and for other purposes.

So, OS-level age-gating is going federal, which will effectively kill your rights to device ownership and what’s left of free speech and expression.

Enjoy your free speech while you still have it because this is a clear attempt to erase that right.

SOPA never died, it just went into hiding until time to reemerge, and now’s that time, this is basically SOPA in a save the kids trenchcoat.

  • Pamasich@kbin.earth
    2422·
    12 hours ago

    I’m personally against this kind of thing, but I hate how much of a fantasy echo chamber this stuff is here. There’s so much misinformation and hyperbole in this thread alone.

    In general I support the idea of device-level age verification. The narrative around it uses old school methods only (this one goes with just inputting your date of birth, which I’ve already done for years for stuff like Steam), rather than the ID or face scan by random third parties methods used in age verification discussions and requirements elsewhere. In my opinion software being able to use an API provided by the OS itself is much better, and with the right OS (linux) much more trustworthy than any web-based solution.

    My only real problem is the lack of user choice. This comes in two forms:

    1. Giving your birth date should be optional. I’m fine with them requiring that no birth date given means you default to being underage, but actually giving the birthdate should be up to the user.
    2. The birthdate should not be given out to random software asking for it. Either the user should be asked for permission, or only a boolean of whether they are underage or not should be provided. This bill doesn’t require either of those, nor leaves it to later clarification.
    • Rainbowblite@lemmy.caEnglish
      30·
      9 hours ago

      I don’t think it is wrong to be concerned about this. We live in an era of mass surveillance and control. This is just one more tool that governments and corporations can use to control and surveil.

      It starts as a DOB field but then escalates to an always online requirement where your full identity is passed along to every app and website. We’ve seen this happen across mobile phones and social media; I don’t want it on my PC.

    • SippyCup@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      9 hours ago

      Steam believes I’m somewhere between 62 and 126 years old. I don’t think Steam’s birthday gate is going to qualify as age verification

      • Pamasich@kbin.earth
        11·
        6 hours ago

        This bill requires the OS to ask you for your birth date, explicitly the birth date. That’s all the age verification it requires. So I’m not sure how that’s “not going to qualify as age verification”. Why would the very method specified in the bill not count? There’s no requirement to use other methods to verify the age you’re given. The user just selects their birth date freely and the OS accepts it and that’s it if they’re not underage.