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Comment by seszett | Hacker News Reader

> Never mind that computers and internet access is ubiquitous enough these days that "using the family computer" for this sort of thing isn't really needed in the first place.

I'm just glad you're not in charge of this kind of services because although that might seem like an obvious thing to you, the reality is that the people needing that information the most are the ones who are the least likely to have easy access to a personal device with Internet access.

In particular, children and women in dysfunctional, abusive relationships are not very often provided with a smartphone and a data plan by their abusers.

I agree that the shift shortcut is unlikely to be of much use, but it's just one available method in addition to the rest.

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Abused men have similar problems although we are probably less likely to have no internet access restricting and monitoring communications is a common part of abuse.

My ex wife did not want me to get a smartphone and, in retrospect, it was because it let me keep in closer touch with family abroad (which is the main reason I have one at all). She also got very upset when I changed the password on my desktop some years previously.

> I'm just glad you're not in charge of this kind of services

Why are you attacking the user instead of just focusing on the argument?

Bad internet habit, just asssume that "you" refers to the hypothetical person made of nothing but that one expressed opinion

I do this sometimes too. I wonder how hard it would be to make an addon that marks using the second person in forum posts with the spellchecker or something.

Sometimes I intend to do it, but it’s honestly usually just force of habit.

> I agree that the shift shortcut is unlikely to be of much use, but it's just one available method in addition to the rest.

I don't know how the relevant user is informed about the option/feature, but assuming they're aware it is a positive feature both in terms of thoughtfulness and execution.

Be interested to see the stats on how often it gets called

I think it should be obvious from the full comment that I don't think that doing _something_ for this is useless. Most of my comment is about how this is not actually sufficient to protect people.

And "we need to do something for this" doesn't mean that this particular feature/button is a good idea.

Like I said, telling people to use private windows and teaching them Ctrl+W seems like a better solution to solve the same problem to me. You can have a widget with some basic tips, and you can even show the correct instructions based on the browser the person is using.

I want to thank you for this comment. I had read the entire article thinking incorrectly about this. I thought it was for people who didn't want to see the material to navigate away, and kept thinking "just turn your head, close your eyes, hit the back button".

Then I saw your comment and realized I was entirely wrong about how I was thinking about this. I get it now.

> women in dysfunctional, abusive relationships are not very often provided with a smartphone and a data plan

This sounds like something which you have no evidence at all for claiming.

I don't have evidence but I do have experience on this.

I'm not sure why you would be the quickly dismissive of something that would seem obvious to many.

I mean, it’s a ‘water is wet’ kind of statement. Prisoners aren’t provided a mobile phone and data plan either.

I knew a person who was in abusive relationships where the abuser would keep making ridiculous claims that the person was cheating on them, and made them give up having their own phone as "proof" that they wouldn't cheat.

Of course, the abuser was cheating the whole time.

They were kept without computers and internet access: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-19711022

So it does happen, contrary to what you claim.

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