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Comment by Aurornis | Hacker News Reader

> Again, this is a radical internet-libertarian-freedom-at-all-costs view

The current global status quo is “radical” and the U.K. is the only country doing it right?

You were accusing others of being U.S. centric a few posts back, but now you’re pushing the U.K.’s unique laws as the only valid solution.

> We’ve been doing it for decades with credit cards

Age checks for credit cards are required because minors legally couldn’t be forced to pay their debts.

If companies issued credit cards to minors then the minors could spend as much as they want and the bank would have no recourse to collect.

I don’t think you understand these issues if you’re using this as a comparison. Either that or you’re not even trying to have an honest conversation.

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My position is very simple. I believe that most of the world is fine with age checks on the Internet. I think that the U.S. free speech laws and attitudes are unique and because English speaking internet culture is U.S. culture, these discussions always end up with an assumption that U.S. values are the values shared by the subjects.

I don’t think my view on the law matters, I haven’t shared it. I am speaking specifically about how everyone here is talking as if people in the U.K. care about “draconian” surveillance. People in the U.K. are not people from the U.S. Age verification is not a philosophical issue for U.K. people as it is for people in the U.S. People from the U.K. are not principled free speech absolutists. Ask a person in the U.K. if porn should require age verification and they will not think nor care about the free speech or surveillance implications of voting for such a law.

And people in the U.K. are not unique. People in the U.S. are. Spend any amount of time outside of our U.S. Internet bubble and you’ll discover nobody cares about any of this.

Whether I care and whether you care is not relevant to the British voters. Not the Australian voters. Nor the Swedish voters. Or the Thai voters. Or the Japanese voters…

In fact you have shared your opinion: 'Again, this is a radical internet-libertarian-freedom-at-all-costs view. Normal people do not think that proving you are 18 is notable.'

I would actually argue you've expressed dozens of opinions related to this law and very few facts. Any source on whether Swedish or Japanese voters care for example? What led you to this conclusion?

Furthermore in your last comment you first argue you are only speaking to UK sentiment ('I am speaking specifically about how everyone here is talking as if people in the U.K. care about “draconian” surveillance.') and then double down on your argument that US is the outlier.

Yeah, you are right, we would be fine with age checks. If and only if it was done through zk-SNARE or ZKPs in general. Uploading a photo of myself to a random company's server is a no-go, whether for having my age checked or whatever else.

I am Eastern European, and there is no way in hell I will ever use a service that requires me to verify my age through a photo of my ID.

The problem is the privacy, not the age check itself if it could be isolated. I think you're confused on what the US objectors are upset about.

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