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Comment by Popeyes | Hacker News Reader

Lots of the top comments talking about how Imgur can stay out of the UK more easily and not about how Imgur can comply with the law and protect children's data.

Why is it always that regulation is the problem, not the company being irresponsible with data.

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Why are children on the internet? Why are the parents not being fined for being irresponsible? Give the kids a loaded gun, its the same as giving them access to the internet. The internet is not a place for children to begin with. Why try to bend the internet to conform? It will destroy the internet as it is as well as all it's freedoms. Oh and it probably won't stop/protect them, as thousands of new sites come & go every year, so impossible to control. Its better to try regulate the children than to regulate the internet.

Saying the internet is not a place for children is like saying the street is not for children. Full of drug dealers, cars and danger!

Yet learning how to cross the street is an essential skill in life. They are also filled with flowers, pathways to playgrounds and much more. And that's why children are not forbidden on the streets.

My point being: let's educate instead of regulate. "Regulating the children" is silly and countereffective.

Are you going to drop off your children at the bar and let them mingle? The internet is filled with huge variety of adult personalities and intentions, some of which are harmful & malicious, or just plain brain numbing.

We do have laws to restrict the cars (speed limits) and drug dealers.

Is it the car that is speeding or the driver speeding it? Can the car or the road be taken to court?

Is it the knife that kills or person doing the stabbing? Or the knife maker? Can the knife be taken to court?

Is it $website allowing the children on it or the parents allowing them? Can the parents be taken to court?

What do you mean by "children's data"? What data? Suppose I'm 11, I'm not registered at Imgur, and I'm only browsing, what sort of vulnerable data they have to protect? Browser's user agent, IP address, screen resolution? Even if I'm registered, it's rather unlikely I will provide all my real details.

The "children's safety" argument is for voters who are technologically illiterate and don't have a tiniest idea how the internet works.

> Why is it always that regulation is the problem, not the company being irresponsible with data.

Can you be irresponsible with childrens' data if you don't know whether your users are children?

Have a look at the update for a look at what they are talking about.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-re...

Every "protect the children" law is just a gaslight attempt to push a package of other Orwelian laws. It's been like that for atleast half a century - even Simpsons parodied this with "think of the children" back in 1997.

It's good companies are walking out of jurisdictions where FUD is the basis of a law.

Staying out does both, is also the easiest and costs less.

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