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Comment by PaulKeeble | Hacker News Reader

This was inevitable the moment they started taking government ID for proving age. It was a terrible idea, it was made worse by the companies themselves being unproven. This will lead to substantial ID theft crime in the future, as many predicted. If its on the internet someone will get it, even the most capable internet companies have been hacked.

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I am not going to give youtube a copy of my ID just to watch videos with bad words in them.

I hate what the internet is becoming through government and corporate policies

My Google account is 21 years old and I still get asked to verify my age is older than 18 years.

What country are you in? I have never been asked to verify my age and my account is the around the same age.

My account was created in the US and it happens occasionally — regardless of country — when some YouTube video is deemed too gore-y for Google to allow me to see. It seems totally arbitrary, but on the other hand I never watch the videos so maybe they're protecting my innocence.

I don't think country has an impact. I've experienced it in both US and UK with extensive years spent in both.

I'm of two minds on this.

On the one hand, it would be such an obvious proof of age that you've had the account for 21 years so why not pass you.

On the other, this would become a form of grandfathering such that all of us oldtimers and people in the establisent never directly see and experience the impact of these policies. It's mostly in the younger generations (still adults but their accounts may only be 5-10y) and people in exposed situations who get impacted.

So while it seems silly, at least process becomes visible.

You missed the obvious one, it creates a black market for old accounts

That market already exists and not really something I care about.

In all fairness you could have taken over the account of the human host you burst out from.

I have a premium account and I still get all dirty words bleeped and st**ed. This is insane, I wish it were a European company where we are not afraid of words.

I understand moderation for obvious hate speech or violence (of course "obvious" means something different for everyone) but sex or fuck are normal words for normal adults.

youtube demonetizes videos that have "too much" cursing in them

I know, I am aware of the consequences of putting "inappropriate" content. The idea itself is flawed.

> This was inevitable the moment they started taking government ID for proving age.

Who wants to bet that this was the intended outcome all along?

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