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Comment by johnwheeler | Hacker News Reader

Some of us don’t mind government regulation as much as your parents told you not to like it. I just say this because it’s usually those types of parents that instill this kind of stuff and their children not to trust the government but some of us actually do. We are pretty happy with the way things are. It’s not naïve either. It’s seriously a problem when people talk like the government is meant to be not trusted.

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I typically think regulation is ineffective and poorly structured. Banning social media for teenagers is such an obvious social good that I can’t see a downside. The kids are not alright.

You don’t see a downside from having the government tie your ID to your online presence?

No, not really. Any sufficiently motivated state actor already can. I would be unsurprised to be able to dox you as a mildly interested individual. It is usually not very hard.

People usually reference things that they are ashamed about as a reason to justify this fear of ID based services. I don’t find this compelling whatsoever. Every platform I’m on that is even mildly associated with identity is more enjoyable and interesting. The idea that the marketplace of ideas is slowed by identity is not something I’ve seen in practice. In authoritarian regimes we already see ways to circumvent internet anonymity. So no, I don’t see the downside.

Open to being persuaded here though, about 5 years ago I would have agreed with you.

You realize right now today the US is forcing people to have public social media profiles to enter the country and they just started firing people for saying mean things about an irrelevant racist podcaster?

Why make it easy for them.

>Some of us don’t mind government regulation as much as your parents told you not to like it

I wasn't told to hate government regulations. 30 years of horrible, ineffective regulation taught me to hate these poorly thought out regulatoins. I grew up under No Child Left Behind. I saw the TSA form before my very eyes. I'm right now seeing ICE roam free, regulations be damned.

I don't hate the idea of regulation. I don't trust the people who are trying to regulate.

From the outside it does look like the US is especially bad at it.

Australia has had a pretty good track record with writing/implementing regulations.

US seems the only western nation with high trust issue with its own government.

Aussie, Canada, much of the Europe have no issue.

Had no issues.

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