OS-Level Age Verification
waspdev.com
waspdev.com
We own our own cars, but governments across the world regulate how those may be built, for safety, fuel efficiency, and pollution related reasons. Internal combustion engine based cars will be banned entirely soon in much of the world.
We own televisions, but in the United States, by federal law every television must come with a V-Chip, which provides parental controls over content. Broadcasters must send an age rating marker the V-Chip can pick up in order to lock kids out of inappropriate content.
Maybe it's time the same thing happen to computers. Society doesn't think it's safe anymore to give people access to general-purpose machines and communicate without attesting to details about yourself. Maybe the time for general-purpose computing and arbitrary internet access has passed. Maybe it's just a cost of "living in a society".
And BTW, yes, I don't like most modern cars' designs which are partly due to stricter safety / emission regulations, partly due to trends and and partly due to internalization. For me cars from late 1990s to early 2000s looked significantly better, slimmer, more original and creative. Today's cars look boring, bulky, overaggressively designed (I guess it's partly to squeeze out maximum scores on aerodynamic tests instead of looking better). These things are not necessarily privacy invading, but on the other hand, this electronization of cars is also concerning. I don't drive BTW.
As for V-Chips, they are optional to use. A TV may be required to include it, but parents are not required to turn it on. By default, it usually does nothing. Using the parental control is up to the user. V-Chip, by itself, basically has no privacy problem. Smart TVs are another topic.
Software is different. It's too flexible, it's too easily copied, it isn't a concrete physical object.
IMHO it's the parents' responsibility to handle this problem. Mainstream commercial OSes provide mechanisms for parental control. Why not use them? Why not inform the public about this problem? This dysfunctional law doesn't solve the root problem. Also, the law may become even more extreme and this is one of the first steps from the governments to gain more and more control over people. I personally don't want to live in such controlled "nanny" world.