I know systems thinking, and am in favor of a version of these types of legislation. Give me your best argument from systems thinking, and I'll give you a thoughtful reply.
Personally, I'm more in favor of a version that integrates with a government issued digital id that attests a user can legally see the provided material. The publisher would have to implement the check, because my version also includes the technical capability to disregard the law. You then just have to be ready to be charged with a crime.
I think the reason I prefer this is that my country almost already has the infrastructure for this system.
The argument that touches on "those in power" must also contend with "those in power" just abusing that power anyway, no matter what legislation is passed. People in power are usually pretty crafty.
Age verification is de facto identity verification. Eff says it well:
> But no matter the method, every system demands users hand over sensitive and immutable personal information that links their offline identity to their online activity. https://www.eff.org/issues/age-verification
Tying every action taken online to the user's real identity will have a deep and catastrophic chilling effect, destroying those very places that are creating our culture.
That's a value judgment. I'm sure it's true for some on this website, and certainly most on 4chan, but I would caution against broadening that into the general public. For my mom, the value of the internet is sharing dog pictures and clubhouse opening hours with people she known in real life. For my dad it's browsing web shops that have physical presence. None of those things offer any sort of anonymous expression.
I would also argue that presenting 4chan as more interesting than it is troubling or disgusting is pretty telling. The internet would not be culturally poorer for 4chan shutting down.
If you don't have personal privacy as a value then the answer is obvious - this is going to save kids from porn for no harm, let's usher it in.
Only if you do value privacy (value judgement), can I start to convince you that this legislation has a strong, negative outcome in that area, and that it isn't effective at 'saving kids'.
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Online commerce and dog pictures to personal friends are not of significant _cultural_ value. Which is what I was focusing on there. If you want to measure it by economic value that's a whole different ballgame.
I also find 4chan mostly disgusting. But that's the key point and what this cuts to: Is anonymous expression something that should exist?