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Comment by Noaidi | Hacker News Reader

> for example, on YouTube, you can no longer watch many videos without an account.

I do not like this argument. Does an adult theater let anyone in without an ID? Do movie theaters let kids under 18 into an R rated movie without ID? Why do we think this should be different on the internet?

IMHO, they should have Youtube 18+ (Adult book store) where you need an ID and YouTube <18 where you do not (Barnes and Nobles), and they can filter the content as apporpriate.

I think it is evil that YouTube enables kids access to both grooming and violent material.

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> I do not like this argument. Does an adult theater let anyone in without an ID? Do movie theaters let kids under 18 into an R rated movie without ID? Why do we think this should be different on the internet?

I don't like this one either. Does the cinema store the ID (or information extracted from said ID) of every single user visiting, along with what they've watched, on electronic records that can and will eventually be breached? Do they ask a third party (like Persona) for said verification providing the user's information?

On the cinema you show your ID to the person in front of you, they check the birth date, if it's valid (and not an obvious forgery) and if the photo matches the person providing it.

> On the cinema you show your ID to the person in front of you, they check the birth date, if it's valid (and not an obvious forgery) and if the photo matches the person providing it.

This is something that can be done online as well. Capitalism is controllable.

Governments aren't clearly willing to regulate the companies. They just let them do whatever they want once they're too big to regulate. Internet Companies has 20 years of history of datamining for sake advertising. Still nothing is done about, why even allow them obtain even more leverage?

From my understanding is there is no law for movie theathers in the US to card people for the movies, also the MPAA guidence rating is a suggestion. It's not a requirement.

There are policies in the industry to suggest it.

> Why do we think this should be different on the internet?

Because when applied to the internet, the age gating model that works okayish for brick-and-mortar locations is ineffective (children can use a friend's older brother's ID or account, websites outside of the relevant jurisdiction can just decide not to verify age, etc.) and invasive (sending private and sensitive information off to US companies that have been breached or linked to mass surveillance). Lack of efficacy is then used to justify crack-downs on privacy tools and the need for broad content-blocking powers with no due process.

Preferable IMO would be with filtering on the local network level, like schools have been doing for decades. Parents typically own the router/mobile data plan, so it'd pretty much just be a change of defaults and maybe some new interoperability standards. A lot less invasive, and arguably more effective.

The problem is that digital IDs get recorded. The physical examples you give are generally not. The clerk at the ticket counter or entrance doesn't give a shit who you are, they just need the picture to match you and the DOB to 18+ years ago. If you're old enough, they dont even card you.

> Do movie theaters let kids under 18 into an R rated movie without ID?

I mean, yes? At least in the Netherlands they do, I just went to see new the Jackass movie last week and half the theater was kids without parents present.

Also this is a bad comparison because a theater (or bar or whatever other venue checks IDs) doesn't store those IDs forever in perpetuity, and they definitely don't share it with one of their 9000 "legitimate interest" partners who do lord knows what with the IDs.

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