Apologies if this isn’t the right place to ask this, but I thought actual developers with a deep understanding of how technology actually works would be the people to ask!
If you were tasked with setting up a safe and secure way to do this, how would you do it differently than what the UK government is proposing? How could it be done such that I wouldn’t have to worry about my privacy and the threat of government suppression? Is it even theoretically possible to accomplish such a task at such a scale?
Cheers!
EDIT: Just to be clear: I’m not in favour of age verification laws. But they’re on their way regardless. My question is purely about the implementation and technology of the thing, rather than the ethics or efficacy of it. Can this seemingly-inevitable privacy hellscape be done in a non-hellscapish way?


…
Parental control software existing is a terrible idea?
There is insufficient incentive for games like Roblox to provide effective controls for parents to manage their childrens accounts.
That should change.
I was raised by loving and trustworthy parents. It didn’t save me from curiosity leading me to things I was far, far too young to see. No amount of love and care can fix that.
No. You let them learn to swim in he shallows to prepare them. Blind trust is like throwing them into the deep end and seeing if they figure it out before drowning.
Having a supportive, loving and trustworthy environmnet didn’t stop me from wanting to kill myself.
I figured out how to swim, eventually. But I should not have had to.
Are you seriusly suggesting that nothing bad will happen to children as long as their parents just care enough?
deleted by creator
Only if you never lift the restrictions, and coddle instead of raise them.
A parent buying their kid their first beer is a show of trust, and confidence in having prepared them. That they weren’t allowed before isn’t some paranoia about turning them into an alcoholist. It’s about preparation and maturity.
It is a display that shows that the parent feels their child is ready and responsible enough for the ability to decide themselves to be granted to them.
A parent enforcing a rule before that is not some violation.
Only, for the internet, the tools and know-how to do so are rare or non-existent.
My parents did this with tons of things as me and my siblings grew up. Each time trusting us with a new piece of responsibility, when they felt we were ready.
What kind of parent doesn’t decide their childrens bedtime until they can sanely maintain their sleep schedule themselves?
It was a big day when I was granted the ability to go to visit friends without asking permission first.
Parental control and guidance is essential for the stage-by-stage raising of a child into adulthood. Both online and offline, only tools and practices around the former practically don’t exist.
Each parent is also on a deadline. When someone turns 18, all rules come off whether you’re ready or not.
As a parent, you should aim for your kid to be making as many decisions themselves as possible by then.
And did you seriously just try to use dismissing my trauma as a point, instead of a logical retort?
deleted by creator
None of your business.
I don’t need you approval that my past is “real enough” to be allowed to argue my point.
deleted by creator
Sure.
Reply to this.
Not the comment where I actually make my case.
deleted by creator
Alcohol is also harmful to adults.
So is the internet.
To engage with either without risk, mental fortitute and maturity is required.
You should inform the underpaid workers going insane moderating facebook that the pictures can’t harm them. I’m sure their need for therapy will instantly vanish.