The best way to implement that ban is to have a variable on the device (smartphone) that holds the approximate birthdate of the user (sth like 2002-01-01) and then the device gives forward the information about whether the user is 16+, 18+ forward to any app of maybe even website that requests that info.

The parent who buys the device gets a code to configure the device to set the birthdate, and without that code, it’s not changeable for the user. The platforms then only have to look at that variable to figure out whether the user is old enough.

This way, you shift responsibility to the user, but in a way that is technically possible. Because today, it’s almost impossible for a not ultra-tech-affine parent to actually implement age controls on their children’s devices.

This might be what makes the fediverse finally become mainstream.

especially in terms of being less addictive

too many people be like this. well, they’re gonna have a rough awakening when the IT job market collapses.

can i also block developer options and apk sideloading?

This is also good news because it obviously means that german government will have to review the software used for possible security holes and close them, so everyone who also uses the software gets security fixes.

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it will probably take years to figure out how to do age-verification properly.

yeah, what i actually meant with this was that it will take years for platforms to figure out how to do age-verification properly without infringing on the privacy of its users.

not because it is complicated, but because it is a societal process and these are always slow as hell.

block apps

block all 150000000 apps on the app store?

I would like to say that this is good for the quality of content on social media as well…

There’s less bullshit content on social media if there’s fewer kids, and also there’s less incentive for other people to create bullshit content for teenagers to consume, if there’s fewer teenagers on the platforms in the first place.

AFAIK only big platforms are required to take measures, so it’s actually the opposite of what you said. it shifts power to smaller platforms who don’t have to comply with these rules.

but no problem if they fail to identify minors as such?

it’s a new technology. it will probably take years to figure out how to do age-verification properly.

Get her a dumb phone. Install parental controls.

If this actually worked. I tried it once and it did not work at all. Platforms/apps don’t seem to respect the device settings at all.

One parent told the Guardian their 15-year-old daughter was “very distressed” because “all her 14 to 15-year-old friends have been age verified as 18 by Snapchat”. Since she had been identified as under 16, they feared “her friends will keep using Snapchat to talk and organise social events and she will be left out”.

I think the ban should only apply to public-facing platforms, where everybody can see your content.

Platforms where you only talk to your friends should maybe be left out of it.

not if it’s a library

descriptive linguistics >> prescriptive linguistics

classic case of the four-leaved-clover story

edit:

in japan or in the US?

i actually don’t have a problem with HTML, i just think that instead of every app shipping their own copy of electron, the operating system should provide basic browser functionality.

also known as the broken window fallacy