@zleap @kneoghau @GossiTheDog Yeah the “grooming gangs” business seems both prurient and like a “crimes of the [ethnic group]” propaganda circus.

@zleap @kneoghau @GossiTheDog There is another dimension to this which is: creating the need for age verification/collecting and storing sensitive information on users and what sites they visit is the entire point.

It’s a new business opportunity! Someone will make money helping sites comply with this law.

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@zleap @kneoghau @GossiTheDog Of course the “someone” may be lax when it comes to securing the sensitive personal information they collect.

And/or they may be using it for other things they’re not telling users about, because everyone does that these days.

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@zleap @kneoghau @GossiTheDog Ofcom (and the UK government in general) doesn’t really care about the feasibility or trade-offs. They want to score political points or want tech companies and content providers to wave a magic wand and make it work.

@zleap @kneoghau @GossiTheDog Also any age verification law means not just tracking children but tracking everyone else, too.

Then you have a “papers, please” internet which means people can be surveilled/blackmailed with their browsing history much more easily.

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@zleap @kneoghau @GossiTheDog In the U.S. laws about age verification for porn sites have prompted big porn sites (like Pornhub) to shut down in states where those laws were passed.

The potential liability exposure of violating the law, even if they are doing their best to follow it, is just too much.

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@zleap @kneoghau @GossiTheDog >> I think in China they value education, parents value education and teach their kids to do the same, they also teach their kids respect.

They have social media age restriction laws in China that compel Douyin to limit its content for younger users.

Have you ever set parental controls on your child’s devices? It’s basically the same thing.

@zleap @GossiTheDog There are plenty of evil white American oligarchs. But Musk and Peter Thiel being white South Africans who long for apartheid…it explains a lot.

@zleap @GossiTheDog It’s owned by a white *South African*

@jeremydebose I don’t do any graphic stuff or video editing. The most resource-intensive stuff I do on it is probably playing Steam games.

@StillIRise1963 There are a lot of people on Mastodon who use the term “neoliberalism” but I feel that “Mammon-worshipping culture” is more impactful and better conveys our biggest moral crisis.

I’ve been holding back on upgrading from #macOS Sonoma to Sequoia because I heard about some issues with Sequoia.

If you use an #Apple laptop or desktop, tell me: is it safe to upgrade to Sequoia now? Should I just stick with Sonoma?

@ashleyspencer @bmacDonald94 We only just figured out the whole thing with PFAS and are having an “oh shit” moment with microplastics.

@ashleyspencer @bmacDonald94 FDA is the poster child for regulatory capture and it has been since the early 90s (so yeah, about 35 years).

There are 2 things going on here: one is the term “AI” being applied to things that were just “algorithms” before the hype. The second factor is “product that contains AI” is a very broad description. And finally, perhaps most concerningly, the presence or use of AI in these things is not transparent to us. We don’t get told about it and we don’t have a choice about it. https://www.threads.net/@semafor/post/DE3BxmWPM8K

A #Maryland-based resource for helping #transgender people relocate from hostile states: TransPlant.

Sorry they only have a Facebook page at this time. But if you or someone you know can potentially use this, take a look.

https://www.facebook.com/share/15Xwf4iW1e/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

@liztai @seanbala I read the article and realized it’s not Douyin which is *actual* Chinese TikTok

@liztai @seanbala LOL TikTok is gonna get banned in the U.S. ostensibly because it’s some kind of nefarious Chinese plot so American TikTok users are just going to the pure uncut Chinese version of the app

@helplessduck @bmacDonald94 Oh boy this is one of those “heartwarming on the surface but actually dystopian” things.

@toussaint @bmacDonald94 What’s really funny is that Obama talked to him but Dubya refused to speak to him!

Knowing Obama and what seemed like his fear of appearing “uppity,” I’m not totally surprised that he talked to Trump even when Dubya and the Pences wouldn’t.