There are a lot of GOP-controller legislatures in the USA pushing through so-called “child protection” laws, but there’s a toll in the form of impacting people’s rights and data privacy. Most of these bills involve requiring adults to upload a copy of their photo ID.

  • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    Considering these are Republican states, they’re just going to define Wikipedia articles about gender dysphoria as pornographic lol

    Think carefully and double check before you ever agree with a Republican about anything.

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      This is literally the goal. They are using porn as a trojan horse because they know nobody is going to stand up and fight them on letting children see porn

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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      Think carefully and double check before you ever agree with a Republican politician about anything.

      FTFY

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        I guess, but like, there’s only one party that wants me in a concentration conversion therapy camp for being trans.

        • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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          That doesn’t make the rest automatically trustworthy. Just not genocidal. Though I tend to agree with Progressives and Socialist Dems or Socialists more often than not. Regular, middle of the road Dems, not as much.

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            Not genocidal eh? Ask a Democrat how many people they think Earth can support long term, then subtract that from Earth’s current population. Your answer is how many people they, at some level, believe need to be gone.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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            Sure, and I’m not saying both parties don’t want to surveil and control the population, but as you might be able to understand I’m a bit more focused on the Party that has all but made extermination of people like me the Party platform.

            • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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              I’ve never heard anyone call for the extermination of queer communists (or whatever category you’re referring to).

              • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                I’m trans. If they simply take away my access to gender affirming care they’re as good as murdering me, because I won’t last long.

                Furthermore, they believe being trans is a mental illness and that we’re all groomers and rapists. It’s not much of a logical leap for them to then declare that they’re “hospitalizing us” because we present a threat to ourselves and to public safety. They already call gender affirming care “self mutilation” and they actually believe that it’s contagious and making their children trans. You’re blind if you can’t see where that’s going.

                Me being a communist just gives them a reason to shoot me when we start WW3 with China lol

                • spitz_und_schnitzel@mastodon.social
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                  @queermunist @intensely_human
                  Будет “третья мировая война” - нам всем не жить.
                  В любом случае, фашизм только набирает скорость.
                  И он везде - национальный или гендерный, уже всё равно.
                  Удачи, брат или сестра.

      • hitmyspot@aussie.zone
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        All politiicans should be listened to with scepticism, but the Republicans have gone to full on lies, alternative truths, fraud, grifting and fascism. It’s not a both sides issue.

  • randomguy2323@lemmy.kevitprojects.com
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    Most of these states banning pornography and asking for ID are Republican , conservatives States. It is very ironic that the government is now doing the job of the parents. Instead the government should give parents and students advice on the harm that excess that pornography causes and tools to protect kids from this content online , now the kids will learn to circumvent it because its “prohibited” just like the apple in the tree of Adam and Eve.

  • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
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    The government has way too much influence over children already. Governments could do so much for children that would actually benefit them (better education, free lunch at school, better public libraries, ensure no kids are starving because of poor parents, no wars in foreign countries, whatever) but instead they use children to increase their control over people.

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    I think it has nothing to do with children. It is about requiring ID registration for online services so that identities can be tracked. Every time authoritarians want to push another mechanism of control it’s always “about the children”.

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      Ultimately, I agree with you and that’s why I’m against these laws, but I really do wish there was a good way to do it anonymously. Porn is not good for kids and it’s pretty much impossible to keep them away from it without drastic measures that are more harmful than porn.

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        Not sure if it’s actually possible given how far outside out evolutionary context internet porn is, but the correct solution here would be to train your kids to deal with the temptation of dopaminergic reinforcement buttons.

        • pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml
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          As a population, that isn’t a realistic course of action. It won’t work for even most parents that care to try.

      • Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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        What if the block is more harmful than just letting curious kids sneak a peek at porn sites? If all the legitimate places to get porn block anyone without ID then a lot of those prove will seek out unregulated places - they’re going to see far worse things and be in communication with potentially very dangerous people.

        And of course the next step would be to totally limit any access to the internet to stamp out any unregulated communication and file sharing thus giving the corporations a total monopoly on the internet… It’s not about protecting kids it’s about controlling all of us.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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    If I didn’t want my kids looking at porn online, I already have plenty of things to prevent them from doing so.

    Not giving them access to a device without supervision. Using firewall filters. Child-mode browser/OS settings.

    We don’t need more regulation for this. Parents just need to get off their ass and do their own parenting. But these bills aren’t actually designed to protect children. They’re designed to gain access to adults’ personal info and will be used more for oppression than safety.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        I’m a conservative but I’d never be caught dead calling myself a Republican.

        Republicans are corrupt, despicable, and stupid. Democrats are corrupt, naive, and arrogant.

        I really wish we had runoff voting, so that the American ecosystem could move away from two party balanced dominance.

        • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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          Oh, it’s fine. They make sure it’s always convenient to rile up their base with lies, hatred, and culture-war nonsense…

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      Most effective way to prevent kids from looking at porn is to encase them in spray foam insulation with feeding tubes and catheters.

      This also prevents that pesky physical growth which turns them into military-able adults.

      You can cut down on porn and terrorism in one go!

  • Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml
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    Its not the governments job to make up for absent parenting.

    If you dont want your kids seeing things or doing shit online, its your job to monitor them and talk to them about it.

    Stop throwing your kids a tablet and expecting that to be the fuckin parent.

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    Some principles and things to note:

    1. Adults’ expression to one another must not be restrained to only what is suitable for children.
    2. Sexuality is a normal thing that most people are interested in. It is not inherently illegitimate, deviant, or corrupting.
    3. Children and adolescents who are kept in ignorance and fear of sexuality are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse by adults.
    4. Anonymous and pseudonymous speech are necessary to the freedom of a free society.
    5. The chief threat of sexual abuse to children does not come from anonymous or pseudonymous speakers on the Internet, but from family members and acquaintances — especially those with authority over the child. As such, if the question is “Who should be subject to greater scrutiny, to prevent child sexual abuse?” the answer will be “parents, guardians, teachers, youth pastors, etc.” at a much higher priority than “anonymous and pseudonymous Internet users”.
    6. Identification requirements for speakers or audiences are a necessary step to violent and unlawful censorship, and are not necessary for legitimate purposes.

    Given these principles and observations, I conclude that the expected effect of such regulations would be to increase sexual abuse of children, while also strongly harming the ability of a free society to discuss and educate about sexuality.

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      Very excellent points. While I agree kids shouldn’t be looking at porn, forcibly trying to keep all knowledge of sex and porn from them until they hit a magic age where now they can do anything they want isn’t the answer.

      Children need to be educated so they can make wise decisions when the time comes. No matter how much people try to stop it, the time will often come before they reach the magic age set by laws, and unfortunately it’s sometimes through sexual assault or their naivety being taking advantage of.

    • BertramDitore@lemmy.world
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      This nails it right here, #1 and #2 especially.

      Sex is fun, sex is awkward, sex is weird and messy and life-changing. Sex is mundane, sex is cathartic, sex is funny and sex is cardio. Also, sex makes people, oh and it feels good. All that is pretty fucking magical if you ask me.

      What is done in private between consenting adults is none of your goddamn business, including porn. Don’t use kids as an excuse to control adults’ behavior.

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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      I would combat that by saying I think most pornography is nowhere close to what sex is like. Anecdotally, I hear more stories about men who try to fuck someone like they’re in a porn film, which can result in physical pain to their partner.

      I think teaching kids about sex and giving them access to porn that often displays non-consensual acts as normal are two totally different things.

      But yes, I think 4 is a very strong point, which is why most of the bills that are being proposed are not being executed well.

      • fubo@lemmy.world
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        Oh sure. Generally speaking, most porn is a terrible sex educator.

        However, it’s also a wrong target for concerns about child sexual abuse.

        And crackdowns on “porn” tend to end up being crackdowns on sexuality-related speech and sweep in a lot of other speech too.

  • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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    I like the idea of having a cleaner internet for under 12s but I hate the idea of giving the government more control of the internet. Ultimately I side with freedom. I grew up on the wildwest internet and turned out fine. These kids will also be fine.

    • Wisely@lemmy.world
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      If parents are concerned they can turn on parental controls through the search engine, dns provider, router, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are also browsers or apps too.

      A dedicated child can probably get around that, but they have to be intelligent enough to figure that out. They could get around any laws by using proxies, vpns or illegal foreign websites that are even worse. No way is it worth banning important privacy and security tools to just make it harder for kids to look up porn.

      I am already seeing that a lot of the backers of these bills say the main reason they want it is to block lgbt content. They don’t want kids to know they even exist outside of porn. They think being gay or trans is just because they learned about it online. It’s scary because they want to eradicate lgbt people as much as possible by raising a closeted, homophobic generation.

      https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjv3qp/congress-is-pushing-an-online-safety-bill-supported-by-anti-lgbtq-groups

      • dom@lemmy.ca
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        Yup. If the government was concerned, they could educate and empower parents to do this kind of stuff.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      You didn’t turn out fine! You grew into a Freedomist, which puts you at odds with our beloved Safetyism.

    • AtHeartEngineer@lemmy.world
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      There technically is, but it’s going to be a while until the government is ok with it. It’s called zero knowledge cryptography, where a user could prove they have an identification that is government issued, and that they are of age, without revealing any other information.

      • darth_helmet@sh.itjust.works
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        There’s a vanishingly small chance that the government wouldn’t fuck that up. Here is what would happen:

        • bill gets signed
        • no bid contract is assigned to a technology firm with a history of incompetence at everything other than lobbying for billions of dollars
        • 3-letter agencies secretly inject back door stipulations into the system so that they can keep spying on everyone
        • years late and at double the budget, it releases
        • two months later, someone shows off the secret backdoor keys at DEFCON, along with instructions on how to dump the access database
        • years of extortion material for spy agencies and organized crime around the world
        • zero children protected: they learn an ancient technology called “torrenting”
        • new calls for even more draconian control of information to save the children from sexy terrorists
    • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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      If the government really wanted to, it could provide citizens with a portal that would do oauth (or something similar) to authorize the porn access.

      They could do some crypto crap to avoid storing anything about the citizen, so, unless the system is subborned, it doesn’t store anything about users.

      EDIT: the point is that this kind of system can be implemented in a privacy-preserving manner. I’m ambivalent about the idea, but it has been enacted by a democratically elected government, so they should go about it in the most responsible manner possible.

            • Rikudou_Sage@lemmings.world
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              I thought it was obvious, but I guess I’m gonna go step-by-step. So, what’s needed to verify if you’re 18? Exactly one thing - a flag telling the other system yes/no! Very privacy friendly, porn site doesn’t know anything else about you. And obviously the auth system shouldn’t log that you verified for a porn site. That’s why it should be open source, so you can trust it.

              • buckykat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                The auth system knows you verified for something. The only way to actually preserve privacy is total anonymity to everyone.

              • Aetherielle@kbin.social
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                If it’s private and secure and isn’t linked to your identity, we will share it and it will be useless because everyone who shares the same login is the same over-18 person.
                If it is in any way linked to your identity, the data is online and a target for breach which will expose said identity.
                There is no realistic way to implement this which both actually does anything at all, AND does not require adding attack surface for breaches.

          • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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            Yeah. It’s possible, but I’m guessing there isn’t a will or an understanding of available tools.

        • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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          Your original post said the last can’t be implemented in a privacy preserving manner. It can.

      • CAPSLOCKFTW@lemmy.ml
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        I disagree. I could literally put some porn in this very comment. So the fediverse needs a porn barrier, and every file hoster, we can’t allow TOR, there is porn, and illegal porn as well. So please show us your id before entering TOR, pls.

        It is an authoritarian move. It is undermining privacy. It is censoring the web.

        It is parents and maybe schools responsabilty to teach kids how to interact with media, that porn exists and is not an actual representation of sex, and to restrict their access to pornography or media in general.

        Furthermore, on planet earth, there are no perfect democracies, and the democratic system of the USA is flawed to a degree where it is at least questionable if your leaders are elected democratically.

  • arthur@lemmy.zip
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    Usually when politicians says “to protect children”, it’s not about children.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      When politicians talk about protecting children they’re really talking about dismantling the nuclear family.

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    I’m against heavy handed regulation because it pushes people into more dangerous spaces, if you’re a teenager or unID’d adult who can’t access real porn sites do you decide not to look at boobs or do you seek out unregulated communities on places like discord?

    Would you like your kid seeing generic regulated porn or seeing the kinds of things people can’t post on regulated porn sites? Plus not only is there the fact that the content on underground sites is by their nature the stuff not allowed on regulated sites but also do you want your kid taking to the creeps that hang out in porn sharing groups on discord?

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    It’s the parents job to do that, not the government’s. I have kids, when they were at the age I didn’t want them seeing porn I made sure it was blocked, and I educated them on safe internet browsing. I don’t need the government’s help with that.

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    None of these politcians who push for all those “protect the children” laws actually gives a shit about child safety. The only thing that such laws mange to do is restrict freedom of speech and expression for everyone including children.

    If you are a careless parent, then no law is going prevent your kids from watching porn.

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    It is still very shocking to us in Europe that the United States wants to control pornography before guns. I don’t know many people who have killed themselves by masturbating.

      • 520@kbin.social
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        Even the UK isn’t this level of strict - the things that are outlawed are those involving lack of consent and those that are very likely to injure people.

  • dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee
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    I’m out of the loop on this one, but it sounds like yet another attempt at SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). Back in 2011, people had to fight hard because the US congress was attempting to gain control over the internet. The congress’ reasoning was that they wanted to hinder piracy, but the implications of the bill was so much more.

    I don’t recall the full history of this, but I believe that as soon as SOPA was turned down, a new bill regarding preventing child pornography was proposed. And that bill had basically the same implications, but if you were against it this time, the congress had implied that you were supporting child pornography.

    It seems like the state’s attempt at gaining control of the internet is never ending, since they can propose new bills as soon as the previous bill is voted out. Basically the “throw enough shit at a wall and some of it will stick”-tactic.