online safety

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The Government Wants Your Selfie to Use Instagram
2 months ago
- Australia plans to ban under-16s from social media, but the age verification system threatens privacy by requiring sensitive ID or AI-powered selfies.
- Massive data breaches are already common; forcing users to upload passports or biometric data creates a high-value target for hackers, with lifelong consequences if stolen.
- The ban is easily bypassed using VPNs, as demonstrated by a similar UK law, pushing kids to unregulated corners of the internet.
- Vulnerable groups like LGBTQ+ youth and migrant/refugee children rely on social media for community and support; the ban would isolate them and cut off vital resources.
- Age-estimation AI is biased against non-white and non-male faces, embedding discrimination into the system.
- Better alternatives include mandating safer platform design, holding corporations accountable, and investing in digital literacy education.
Texas wins court order to suspend domain name for violating age-verification law
2 months ago
- Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a court order to cut off the pornographic website motherless.com's domain name operation for failing to protect children from harmful sexual content, setting a precedent for enforcing age-verification laws.
- In April 2024, Paxton sued the site's owner, Kick Online Entertainment, for violating Texas age-verification law, obtaining a default judgment and permanent injunction, but the company ignored it and continued publishing material accessible to minors.
- A court-ordered writ now directs Verisign to lock the domain, allowing release only if a $9.14 million bond is posted and age verification compliant with Texas law is implemented, along with paying civil penalties.
- Paxton stated this establishes a precedent to strip websites of domains for ignoring laws that harm children with pornography, emphasizing protection involves shutting down non-compliant sites and ongoing action against such websites.
- The writ shows Texas can hold foreign operators accountable beyond borders and will use legal mechanisms like domain attachment writs to enforce laws and prevent companies from profiting by exposing children to harmful content.
Bill C-34 Answers Child Safety with Identity Infrastructure
3 months ago
- Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, acknowledges real online harms and proposes platform accountability for harmful design, weak safety systems, and failures to protect children.
- The bill's minimum-age provisions (sections 27-29) risk turning child safety into age-verification infrastructure, requiring age verification or estimation for access to major online spaces, which could condition participation in public discourse.
- The legislation bundles multiple issues—platform accountability, child safety, age verification, pornography access, AI chatbot rules, and a Digital Safety Commission—making it complex and harder to scrutinize, potentially entangling good parts with bad ones.
- Age verification infrastructure could normalize access controls on public online life, with privacy safeguards insufficient to address architectural concerns, and may disproportionately impact vulnerable youth who rely on online spaces for community and support.
- The bill has an outdated view of social media, favoring centralized platforms over decentralized alternatives like Mastodon or Lemmy, which could hinder digital sovereignty and competition.
- The implementation details, including which services are covered and acceptable age-verification methods, are deferred to future regulations and Commission guidance, avoiding explicit parliamentary debate on key decisions.
- Amendments are suggested: retain platform accountability measures but remove or narrow the minimum-age regime, focus on age-appropriate design, and ensure privacy protections without making age verification a condition for access.
Democrats Pick Up the Global Digital ID Agenda in Project 2029
3 months ago
- Project 2029, a liberal group, has introduced 'Kids Over Clicks' as a policy initiative to protect children online, mirroring conservative Project 2025. It proposes banning social media for under-16s, reforming Section 230, capping minors' data collection, and outlawing targeted ads.
- The policy is framed as a 'tobacco moment' for social media, using public health language to push for age verification via government ID, face scans, or digital credentials, which could lead to loss of anonymity and increased surveillance for all users.
- Age verification mandates, already implemented in countries like Australia, Britain, the EU, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, often start with child protection but result in broader digital ID systems that can restrict free speech and privacy, setting a precedent for similar actions in the US.

online safety

The Government Wants Your Selfie to Use Instagram

Texas wins court order to suspend domain name for violating age-verification law

Bill C-34 Answers Child Safety with Identity Infrastructure

Democrats Pick Up the Global Digital ID Agenda in Project 2029