Mississippi's age assurance law puts decentralized social networks to the test (techcrunch.com)
from nemeski@mander.xyz to fediverse@lemmy.world on 28 Aug 22:37
https://mander.xyz/post/36877008

#fediverse

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Skavau@piefed.social on 28 Aug 22:49 next collapse

Have any of Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord implemented age-checks in Mississippi then?

If not, why is Bluesky the only one going dark there?

joyjoy@lemmy.zip on 28 Aug 23:43 next collapse

Because Bluesky isn’t a real decentralized platform

Skavau@piefed.social on 28 Aug 23:58 next collapse

Yeah but why aren't the other sites implementing checks?

thejoker954@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 00:00 next collapse

Money.

Auth@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 02:20 collapse

They will

AntiBullyRanger@ani.social on 29 Aug 07:03 next collapse

🤝🙂‍↕️

Decentralized

BitchSky

嘘!

Sl00k@programming.dev on 29 Aug 08:12 collapse

There are other Appviews on the atProto that have chosen not to implement checks that have full access to Bluesky posting/data.

stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net on 29 Aug 00:06 collapse

Bluesky is a small indie company. It can’t afford to fight the law or implement the extensive age verification the law requires. So it chose to pull the plug and leave.

FB, X, etc, have a lot more resources to implement the extensive, invasive age verification Mississippi requires and keep fighting it in court until the decision upholding it is final.

birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 29 Aug 00:12 next collapse

I’m of the opinion that even if it is final, at some points laws are so ridiculous they must cease to be effective for all.

ininewcrow@lemmy.ca on 29 Aug 00:30 collapse

Lol … US law is becoming less and less relevant or meaningful as time goes on

lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org on 29 Aug 01:14 collapse

and keep fighting it in court

> implying those neofash sites would fight against orders to tHiNk Of thE cHiLdReN

Vittelius@feddit.org on 29 Aug 10:28 collapse

They will if tHiNkInG oF the ChiLdReN threatens to meaningfully affect their bottom line

lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org on 29 Aug 16:38 collapse

Why would it affect their bottom line other than positively? Corporations love fascism because it can make it mandatory for people to buy from them, among other things.

HubertManne@piefed.social on 29 Aug 00:11 next collapse

This is bullshit. It should be on mississippi to block the sites or require local isps to block them. The providers are on the internet and not going out to be in mississippi. Places should wall themselves off if they can't handle the internet.

Prox@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 01:17 next collapse

Or - hear me out here - it shouldn’t be on anybody to do anything because the law itself is garbage and should not exist.

HubertManne@piefed.social on 29 Aug 01:23 next collapse

yup but at least then they would be leading the charge for people to leave their state.

IllNess@infosec.pub on 29 Aug 02:05 next collapse

It should fall on the parents and ISPs should have an opt in option to block adult websites.

But we all know this is more about control and data harvesting than anything else.

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 06:14 next collapse

Psssshhhh!!! Get outta here with that solid logic, and critical thinking! We don’t use reasoning in this country! We just cry and scream until everybody ELSE caves to the demands!

chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 29 Aug 06:37 collapse

But the question is, what would be a reasonable legal principle for preventing such laws generally? Mississippi is going to pass bullshit laws, but it shouldn’t be possible for the jurisdiction of any state to be anything on the entire internet.

bigfondue@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 10:33 collapse

Or what about fireworks. They’re not legal in all states, but you can travel to another state and buy them with an ID from a state where they are illegal. Airguns are considered real firearms in NJ and require a permit, but you can drive to PA and buy them, they don’t need to make sure that they’re legal in your state.

chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 29 Aug 19:34 collapse

In those cases it seems like the law does prevent state level regulation of those things, because the state is only allowed to regulate commerce happening within its borders, not what its residents do elsewhere (although they can still also regulate the use of fireworks and airguns, but enforcement is more difficult, for instance where I am they sometimes send out notices in the mail warning that it’s against the law for individuals to be setting off fireworks but there’s always a massive decentralized fireworks show every 4th of July anyway).

Somehow with the internet, the location of the server isn’t the thing that matters, it’s whose computer is accessing it and where that person and computer is located, and the liability is on the server not the user. IMO it should not work that way, because then every state with regressive politics has a stranglehold on the whole internet.

bigfondue@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 21:25 collapse

Yea that’s my point. Unless these companies are hosted in MS, have offices, or sell ads there, there’s nothing legally they can do. But rule of law doesn’t seem to doing so hot these days, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Federal gov stepped in pressure companies into complying.

chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 29 Aug 22:05 collapse

Unless these companies are hosted in MS, have offices, or sell ads there, there’s nothing legally they can do.

Is that really how it works? Haven’t legal challenges to these sorts of laws already been appealed up to the supreme court and they were upheld?

crank0271@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 01:54 collapse

You’re right. Imagine having to put more resources into Mississippi than Mississippi puts into anything.

How would other countries have responded if instead of building The Great Firewall, China had demanded each international company not allow Chinese citizens within China to access certain parts of their websites?

HubertManne@piefed.social on 29 Aug 02:56 collapse

Yeah what you have at the end is sorta my thought line. You want to go all censorship at least get off your ass and do it yourself.

klu9@piefed.social on 29 Aug 00:58 next collapse

Malicious compliance:

  • "Are you too old to have flown on the Lolita Express with Epstein and Trump?"
  • "Are you young enough to be employed as a 'towel girl' at the Mar a Lago massage parlour?"
daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 29 Aug 06:38 collapse

Has Mississippi lower the age restriction to 14 years old?

theacharnian@lemmy.ca on 29 Aug 02:54 next collapse

I don’t understand. Does an instance hosted anywhere outside of this US backwater state have anything to fear from this? Why is Eugen being contacted all the way in Germany?

rimu@piefed.social on 29 Aug 03:32 collapse

They're primarily in Germany but there is some US presence too. From the join Mastodon site:

Mastodon, Inc. (EIN 92-3333630) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity in the United States that supports the growth and operational capabilities of Mastodon, including being able to receive tax-deductible U.S. donations and in-kind support.

Oops

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 29 Aug 12:27 next collapse

Just go away with age verification. You are breaking the internet with this non sense. Eg. Providing passports will only cause exploits and leaks, with all its consequences.

If you want to protect your children, then maybe the parents should protect them.

jjjalljs@ttrpg.network on 29 Aug 12:44 next collapse

You are breaking the internet with this non sense.

I think that’s their goal. Conservative types benefit when people have limited access to information

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 29 Aug 12:50 collapse

It's all about power indeed.

Joker@piefed.social on 29 Aug 12:54 next collapse

The internet has been broken for at least a couple decades. The Fediverse is about the closest thing to the old internet.

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 29 Aug 13:14 collapse

Agreed!

DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml on 29 Aug 17:23 collapse

And good luck resetting your ID.

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 29 Aug 18:45 collapse

I want to respawn on planet earth again from scratch.

Flax_vert@feddit.uk on 29 Aug 13:11 next collapse

Just have age verification on an ISP-level at this point.

That’s a little bit of a joke. But think about it. Kids don’t just find Tiktok hidden among the grass. Their parents give them a phone, give them a computer, a data plan and a wifi password without any parental controls. Then they blame Tiktok when their child commits suicide (possibly had nothing to do with tiktok).

I think maybe have ISPs become the accountable ones. Have them automatically enable parental controls, or emit a second network for kids, and add a waiver to the settings when you go to disable parental controls absolving them of any accountability and placing it on the parents.

billbasher@lemmy.world on 29 Aug 15:27 collapse

I really don’t want ISPs policing internet traffic more than they already do. I think you’re right though. Router level second network filtering that blocks VPNs. Block the kids MAC addresses from the primary. This needs to be on parents.

That same kid could go to a nudy video store and steal something. They could get into all sorts of 18+ physical stuff.

ademir@lemmy.eco.br on 30 Aug 00:00 collapse

@cadusilva@bolha.one