Nexus Mods to Enforce Digital ID Age Checks Under UK and EU Laws (www.nexusmods.com)
from Pro@programming.dev to technology@lemmy.world on 06 Jul 12:41
https://programming.dev/post/33441723

#technology

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TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world on 06 Jul 13:24 next collapse

I miss the internet being a wild west.

It certainly had its downsides, but it felt a lot better than the nonsense that’s been happening over the past decade+.

anon5621@lemmy.ml on 06 Jul 13:28 next collapse

So then we need build new network with idea that it would be controlled by corps and gov so we need return back to darknet type of network and meshes

devolution@lemmy.world on 06 Jul 13:39 collapse

Ummm what? You make no sense.

anon5621@lemmy.ml on 06 Jul 15:13 collapse

Sorry eng is not my native I meant. “So, we need to build a new network with the understanding that governments and corporations will always try to control it. That means returning to darknet-style architectures and mesh networks.”

devolution@lemmy.world on 06 Jul 15:39 collapse

Like Tor?

Vitaly@feddit.uk on 06 Jul 16:55 collapse

Or i2p

Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works on 06 Jul 16:31 next collapse

You are literally a nazi /s

Gonzako@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 08:57 next collapse

Yeah, but once money got involved we had to start making regulations

x00z@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 20:25 next collapse

It’s the same as fighting against “fake news” which just creates a false trust that everything on the internet is truth. Which is the opposite of what one should believe.

aeronmelon@lemmy.world on 08 Jul 05:12 collapse

I remember being on GeoCities or Lycos and just incrementing the site number to see different sites.

Star Trek, Star Wars, Lego, PORN!

[deleted] on 06 Jul 17:18 next collapse

.

Mora@pawb.social on 06 Jul 19:43 next collapse

It sucks that they have to do this. But I prefer this than to simply lock out users from the affected countries.

(Looking at steam here, not bothering to create age verification, which in turn means in some countries some games are not visible/purchasable at all)

Vinstaal0@feddit.nl on 07 Jul 12:29 collapse

In NL it is so stupid, I am legally allowed to verify my age and gamble, but opening loot boxes no way.

Worst part is that loot boxes aren’t even defined as gambling yet …

x00z@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 20:27 collapse

Loot boxes are far more predatory than gambling. They are literally advertised in games that children play.

Vinstaal0@feddit.nl on 08 Jul 06:05 collapse

It really depends on what people consider to be loot boxes imo, yes the traditional Tf2 once or the CSGO once which blew this hole thing open yes.

But does it stop with loot goblins in a game like Borderlands? Or does it stop with Magic the Gathering packs (which are required to play sealed/draft).

Actual gambling involves being able to lose your money and get nothing in return, with loot boxes you always get something. The predatory tactics against children need to stop, but there is no reason that an adult is allowed to gamble, but not open loot boxes.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 07 Jul 00:48 next collapse

Nexus mods love censorship, so this makes sense. New VC owners coming in hot with getting it ready to sell off to the biggest corporate company.

JustARaccoon@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 00:55 collapse

What are you even talking about, this is law compliance.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 07 Jul 01:08 next collapse

Nexus mods love censorship and control, so this makes sense. Pretty easy to understand.

JustARaccoon@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 01:20 collapse

They’re a public platform, they have to moderate and “control” what gets posted, otherwise they get into trouble for it publicly.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 07 Jul 02:37 collapse

I guess you haven’t been paying attention to them nuking and banning mods that they don’t like ideologically then?

almost1337@lemmy.zip on 07 Jul 03:32 next collapse

What mods, though?

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 07 Jul 05:19 collapse

The best example are the ones that replace “Type 1 / Type 2” with “Male / Female” in games where you create a character. Banned. Another is the one that simply replaced all the pride flags with american flags in Spider-Man. Banned.

Weslee@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 06:01 next collapse

I love seeing conservative snowflakes complaining about censorship when it’s literally the most stupid small changes, you make it sound like the game is unplayable because it’s acknowledges/supports minorities in non-impactful ways.

But no mention of the games and mods that let you play out genocide/rape.

It’s the pride flags that are the problem. /s

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 07 Jul 18:16 collapse

Way to miss the point. The point is that mods as trivial as the ones I said in single player games were banned because the owner didn’t like them, while the owner allowed the mods like you mentioned.

Weslee@lemmy.world on 08 Jul 04:40 collapse

The point is as a moral normal human being you should not be getting upset and bitching about a coloured flag. There are so many terrible awful things happening in the world and a rainbow flag sends you into a fury.

There is something wrong with YOU, not LGBT.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 08 Jul 19:43 collapse

No, that’s not the point. The point is that someone should be able to mod the flags in a single player game on their computer to be whatever they want, but Nexus Mods don’t think so. They want to tell you what you can and can’t do as a mod based on their ideology. Make a white character black? Go for it!!! Black character white? Banned!

Do you not see how this is an issue?

Weslee@lemmy.world on 09 Jul 03:55 collapse

No I don’t because I’ve never been as petty to feel the need to download those kind of shit trash mods.

I can only imagine the comments section on the mods that attract that kind of person, I bet it was really wholesome and supportive!

Also I am pretty sure the only reason Nexus banned the mod author (of the flags mod) is because they did it on a throwaway, which suddenly moved the mod into obvious trolling behaviour. If they had published the mod on their main account they would have just removed it without the ban.

Nexus is a private company and they can ban any mod they want to, it’s their decision what they want to allow on there.

I bet if Nexus was doing this in reverse, and was banning mods that added pride flags or w/e, you wouldn’t have a problem with it, you don’t care about freedom, you only care that you are allowed to be a piece of shit person.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 09 Jul 09:08 collapse

No, they banned it because they don’t like pride flags being replaced, or male and female being the sex options, or black characters being replaced with more historically accurate white ones (no issue with the opposite though, shock horror). It had nothing to do with trolling or the comments section or throwaway accounts. It was ideological.

Yes, they can do what they want with their site. I agree. I didn’t say they can’t. I just pointed out what they do.

If they banned mods that put pride flags everywhere it wouldn’t bother me one bit. People can mod their single player games however they want, I don’t care.

Korhaka@sopuli.xyz on 07 Jul 20:45 next collapse

Honestly not noticed that because I just don’t give a shit. It’s a pride flag, surely it isn’t going to hurt even the most delicate snowflake.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 08 Jul 00:28 collapse

So surely someone playing on their pc with American flags instead of pride flags isn’t going to hurt even the most delicate snowflake?

Korhaka@sopuli.xyz on 08 Jul 06:20 collapse

I just said I don’t give a shit.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 08 Jul 19:38 collapse

Cool. Nexus mods gave a shit though, that’s the point. They banned the mod.

Korhaka@sopuli.xyz on 08 Jul 21:04 collapse

Tbh while I wouldn’t care about the mod existing it sounds like something that would draw a lot of hate to the comments section, so I could see why they don’t want that.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 08 Jul 21:34 collapse

That’s not why they banned it though, as they could have simply turned off comments.

TheNamlessGuy@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 21:08 collapse

www.nexusmods.com/oblivionremastered/mods/353

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 08 Jul 00:26 collapse

Oh so they came to their senses because of the backlash over their pathetic banning of this mod? That’s something at least, but they won’t be getting any praise from me until they stop banning things like this in the first place.

TheNamlessGuy@lemmy.world on 08 Jul 05:41 collapse

If you’d actually read the explanation they posted, it’d be clear that they removed the mod because the uploader was breaking the rules, not because the mod itself was bad.

Which is the case for all other similar cases as well, AFAIK.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 08 Jul 19:40 collapse

No, they removed the mod because they called it “bigotry”. Many others then re-uploaded the mod, which is what they’re saying is against the rules - uploading banned mods.

The uploader of the original mod didn’t break any rules, nexus mods owner/admins just didn’t like the mod ideologically.

arararagi@ani.social on 07 Jul 04:50 collapse

You are moving the goalpost now, we know about the mods, but this is compliance. They either implement this, or blacklist the entire UK and EU from accessing the site.

FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au on 07 Jul 05:21 next collapse

I’m just saying, I bet they couldn’t wait to implement this. They’ll likely roll it out worldwide soon enough even when not forced to.

BurnoutDV@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 10:17 next collapse

Iirc only the UK law is actually binding, the EU, for now, got only guidelines, source Trust me Bro because its early and I feel not like doing research

mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 22:21 collapse

Which would be particularly wild given that nexus mods is run by a British company.

anyhow2503@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 06:46 collapse

For the UK maybe. I still don’t see why the entire EU needs to be affected.

arararagi@ani.social on 07 Jul 04:54 next collapse

I’m glad they aren’t just nuking every sexy mod from the site and chose to comply instead.

Loverslab would’ve crashed from all the sign ups lol.

Spacehooks@reddthat.com on 07 Jul 10:13 collapse

Can I get mods there?

arararagi@ani.social on 07 Jul 12:07 collapse

Yeah, the kinky kind.

Khrux@ttrpg.network on 08 Jul 11:56 collapse

And sometimes just super plain ones. I remember getting my favourite Skyrim potion texture mod from there specifically.

HexesofVexes@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 09:35 next collapse

  1. Add censorship for mods containing adult (sexual) content.

  2. Slowly move the bar so that more content falls under definition of “adult” (themes of violence, LGBTQ+ themes).

  3. Continue to move the bar until desired level of censorship is obtained.

Well done, you’ve used moral panic to control your media.

Dark futures aside, why do I think that folks are just going to VPN their way in?

Vinstaal0@feddit.nl on 07 Jul 12:30 next collapse

Let’s hope that new EU age verification system is actually good and privacy friendly.

surewhynotlem@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 12:53 next collapse

Let’s also hope for unicorns

Vinstaal0@feddit.nl on 07 Jul 13:41 collapse

Yes because giving up isn’t an option

JigglySackles@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 19:01 collapse

Privacy friendly my ass. If they ask for my ID, it’s not private.

x00z@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 20:23 next collapse

Many European age verification services can verify the age without giving them any data. It works like OAuth. You get redirect to a portal where you login with your citizen ID and you’ll get redirected back to the website.

How it would work in practice is still too soon to say. Maybe they’ll also share other details such as your name or citizen id number to make sure you can only have a single account on the website. I wouldn’t want this either.

Keep in mind that all kinds of age verification like this just shifts a lot of porn into the underground and will increase identity fraud. The illegal sale of hacked verified porn accounts will also become as valuable as porn accounts on paid websites.

JigglySackles@lemmy.world on 07 Jul 20:26 collapse

Yeah, I’m against all of this control at the core. The privacy is just another step beyond.

Vinstaal0@feddit.nl on 08 Jul 06:01 collapse

If it just shares if you are 18+ or not or heck even if it shares my birthday idc. It’s a non realistic identifier if it is only that.

It’s way better than having to share your ID what is currently the case when you buy alcohol or drugs online or want to gamble online.

Vinstaal0@feddit.nl on 08 Jul 05:58 collapse

The system is not going to revolve around your ID or passport. The entire point is to make something different, we already have some systems in place that only share part of your personal info.

In NL we already have iDIN and DigiD which are only verification tools, iDIN is used for sharing your name, address, birthday and a couple other things so that would share way to much for this purpose and DigiD shares even more. iDIN uses your bank app and DigiD has it’s own app and they show you what data is shared to the site.

I wouldn’t want to use one of these things directly siince most people will not read that small list (it’s literally just one sentence plus what data is shared in words).

But if we get another app which can only be used to share our birthday it is fine imo. For me personally the year would be fine, or you can do it so it shares if you are 18 or above.

WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works on 07 Jul 12:42 next collapse

I was preparing my verbal pitchforks, but it seems they have chosen a middle ground. they will only require verification for adult content, and only in the EU and UK.

which means that if you don’t need adult content or you can use a VPN, then it seems it won’t affect you. so they are probably doing the bare minimum required by law

ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 08 Jul 05:03 collapse

As someone who VPNs into the EU specifically for the privacy laws, this is troubling. I do wonder what my next move should be. I’d hate to lose my Steam account in particular.

BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk on 08 Jul 19:09 collapse

Genuinely curious, is it just as a side effect of appearing to come from an EU server that means you trigger automated privacy systems? Or is there a legal basis by which you can say “I routed this through an EU server therefore I’m subject to EU privacy law” (maybe there isn’t even a difference)

ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 09 Jul 06:23 collapse

It’s as simple as getting the EU site and privacy policy when you connect from an EU IP. These systems are typically not as rigid as you might expect and the only friction might be around things like payment processing or things like that.

I get relatively uncensored internet access through UK/Ireland servers. This law and this type of law completely terrifies me.

a_wild_mimic_appears@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 07 Jul 21:03 collapse

They are not a Very Large Online Portal and do definitely not have to implement this in the EU under the DSA. There is a list, if you are on it, you have to do it, if not then not. Also, the EU wide system for eID is not yet completed and currently there is a plethora of single services, one per country, for eID.

I know that they have to do this stuff in the UK, but fkn leave me alone with that shit. It only causes me to switch location in my VPN and doesn’t help anyone, not even the kids this crap law pretends to protect.

e: here’S the list. …ec.europa.eu/…/list-designated-vlops-and-vloses