China turns on ‘minors mode’ to keep kids safe online (www.theregister.com)
from Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 04 May 04:42
https://lemmy.world/post/29097506

#technology

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fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net on 04 May 05:46 next collapse

Fuck this

Psythik@lemm.ee on 05 May 03:30 collapse

Yeah seriously, China making a smart decision for once? What the fuck? Broken clocks, I suppose.

This needs to be a worldwide thing. We’re raising a generation of idiots because of engagement algorithms. Something needs to be done about it, or we’re going to be in serious trouble once Gen Alpha gets old enough to vote.

fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net on 05 May 03:47 next collapse

This isn’t for the kid’s benefit you know

Psythik@lemm.ee on 05 May 03:52 collapse

Yeah but it’s a great idea if executed correctly by a developed country. (i.e. not China)

fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net on 05 May 04:26 next collapse

The point is censorship of viewpoints

Psythik@lemm.ee on 05 May 04:38 collapse

And my point is that certain viewpoints are already being censored on the major platforms.

Say something anti-MAGA on YouTube the next time you get a chance, then load the page in an incognito window. You’ll notice that your comment is nowhere to be found. Check your comment history, and you’ll see a “some activity might not be visible yet” message at the top. Yet anything praising Trump gets to stay.

Google/Meta/etc.are dangerous entities that are poisoning kids’ minds with conservative propaganda, and no one seems to notice or care. Something needs to be done.

fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net on 05 May 04:47 collapse

These laws are about censoring LGBT stuff, you think the MAGAs would do anything about MAGA propaganda?

Psythik@lemm.ee on 05 May 04:49 collapse

I don’t mean this as an insult, but do you have autism?

Again, I’m not talking about copying exactly what China is doing; simply that it would be a good idea if implemented properly.

fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net on 05 May 05:06 collapse

Yes, and I don’t support censorship even if it’s aimed at kids (they always start with the kids first)

Psythik@lemm.ee on 05 May 05:26 collapse

And again, the major platforms already are engaging in censorship. I’m merely suggesting that we do something about it.

I hope you realize that talking to you is fatiguing. For your sake I hope you’re not this annoying to have a conversation with in person.

interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml on 05 May 11:29 collapse

I hear they are very good at execution too!

bathing_in_bismuth@sh.itjust.works on 05 May 07:13 collapse

You don’t want kids to research, let’s say controversial, content of CCP wrongs and critism of policies ofc. Totally a smart move

vegetvs@kbin.earth on 04 May 06:00 next collapse

I can't take seriously articles about the Internet that don't even capitalize "Internet" correctly.

libra00@lemmy.world on 04 May 06:31 next collapse

I’ve been on the internet since like 1992 and I’ve never once capitalized it, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it capitalized. shrug

TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz on 04 May 06:36 next collapse

Why would it be capitalized? There’s only a few words in the English language, that are capitalized. And “internet” isn’t one of them, as it’s just a normal noun.

HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org on 04 May 06:42 next collapse

I suspect it could be seen as a proper noun.

If Acme and FooCorp create a bridge between their private network spaces, it’s an internet (common noun) but not the Internet (proper noun, referring to the one with Goatse).

Let’s find an English teacher. And yell at them for forcing us to read the same terrible novel in both 10th and 12th grades. Maybe after that, return to this subject.

Chozo@fedia.io on 04 May 06:56 next collapse

You and I are posting on the Fediverse right now (capital F). If I create two of my own personal Lemmy instances that only federate with each other, they're not a part of the Fediverse. I've now created my own fediverse (lower-case F). The Fediverse is a fediverse, but not all fediverses are the Fediverse.

Same with internet and Internet. There is the main, collective Internet that we all know and use daily, but it's one of many internets.

vegetvs@kbin.earth on 04 May 07:28 collapse

Thank you.

killeronthecorner@lemmy.world on 04 May 08:14 next collapse

en.m.wikipedia.org/…/Capitalization_of_Internet

The direction of travel is towards “internet” (lowercase), but pedants gonna pedant.

BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world on 04 May 14:45 collapse

an internet is a descriptor of two or more interconnected networks. The Internet is a proper noun which should actually be capital ‘T’ he capital ‘I’ nternet. You have “an internet” like ‘a universe’ and ‘The Internet’ like ‘The Universe.’

BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world on 04 May 14:44 collapse

‘The Internet.’ You are almost correct, an internet is a descriptor of two or more interconnected networks. The Internet is a proper noun which should actually be capital ‘T’ he capital ‘I’ nternet. You have “an internet” like ‘a universe’ and ‘The Internet’ like ‘The Universe.’

DarkCloud@lemmy.world on 04 May 06:03 next collapse

They probably saw the Russian culture war brain rot play out with American youth and decided to have a circuit breaker.

Behind the Bastards has an episode about how YouTube went right wing to create site engagement and an anger economy, and an episode about Facebook doing thr same for boomers.

Some governments are looking into limiting those influences.

EDIT: oh yeah, China might also be protecting children from hearing about the periodic stabbing attacks that happen at schools over there. Forgot about those.

Deceptichum@quokk.au on 04 May 07:47 next collapse

They already have the GFW and state control of the media.

andxz@lemmy.world on 04 May 12:43 next collapse

It’s not only the US that got hit by that russian campaign to mess with youths and even younger children. Europe for its fair share as well. It also plays into their “oh look at the degenerate west” playbook perfectly.

They’re responsible for so much damage that I have no idea how it’ll end. Not even children with tech savvy parents are immune, as I can attest to myself.

It’s important as fuck to have discussions about bad content to children ass soon as they get any kind of screen available to them, and it should never ever be a babysitter unless it’s under controlled circumstances.

It’s also a good idea to start teaching your children how any tech they use works and what happens under the hood if they’re interested. They’re certainly less likely to get influenced by any bad actors if they know what’s what.

WanderingVentra@lemm.ee on 04 May 15:47 collapse

The rest of the world needs to learn from the US’s failure like this ASAP. I think Europe might already be doomed judging by the way the UK and Germany are going, but others might be able to swerve to avoid a fascist future with the right moves.

jimbel@lemm.ee on 04 May 08:33 next collapse

I completely agree Internet should be regulated especially for children. Should be done in Europe as well. But of course this regulation should not be misused for propaganda.

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 04 May 09:22 next collapse

Look I will be clear to you. You can not have a free and open internet and governments unable to misuse their power to shutdown websites, information whenever they please. And at the same time regulate the internet "to protect the children". You can't have both at the same time.

Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf on 04 May 09:58 next collapse

The internet is firmly in the grasp of mega corporations. There is no free internet anymore. This shit needs to be regulated.

rockerface@lemm.ee on 04 May 10:23 next collapse

I guess we don’t exist, then

Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf on 04 May 10:48 collapse

A tiny niche that’s only accessible to people who know how the internet works. Ask your regular Joe if they’ve even ever heard of the Fediverse. Kids will flock to the easiest accessible and largest platforms. Not Lemmy. And even Lemmy would be toxic for kids.

Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world on 04 May 12:36 next collapse

This is really good point. The internet has been completely taken over by American oligarch gangs, on an outcome basis it’s not too far from internet censorship China (just implemented via alternative means).

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 04 May 21:01 collapse

I run my own service all hosted on my own infrastructure. And fully independent from other big corps. No cloud. No cloudflare etc.

More people should do that, but do not tell me to just give up and hand me over, and fully regulate the internet. Then we are doomed for sure.

Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf on 04 May 22:18 collapse

Its not really something kids can do though. The overwhelming majority of parents neither. Hell, I consider myself somewhat tech savvy, but I’m just starting on that journey.

I have no idea what a good regulation might look like, but just letting techbros do whatever they want is not an option.

Psythik@lemm.ee on 05 May 03:33 next collapse

It’s not the 90s; we don’t have a free and open internet anymore.

The vast majority of the web is run by a handful of corporations. Something needs to be done, and I think that preventing children from getting access to websites owned by evil companies like Google/Alphabet, Elon Musk, and Meta/Facebook is a good start.

jimbel@lemm.ee on 05 May 10:19 collapse

Well this kind of regulation needs to be democratically. So there need to be independent institutions who regulate. The Same way like the law, police and politics is independent from each other.

If we keep the Internet “free” this means the Internet will be controlled by corporations like meta, Google and tiktok and thus by undemocratic billionaires. And also networks like these Russian fake news propaganda will control the narrative and so indirectly control our society.

I agree with you that regulating the Internet and thus the media need to be balanced against freedom. But if we do not regulate the internet than democracy is doomed.

shaggyb@lemmy.world on 04 May 12:02 collapse

Parents need to do their fucking jobs and keep their shithead kids out of my business.

technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 04 May 16:12 next collapse

Not to mention parents staying the fuck out of other parent’s business.

Don’t bring state violence down on other people because you don’t want to watch your own damn kids.

melroy@kbin.melroy.org on 05 May 10:12 next collapse

There we go... This is the only correct answer here!

jimbel@lemm.ee on 05 May 10:32 collapse

Internet is controlled by corporates like meta, Google, tiktok right now. In other words the undemocratic billionaires control the power. And also networks like the Russian bot farms spread fake news and destabilize our society. Parents can not do much about it.

Democracy is doomed if the Internet is not regulated in a way.

WalnutLum@lemmy.ml on 04 May 12:33 next collapse

Parents can invoke minors mode with a single click and set usage time limits. Devices set to minors mode will even remind users to take breaks, and collect stats so parents can make sure their offspring are surfing the web in an age-appropriate and socialist fashion.

This sounds awesome. This isn’t the weird shit like some states in the US have for determining if you can log into porn, or South Koreas weird government-login-page-in-everything scheme, it’s part of the parent’s family plan for their kid they can turn on/off.

I realize there’s worrying undertones (that already exist on the Chinese internet regardless) but the actual feature as-is seems like the ideal for this sort of thing.

xylogx@lemmy.world on 04 May 13:43 next collapse

Sounds like screentime.

WanderingVentra@lemm.ee on 04 May 15:46 next collapse

Is that an app or what?

sommerset@thelemmy.club on 04 May 15:56 collapse

What’s a screentime?

xylogx@lemmy.world on 04 May 16:32 collapse
sommerset@thelemmy.club on 04 May 15:57 next collapse

US can’t even pass a federal data privacy law

Kusimulkku@lemm.ee on 04 May 16:53 next collapse

This isn’t the weird shit like some states in the US have for determining if you can log into porn

Age gating porn doesn’t sound very weird to me. Methods can be pretty shit though

so parents can make sure their offspring are surfing the web in an age-appropriate and socialist fashion

Imagine if the US did this lmao

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 04 May 17:30 next collapse

But who is collecting the stats?

Here are my issues with this:

  1. The service needs to know if it’s a minor or adult
  2. Service needs to put that data somewhere, and I highly doubt it’s on the user’s machine
  3. There’s no way this isn’t tied to the user’s identity

There are internet filters you can buy already that the user controls. Why not just use that?

WalnutLum@lemmy.ml on 04 May 22:45 collapse

there are internet filters you can buy

Seems like that’s exactly what this is, it’s a mode that you turn on on the phone and it uses a government supplied list of vetted websites for the kid to visit.

Interestingly the way this feature set reads out is exactly the same way that Nintendo’s parental controls work.

I realize that this being the Chinese government, them keeping usage stats has connotations that go beyond the data itself… But in a country with a more liberal government I’d rather have them keep records of my kids’ internet usage than a private company. The idea being that you can pass protections around that data. (Not that that seems to be stopping the current US government so maybe that’s a pipe dream).

Ideal is, of course, completely on your own hardware (the device or your server at home), but between this and a system where Apple/Google/Nintendo does all this instead I’d prefer the government method.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 04 May 23:06 collapse

government supplied list

Does the government know which sites users attempted to access? Or is it strictly a static list with everything handled on the device?

But in a country with a more liberal government I’d rather have them keep records of my kids’ internet usage than a private company.

I’d rather neither. Why does the supplier need usage stats? Just provide a list and keep it at that, with an option to request a site be allowed through (that obviously would go to the supplier).

But maybe that’s me in the US speaking. I don’t trust my government with that information, and I also don’t trust countries I visit to have that info either.

between this and a system where Apple/Google/Nintendo does all this instead I’d prefer the government method.

I don’t really have a preference since I reject both as unacceptable. I prefer my approach: no filters, and I only provide access to devices if I trust my kids to follow the rules, and if I catch them breaking the rules, they lose access to the device.

person420@lemmynsfw.com on 05 May 19:34 collapse

I suspect you don’t have kids? Most schools require a laptop (usually Chromebooks). What do you do then other than parental controls?

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 06 May 00:30 collapse

I do. Our school issues Chromebooks for use at school (supervised), and my kids use my regular computer for anything at home (Linux) without any filters but under supervision.

RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world on 04 May 22:46 next collapse

I could have sworn that a few months ago it was on the news that the government restricted all online stuff like video games, to only a few hours a week or something for minors?

WalnutLum@lemmy.ml on 04 May 22:49 next collapse

I think that was the draft proposal for this.

Jimmycakes@lemmy.world on 05 May 10:29 collapse

They can’t log on after 8pm or something like that?

WalnutLum@lemmy.ml on 04 May 22:58 collapse

Looking up more information about this I found a much less sensationalized analysis on this from the UofC:

cjil.uchicago.edu/…/kids-no-phones-dinner-table-a…

klu9@lemmy.ca on 04 May 16:16 next collapse

But don’t worry, folks in the free world, this won’t apply to you! Douyin (Tiktok in China) may restrict what kids see, but Tiktok abroad will still serve up to your tween daughter videos that tell her if she isn’t pretty enough, she might as well kill herself.

underline960@sh.itjust.works on 05 May 02:56 collapse

I see a lot of well-meaning support for this. I can’t help but think there has to be a way to implement these kinds of controls without taking power away from the user.

Like the Fediverse implementing better mod tools rather than expecting Twitter to effectively moderate the internet.

DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee on 05 May 10:32 collapse

Yeah but CCP wouldn’t like this because it faces uncomfortable truths like a controlling dictatorship is the only reason for the firewall.