Your #Vape Wants to Know How Old You Are

https://www.wired.com/story/your-vape-wants-to-know-how-old-you-are/

#privacy #AgeVerification #IdentityVerification

Your #Vape Wants to Know How Old You Are

Companies hope that #biometric age-verification tech in cartridges could put flavored vapes back in business. But it's unlikely to solve the real problems.
#ageverification #privacy #security

https://www.wired.com/story/your-vape-wants-to-know-how-old-you-are/

So what should we do about the "age verfication" (meaning our actual ID/photo verification) issue, which will probably eventually be required to access all or most of the traditional internet.

Seems like we need to make a separate internet with its own separate protocols for those who don't want to submit to it and thus will lose access to the world wide web. Something non-techy users like me could access.

I know about Gemini and Gopher protocols and have used them. They might do for basic, simply formatted text communication, but aren't suited for more complex structures. They're probably limited in other ways too, like how robust or secure they are and how much traffic they can handle.

There's ftp - file transfer protocol. There's Tor, which I know almost nothing about. AFAIK everything else is just http/https.

So are there people working on this, or sources to find out more about alternative networks?

Of course none of it will matter if it gets to the point where our ISPs start blocking any devices that don't provide the required credentials.

Maybe it will come down to mesh networking, at least for people who live in the more densely populated areas.

#ageVerification #age_verification #privacy #internet

Denial Takes Hold as Teens Circumvent Australian Age Verification

The failure of the Australian age verification laws has left advocates with the only tool left in the chest: denial.

https://www.freezenet.ca/denial-takes-hold-as-teens-circumvent-australian-age-verification/

#Censorship #News #AgeVerification #Australia #Canada #SocialMedia #VPN

#Apple Requires Device-Level #AgeVerification in the #UK Now. Could the #US Be Next?

https://gizmodo.com/apple-requires-device-level-age-verification-in-the-uk-now-could-the-us-be-next-2000738481

#privacy #cybersecurity #IdentityVerification #politics #SocialMediaBan #SocialMedia #iPhone #iOS

Inside the #Systemd #AgeVerification Debate: Developer Responds to Criticism

https://itsfoss.com/dylan-taylor-systemd-controversy/

#privacy #FOSS #doxxing #IdentityVerification #Linux

#Austria becomes latest to propose #SocialMediaBan for children

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyv70de9exo

#privacy #AgeVerification #IdentityVerification #SocialMedia

beyween alternatives -- really thought the linux civil war would be caused by mozilla becoming advertising company (and spying on their users) and not the storing of a 6-8 digit value that may or may not be an identifier

#ageverification #linux #mozilla #firefox

DoesItAgeVerify: The age verification status of Open Source Operating Systems

https://github.com/BryanLunduke/DoesItAgeVerify

#HackerNews #DoesItAgeVerify #OpenSource #OperatingSystems #AgeVerification #TechNews #BryanLunduke

OS-level age checks in California and Apple shift verification from apps to devices, classifying users and sharing age signals across services 🔐.
Centralized OS identity APIs can entrench platform control and expose sensitive data, impacting privacy, shared-device access and open ecosystems 🌐

🔗 https://proton.me/blog/age-verification-operating-system

#TechNews #Privacy #AgeVerification #Apple #Regulation #DigitalID #FOSS #OpenSource #Security #Data #Freedom #Internet #Policy #Surveillance #Tech #OS #California

We need way better #journalism than this:

»Age verification laws are a lazy way for politicians and governments to appear as if they are tackling online child safety, but without any forethought to the future consequences of amassing vast banks of personal information for verifying people's identities.«

It's 2026. Politicians and governments aren't "lazy", but otherwise well-meaning fools. They know what infrastructure they are enabling, and helping to establish, precisely because they are investing a lot of forethought into to their agenda and its goals.

Stop pretending to take their words at face value. Stop showcasing feigned naivety. Stop supporting sinister agendas by willingly reproducing deceptive narratives. It's your job.

https://this.weekinsecurity.com/papers-please-age-verification-laws-threaten-everyones-online-security-and-privacy/

#AgeVerification

✊️ MX Linux Takes Clear Stance Against Age Verification Requirements

“While we wait on court challenges and to see if and how these laws apply to non-commercial open source operating systems and applications, let me assure users that no one on the team at MX wants to implement something like age verification.“

https://linuxiac.com/mx-linux-takes-clear-stance-against-age-verification-requirements/

#mxlinux #ageverification #privacy #linux

Under [insert age here] social media bans are vile in two major ways. These ways are as follows:

1. They bar young people from digital life. Stunting their digital literacy.

2. They force adults to go through privacy invasive age verification to avoid losing access to their accounts.

#Privacy #FreeSpeech #Censorship #DigitalRights #Internet #SocialMedia #AgeVerification #Under16SocialMediaBan #Under15SocialMediaBan #UK #UnitedKingdom

RE: https://mastodon.social/users/eff/statuses/116308334510742517

Electronic Frontier Foundation » 🌐 2026-03-28
@eff@mastodon.social

This week, the UK debated legislative proposals seeking to ban young people from social media platforms. To get situated with what’s been happening and what it all means, check out our primer. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/03/uk-politicians-continue-miss-point-latest-social-media-ban-proposal

When #AgeVerification moves into your operating system

https://proton.me/blog/age-verification-operating-system

#privacy #cybersecurity

I'd like to contact Minecraft to tell them we don't want to provide biometric information to "yoti" to do age/id verification.

But I can't find any way to contact the right team.

Does anyone know?

#minecraft #ageverification #idverification #yoti #privacy #security

#Austria Plans #SocialMedia Ban For Under-14s

Austria plans to restrict under-14s from using social media platforms over concerns about addictive #algorithms and harmful content. The government says draft legislation should be ready by the end of June, though details around enforcement and age verification have yet to be finalized
#privacy #security #ageverification

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/03/27/1826207/austria-plans-social-media-ban-for-under-14s?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

#Privacy
#AgeVerification

So Meta gets sued for social media addiction. This reinforces their desire for age verification. Congress will then pass an age verification law.

Meta can afford to lose a court case in pursuit of what it wants.

Don't expect the US media to actually tell you the implications of what's happening.

Instantly shadow-banned on #youtube algorithms BTW. As my previous video about #ageverification and Big Tech

The closed platforms are quite a lot about #censorship now. They lie about being open, but in fact they implement reality manufacturing on-mass

We still do have freedom of speech, but perhaps it’s not a long way until posting this would cause my money to stop working

We need to build more #fediverse, that’s the best and perhaps last hope for #democracy #BigTech embraced fascism already

Alt...

Two thumbnails for youtube shorts that got no views except one from me. The topics are such that the current US administration does not like to hear.

Fedora's project leader has an interesting take on implementing age verification.

https://itsfoss.com/news/fedora-leader-suggests-age-verification-api/

#linux #fedora #ageverification

Please don't harass people about this but saying "I didn't submit age verification for Linux, I only added a field for it in systemd" sounds a bit like "I didn't build the gas chambers for undesirable people, I just added the lables for the controls."

Yes, I'm being a little hyperbolic. However, the death of privacy and the criminalization of anyone who doesn't comply doesn't happen overnight. It takes little bits of help from many law abiding citizens.

#ageverification

The first system to enact California's age verification law should be the California legislature

Legislators and their aids should be forced to *remotely* verify their age before they're allowed to login or enter the building

They should be forced to verify their age for each and every service

Email? Verify
File storage? Verify
Calendar? Verify
Video conferencing? Verify
Badge? Verify
Bathroom passcode? Verify
MFA? Verify
Parking garage? Verify

#AgeVerification #MassSurveillance #USpol

Garuda Linux won't be complying with age verification because they don't have to.

https://itsfoss.com/news/garuda-linux-age-verification/

#linux #ageverification

GrapheneOS says ❌ to age verification.

https://itsfoss.com/news/grapheneos-refuses-age-verification/

#grapheneos #ageverification #privacy

Apple now requires UK iPhone users to verify age via ID or card at OS level, shifting checks from sites to the device under regulatory pressure. 🪪
OS-level identity signals can be shared across apps, tying access to identity and raising privacy, control, and openness concerns as bypass becomes harder 🔐

🔗 https://proton.me/blog/apple-uk-age-verification-iphone

#TechNews #Apple #iPhone #UK #OnlineSafetyAct #AgeVerification #Privacy #FOSS #Security #Surveillance #DataProtection #DigitalRights #OpenSource #Regulation #Encryption