Is "social media" the internet

Does "social media", i.e., "Big Tech", preserve privacy or eviscerate it. "Internet privacy" is been in direct conflict with their "business model". They engage in sweeping data collection and mass surveillance of internet users to support invasive "personalised" ad services

It seems like most people engaging in "free speech" on "social media" are not anonymous, not really interested in "privacy"

In many cases, they "share" their every thought

40 ways to share information over the internet without age verification

https://decss.zoy.org

This is old and could be updated with more

I’m not sure that “there are rules on who can contact children online” is “extreme” for anyone outside of hyper libertarian circles.

The EFF needs to start engaging with actual real world, because it’s intransigence on the issues being caused by unfettered internet usage mean it is unable to prevent bad solutions being proposed.

The writing was on the wall for years - it's not the 90s anymore and some compromise on anonymity and verification is coming. Frankly for good reason - I think the social utility of Big Social is massively negative, and even more so for kids.

That was the shot of orgs like EFF to help shape the debate in a good direction. Zero knowledge proofs, anonymity preserving age checks, good govt regulation on this etc.

Instead they all dug their heels in, refused to give an inch or even engage in the debate. If you wanted anything other that a Toresque utopia then you clearly want Big Brother to keep tabs on everything, and you're probably a moron who thinks you have "nothing to hide".

So they vacated the space while Mumsnet users came to the only logical conclusion: let's ban social media for kids, with whatever method comes to their mind. Scanning their ID, face scans, fingerprints connected to a government DB ran by the cheapest contractor - who knows how this will materialise. And I kind of can't blame them. The adults of internet privacy vacated the room because they said everyone else in the room is too stupid. So they left and left the stupid people in charge.

Is there a UK version of the EFF that fights in the courts against this lunacy or does it not quite work the same in the UK as it does in the US.

It's a toxic trap which will do absolutely nothing good for and to its users.

Keep the kids away from it, doesn't take an Einstein reincarnate to realize that.

This article addresses the technological flaws in age verification, then says “but even if there were, broad restrictions on social media will inevitably limit access to lawful speech, and valuable online communities, and arts and culture.”

If the EFF care about freedom above all else (a reasonable position) muddying the waters with half-baked age verification isn’t perfect arguments is just sloppy.

Why does the freedom matter above all else? That’s what voters need to be convinced of.

When will politicians understand how and why the internet was build?

EFF are way off base here - this isn't "free as in free speech" but "free as in giant corporations are free to fuck people up the arse".

but snark aside, society needs to have a big conversation (meaning political) about what is good and what is bad about what should really be understood as the 'connectivity revolution' of the last 10-20 years.

Terrible article.

Cmon, if you’re trying to make the case for how essential social media is for children under the age of 16, please find some better examples. As if there are no other sources of educational content online than YouTube and anyone who has left Facebook knows the last two points are simply not true. This is so weak from the EFF.

How in the world did kids ever survive before social media? Miracle of god keeping them sane every second of their miserable deprived lives. Seriously, this is such a bad argument for something that is a return to a previous known good state versus being a new state. No proof provided that social media makes any of these better versus either pre social media approaches or modern alternatives.

These platforms are the digital equivalent of heroin if heroin always came with either nazi or bolshevik propaganda.

They are entirely focused on the axe they rightfully have to grind the whole age verification debacle they are not seeing the bigger picture.

The major social media companies are undermining the foundations of our societies for ad revenue and giggles.

Keeping teens out is a huge step in the right direction.