Opinion: Canada’s age-verification bill for porn is a slippery slope to a restrictive internet
www.theglobeandmail.com
While its intentions are good, the proposed bill is riddled with problems and should not be passed

Canada’s proposed Bill S-209, which addresses online age verification, is currently making its way through the Senate, and its passage would be yet another mistake in tech policy.

The bill is intended to restrict young peoples’ access to online pornography and to hold providers to account for making it available to anyone under 18. It may be well-intentioned, but the manner of its proposed enforcement – mandating age verification or what is being called “age-estimation technologies” – is troubling.

Globally, age-verification tools are a popular business, and many companies are in favour of S-209, particularly because it requires that websites and organizations rely on third parties for these tools. However, they bring up long-standing concerns over privacy, especially when you consider potential leaks or hacks of this information, which in some cases include biometrics that can identify us by our faces or fingerprints. […]

  • floofloof@lemmy.ca
    56·
    8 days ago

    It’s always referred to as age verification, but it’s ID verification. It’s the introduction of a regime where you can’t use the internet without everyone knowing exactly who you are, and without the government being able to track your activity via your ID. Governments around the world are making what must surely be a coordinated effort to end anonymity, and thus privacy, online. In other countries this has gone along with a push to end encryption for phone calls and chat, and a push to outlaw VPNs. Canada’s government is embarking on a program that’s very hostile to its own population.

    • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
      14·
      7 days ago

      What’s the difference? I use ID verification to buy alcohol and marijuana. They have no idea I’m old enough for sure, they trust the license.

      The scenario you describe about using the internet with a regime knowing everything, has been the default in North America for about a decade.

      This slippery slope argument is nonsense. There is a problem, and this is the tool we have to attempt to fix it with. Half the people on here seem to want to argue that porn has no negative effects on developing children and teens.

              • RaskolnikovsAxe@lemmy.ca
                1·
                4 days ago

                Do you have proof that the LCBO or gas stations scan and resell your ID?

                That sounds like the very definition of ‘big if true’.

                  • RaskolnikovsAxe@lemmy.ca
                    1·
                    3 days ago

                    Collecting and reselling any data is far easier done by a website than it would be by the corner LCBO.

                    But did you or did you not say the LCBO scans the ID and sells the data? I have to admit I’ve never seen that happen. What do they scan it with?

                    Anyway there is no way to argue that handing a guy your ID for a glance to buy cigs, weed or alcohol is less safe than uploading to some random porn site on the internet, even if they didn’t store your data (and I believe strongly that they would store your data for documenting the verification… either they would, or the third party that does the service)