Good or bad?

Bad! Definitely overkill.

Unfortunately, I am just waiting for the day that the "powers that be" decide you need an ID to go to the bathroom! 🫨

Age verification is not about "protecting the children". It is about surveillance. The government requires that everyone must verify their age in order to access certain websites, which will eventually be all websites, but in order to do that you must provide your personal information, which is what they're really after. This way they can know your every move online.

As western governments falter and the establishment continues to lose power, those in charge will always resort to increasingly authoritarian control measures to keep their subjects in line, and in order to do that they need to know who you are and what you're up to.

Dave

8 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

As western governments falter and the establishment continues to lose power, those in charge will always resort to increasingly authoritarian control measures to keep their subjects in line, and in order to do that they need to know who you are and what you're up to.

Dave

Yes, I can see that happening. And its not just online, but everywhere you look these days. i.e all the closed circuit TV and surveillance cameras that cover our towns and cities, inside office buildings, malls, shops etc.

Actually your statement above made me think of the film "Enemy of the State" where the best course of action was to be "off the grid" i.e the Gene Hackman character who was an ex-surveillance professional that knew how to remain undetected.

At what age does a person get to where it now seems best to disqualify them from normal online use? Nobody over 65 allowed?

It puts my identity at risk if I have to share out my personal data. Major corporations already can't keep their data safe, I don't want to have to send it to even more companies. IT jobs are getting cut all over, IT security is getting worse, not better. I can't repeat any of the stories I hear, but I'll just say, you should be very afraid at how these companies mishandle your data.

You might not even be aware what companies have your data. Your employer could contract out to a payroll company that has everything on you. Maybe your employer chose the cheapest one instead of the best one.

I won't go down that rabbit hole, but let's just say many of these companies will gladly hand your data over to a government without question.

There's plenty of programs that parents can run to limit what their kids can interact with. Parents stick a screen in front of a kid instead of parenting them.

I try to be as un-interesting as possible online / social media etc. That way, I figure they won't care about little ol' me.