this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
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Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I thought actual developers with a deep understanding of how technology actually works would be the people to ask!

If you were tasked with setting up a safe and secure way to do this, how would you do it differently than what the UK government is proposing? How could it be done such that I wouldn't have to worry about my privacy and the threat of government suppression? Is it even theoretically possible to accomplish such a task at such a scale?

Cheers!

EDIT: Just to be clear: I'm not in favour of age verification laws. But they're on their way regardless. My question is purely about the implementation and technology of the thing, rather than the ethics or efficacy of it. Can this seemingly-inevitable privacy hellscape be done in a non-hellscapish way?

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[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yes, it is. It is teaching your kids that you do not trust them, and it is indulging your own paranoia. People love to spout about this "I was too young to see" shit but it's reactionary knee-jerk nonsense. Did seeing gore or whatever you're referring to actually do you any long-term harm, seriously?

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

And did you seriously just try to use dismissing my trauma as a point, instead of a logical retort?

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Can you tell me a bit about how you experienced that trauma? What happened? What did you see? How did it affect you?

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

None of your business.

I don't need you approval to be allowed to argue my point.

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

OK, whatever. I'm done with this conversation. I'd be willing to bet you're just justifying your authoritarian parenting to yourself, and I am uninterested in debating it with you.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Sure.

Reply to this.

Not the comment where I actually make my case.

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Your entire case presumes that there is a harm to prevent. Kids are prevented from drinking alcohol because we know alcohol is harmful to minors. If there is no harm, then there is no harm to prevent.

You are rationalizing your prejudices, and you know it. I'm done with you. I actually have PTSD from being abused as a kid and your bullshit "oh I have trauma cuz I saw a scary pic once" can actually get fucked, and I am now blocking you.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Alcohol is also harmful to adults.

So is the internet.

To engage with either without risk, mental fortitute and maturity is required.

You should inform the underpaid workers going insane moderating facebook that the pictures can't harm them. I'm sure their need for therapy will instantly vanish.

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Actually just fuck off. Please, just fuck off. Leave me alone. You are a liar. Fuck off. I am really struggling to disengage with you because I actually have real trauma and you are being extremely triggering. Please stop replying.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 0 points 5 months ago

I'm sorry. I hope you're ok.

But don't go telling people their pain isn't valid. You literally can't know.

And it's not your fucking place to ask. What you tried to do to me by doing so, I would never do to anyone. And I'm pretty sure you understand why.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It is teaching your kids that you do not trust them, and it is indulging your own paranoia.

Only if you never lift the restrictions, and coddle instead of raise them.

A parent buying their kid their first beer is a show of trust, and confidence in having prepared them. That they weren't allowed before isn't some paranoia about turning them into an alcoholist. It's about preparation and maturity.

It is a display that shows that the parent feels their child is ready and responsible enough for the ability to decide themselves to be granted to them.

A parent enforcing a rule before that is not some violation.

Only, for the internet, the tools and know-how to do so are rare or non-existent.

My parents did this with tons of things as me and my siblings grew up. Each time trusting us with a new piece of responsibility, when they felt we were ready.

What kind of parent doesn't decide their childrens bedtime until they can sanely maintain their sleep schedule themselves?

It was a big day when I was granted the ability to go to visit friends without asking permission first.

Parental control and guidance is essential for the stage-by-stage raising of a child into adulthood. Both online and offline, only tools and practices around the former practically don't exist.

Each parent is also on a deadline. When someone turns 18, all rules come off whether you're ready or not.

As a parent, you should aim for your kid to be making as many decisions themselves as possible by then.