Olives @olives@qoto.org

Apparently, Germany's "age verification" law is not compatible with E.U. Law and the European Commission told them off about it.

That would be an actually good idea, though who knows where that'll go with this chat control garbage.

Important one to remember. #chatcontrol

It sounds like you should contact lawmakers in the E.U. Parliament and tell them to oppose such authoritarianism. #chatcontrol

If true, it is extremely problematic (and harmful) for "age verification" to be a condition of accessing a porn platform.

That is a threat to freedom of expression and privacy. Scammers have been known to impersonate "age verification" providers.

#chatcontrol

https://qoto.org/@olives/111407938871651520 Covered a similar thing here.

https://www.wndu.com/2023/11/13/indiana-senator-files-bill-require-age-verification-porn-sites/
This is bad for privacy, freedom of expression, and security. It is also an undue burden for many websites and users.

It is also a very obvious violation of the First Amendment. Anonymous speech is protected by the First Amendment, as is the ability to access that speech.

It also would not deter someone from doing this, and attempted enforcement would only be harmful to everyone involved.

Their worries also appear to be scientifically baseless (https://qoto.org/@olives/111083302650803082). Even if they were not, it would still be incredibly disproportionate.

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/09/1211949718/the-kinsey-institute-faces-possible-separation-from-indiana-university
The State of Indiana also appears to be defunding sex sciences.

I strongly recommend contacting lawmakers to oppose this piece of legislation. #privacy

Thierry all full of himself (and stirring up trouble) is a good example of why you don't give power to the government. They're not your friends.

Remember this. #kosa

I don't think the chat control compromise is good either, it seems to have room for over-reach.

It is better than the previous proposal which was absolutely insane.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/14/nepal-tiktok-ban-social-harmony-why

"Nepal has said it will ban TikTok, citing negative effects on the country’s “social harmony”."

"Sharma said the decision was made because TikTok was consistently used to share content that “disturbs social harmony and disrupts family structures and social relations”. She did not specify what had triggered the ban."

"Gagan Thapa, leader of the Nepali Congress party which is part of the ruling coalition, said the government’s intention seems to be to “stifle freedom of expression”."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/25/priti-patel-record-human-rights-extreme-concern She was the U.K. minister who was very against E2EE.

https://act.eff.org/action/call-congress-to-stop-kosa

"The Senate may have a simple voice vote in the next week to move the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) quickly through the legislature, without debate, but any one senator can stop it with a hold. We need you to call your senator's office today to tell them to stop KOSA. KOSA would censor the internet and would make government officials the arbiters of what young people can see online, and would likely lead to age verification."

That sounds very bad. You should contact lawmakers to oppose the Kill Online Speech Act. #KOSA

https://www.badinternetbills.com/

That sounds very bad. You should contact lawmakers then.

https://reason.com/2023/11/13/illinois-youth-lockup-is-no-place-for-children-according-to-aclu-lawsuit/

"An Illinois youth lockup is "no place for children," argued a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in June. A new ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois analysis of documents from the lawsuit and several state audits, among other records, found that incarcerated children have frequently been subject to "troubling conditions" in more than a dozen youth detention centers in Illinois.

In these facilities, youth have been "tased, pepper sprayed and roughed up by staff and law enforcement officers; forced into isolation for days at a time," according to the ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois analysis. Incarcerated youth have also been "denied access to their psychotropic medications and mental health treatment; and received little or no schooling, despite state and federal laws mandating that the youth receive educational services while incarcerated.""

#HumanRights

The computer said you're guilty.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/does-a-i-lead-police-to-ignore-contradictory-evidence

"Law-enforcement officials argue that they aren’t obligated to disclose such information because, in theory at least, facial-recognition searches are being used only to generate leads for a fuller investigation, and do not alone serve as probable cause for making an arrest. Yet, in a striking number of the wrongful arrests that have been documented, the searches represented virtually the entire investigation. No other evidence seemed to link Randal Reid, who lives in Georgia, to the thefts in Louisiana, a state he had never even visited."

#privacy

I see the usual suspects, once again, yelling for people to call for mass surveillance, so I suppose you should contact lawmakers to oppose that.

#chatcontrol

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/12/private-uk-health-data-donated-medical-research-shared-insurance-companies

"Sensitive health information donated for medical research by half a million UK citizens has been shared with insurance companies despite a pledge that it would not be.

An Observer investigation has found that UK Biobank opened up its vast biomedical database to insurance sector firms several times between 2020 and 2023. The data was provided to insurance consultancy and tech firms for projects to create digital tools that help insurers predict a person’s risk of getting a chronic disease. The findings have raised concerns among geneticists, data privacy experts and campaigners over vetting and ethical checks at Biobank."

If you're looking for something which fits the acronym, and is more accurate, try Kill Online Speech Act.