Re:Ageless Linux. We are legally required to ask how old you...
by alephnerd on Saturday March 14, 2026 @07:40PM
(#47382527)
> how the age verification debate has popped up almost simultaneously in the US, UK, and EU
It's because of a mix of Barroness Kidron's lobbying [0] and companies trying to meet legislators halfway [1] due to latent legislative anger due to disinformation incidents that arose during the 2016 election, January 6th, the New Caledonia Riots, and a couple others.
Civil and digital libertarianism is not a mainstream view outside of a subset of techies.
Sadly, techies weren't able to build and deploy a truly private and OSS authentication service on time because of how off the radar it was in the early 2010s.
It's because of a mix of Barroness Kidron's lobbying [0] and companies trying to meet legislators halfway [1] due to latent legislative anger due to disinformation incidents that arose during the 2016 election, January 6th, the New Caledonia Riots, and a couple others.
Civil and digital libertarianism is not a mainstream view outside of a subset of techies.
Sadly, techies weren't able to build and deploy a truly private and OSS authentication service on time because of how off the radar it was in the early 2010s.
[0] - https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/14/british-baroness-on...
[1] - https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025/11/exclusive...