this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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What happened to the assumtion that people on the internet are all adults. No kid is signing a contract for a phone or internet plan. They are on the internet through the permission of an adult who has. Its the responsibility of that adult to make sure they don't do anything they shouldn't. Don't make it other people's problem that you can't control your kids. We shouldn't try to kid-proof the world.
It's never really about protecting children. It's about making sure the government can monitor everything you do online and tie it back to your real-world identity. Encrypted channels are to be eliminated. The government wants to hear every word and see every action. And age verification is an excuse to demand ID.
Traditionally this kind of surveillance has focused on left-wing and environmentalist movements, anything that challenges the interests of capital. Today it will be the same, but with a side helping of transphobia and the looming threat of all this material falling into the hands of fascists within a few years, something that everyone but the terminally dull Keir Starmer can see coming.
Decades passed and its not even remotely true anymore? Never really was tbh. Anonymity on the net is on its last legs thanks to adoption by the masse show need training wheels and rubber corners and a fence to not hurt themselves.
I will say that I don't live in the UK, so maybe it works differently. I'm assuming internet plans include some kind of service contract you have to sign, and minors can't legally sign contracts without parental consent. So every internet connection is the responsibility of the adult who did sign it. If kids are going to be using it then it is their responsibility to put parental controls on their network and devices.
But like the other response said, its not actually about protecting kids. Basically, if a politician ever says those words, its almost certainly an attempt to take away freedom.
Dangers in the internet:
There's no need to supervise users. There's a need to crack down on abusive hosters. You can't make the internet more safe otherwise.
What they do here is either symbol politics or they do this to get more power over their people.
Its still unclear to me why all these countries are attempting this legislation at the same time.
It's being pushed in a bunch of countries by the same group of authoritarian billionaires.