Once Michael Myers gets inside a house, he's not going to stop with just one or seven kills.
asserted
he → get → kills
He's going to keep killing until you push him out a window, run him over with a car, and throw his body in a lake (and even then, he'll be back again someday).
asserted
he → go → lake
Likewise, once authorities learn that the public and the courts will stand for one form of age verification—say, asking porn platforms to verify user identities—they're suddenly off on a surveillance spree that won't stop until the whole internet is covered.
asserted
internet → learn → spree
Age verification for… eBay?
You are reading Sex & Tech, from Elizabeth Nolan Brown.
asserted
You → read → Brown
Where your shut-in uncle buys old beanie babies and you occasionally turn for used books.
asserted
you → shut → books
Where enterprising teens might make a little cash selling their parents' old jeans.
uncertain
teens → make → jeans
British regulators apparently want us to believe that eBay is a hotbed of "grooming" by child predators.
asserted
eBay → want → predators
Eroding Online Privacy
Online clothes marketplaces like those on eBay, Depop, Facebook Marketplace, and Vinted are in the crosshairs of age-verification-obsessed U.K. regulators, who say—sans any serious evidence—that predators are using them to message minors, The Times reports.
asserted
Times → erode → minors
U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is now "looking seriously" at including these marketplaces in the list of platforms that must ban people under age 16 from using them.
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that → look → them
As with plans to ban minors from social media, this is disturbing on multiple levels.
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this → ban → levels
Fourteen or 15 hardly seems too young to search for vintage fashion or used books with a parent's blessing.
asserted
Fourteen → seem → blessing
And trying to ban 14-year-olds from visiting a physical store just because they could potentially encounter an adult with ill intentions there would never fly; why would it be OK online?
uncertain
it → try → intentions
It's also unfair to adults, who would have to prove they're adults in order to use any online marketplaces.
asserted
they → have → marketplaces
Perhaps that doesn't seem like a huge deal in itself.
asserted
that → seem → itself
But it's one more way that authorities are chipping away at anonymity online.
asserted
authorities → chip → anonymity
It's one more way they're setting out to erect an internet-wide surveillance system.
asserted
they → set → system
It's one more way they're saying you have no right to online privacy.
asserted
you → say → privacy
It's also one more way that authorities are putting people at risk of having their information and identities compromised.
asserted
information → put → risk
Each new platform that has to collect data on your identity and age provides one more opportunity for identity thieves and other criminal actors to target you.
asserted
thieves → have → you
And it won't stop at eBay and Vinted, just like it was never going to stop at Pornhub and OnlyFans, or at Instagram and TikTok.
asserted
it → stop → Instagram
"We need to take a comprehensive approach to protecting children from harm online," a "government source familiar with the internal discussions" told the Times.
asserted
source → need → Times
"That means if platforms have a messaging function that allows people to speak to strangers, we need to seriously consider them needing highly effective age requirements.
asserted
them → mean → requirements
"
Dubious Premises
"The Children's Society said that young users were being 'asked for indecent photos in exchange for money' and gifts on these sites," reports the Telegraph.
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Telegraph → say → sites
I'm not saying that has never happened, but come on.
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that → say → ?
We're really supposed to believe that eBay—where it's hard to tell any personal details about any user—is some sort of hotbed of sex criminals preying on teens?
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it → suppose → teens
(Especially since authorities aren't offering even anecdotal evidence, let alone anything systematic.
asserted
authorities → offer → evidence
Perhaps the worry isn't supposed to be that it happens often, but that it could happen at all.
uncertain
it → suppose → ?
But if we accept that rationale, no online platform with an interactive component is safe from the same treatment.
asserted
platform → accept → treatment
The mere fact that a criminal could communicate through the platform would be enough to demand ID checks, to ban encrypted communications, and so on.
uncertain
criminal → communicate → communications
Heck, why not ban teens from using computers at all and force everyone who uses a digital device to submit a facial scan?
asserted
who → ban → scan
And it's not like predators are driving around in a white van and somehow forcing direct messages on children who then have no option but to do what they say.
asserted
they → drive → what
Instead of banning teens from any platform where a message could be sent, wouldn't it make more sense to teach teens to not only ignore any such messages but to report them?
uncertain
it → ban → them
Have law enforcement authorities dedicate more time to this problem, if it really exists?
asserted
it → dedicate → problem
That could actually help stop predators, rather than burdening minors and everyone else.
uncertain
That → help → minors
But no—the solution, somehow, is always that we must protect teens from harm by banning them from basically the whole internet.
asserted
we → protect → internet
That's either safetyism run absolutely amok or a sinister ploy to erode online privacy generally.
asserted
That → run → privacy
(I suspect both, in different degrees.)
asserted
I → suspect → degrees
In this case, the "child safety" pretext seems especially thin, given that U.K. authorities are simultaneously complaining that online retailers are helping people evade taxes and tariffs.
asserted
people → seem → taxes
Wouldn't it be convenient for them if they had some easy way to confirm the identity of every single seller on a peer-to-peer marketplace?
asserted
they → have → marketplace
In the News
Joe Redner, 'strip club king' and advocate for individual liberties, dies at 86.
asserted
Redner → die → 86
…and 45 more, not listed.
The Aporia
