Come join us for some informational philosophical discussion. No prior knowledge or research is needed, but an open mind is.
This week we will be discussing the recent push for online age and identity verification. In California, all operating systems will require a system to ask for your age, store it, and serve it to applications, starting next year. Minnesota is implementing similar laws, and is also banning VPNs (systems that anonymize your web traffic and make it look like it is coming from somewhere else) to prevent circumventing this law. Multiple states have implemented requirements for facial scans and/or ID uploading to access adult content.
This is all advertised as a way to protect minors from dangerous content.
Discussion questions:
- Do you have a right to anonymity on the internet?
- What steps should be taken to protect minors from dangerous or inappropriate content online?
- Who should the responsibility to protect minors fall onto: Parents, service providers, device/OS makers, the government?
- Should there be any limits to what content adults can access on the internet? If there should be limits, who should impose them and how?
