General Tech News

Hey, here's a great idea!

Let's censor online freedom of expression because kids might see people talking about being gay[1], while ignoring services actively exploiting children, and appoint a team of predators to decide what's best for kids on the internet! What could possibly go wrong with society as a whole!?

https://punchbowl.news/article/tech/house-kosa/

([1] Declaring LGBTQ+ content to be "pornographic" is a very well-documented push.)

[Edit, followup from later in the evening] Yeah so I know this is a thing that's been pushed before but for some reason it hit me extra hard today. Ended up just feeling sick to my stomach instead of being productive, which is great. Anyway just wanted to inform everyone that I do in fact have some plans as to the future of this community platform if such a thing does indeed come to pass. But I certainly will be hoping it does not.

Surprisingly some good or at least neutral news... the almost guaranteed online disaster that was the SCREEN Act failed yesterday. The rights of speech and expression are forever an uphill battle (and there are other issues still under debate), but we didn't lose any ground on it this time. Phew. I know stuff like this has come up before, but for me it just hit a lot harder this time.

Technically relevant to politics but innocently nonpartisan: Yesterday we went out for the primaries, and an exchange happened roughly like this at the voting tabulation machine:

【Vote Lady】
Is this your first time voting?

【Ellie】
Nope! We've done it quite a few times.

【Vote Lady】
Oh! You guys look pretty young.

【Ellie】
I'm 33, actually!

【Vote Lady】
Wow, really!? I thought you were just out of high school!

So I guess all of this is to say that if I'm ever asked to investigate a haunting at a high school, I could totally masquerade as a student to avoid suspicion, and I guess it would work! What could possibly go wrong with a plan like that!?

Still think the KOSA crap is moving further though? Any of this being such a slippery slope. But yeah the SCREEN act looked horrendous. This crap needs to die and we need age limits in office asap. Bunch of fossils who still don't understand the internet and digital world dictating how things are going to effect our lives. -_-

Inyouchuu Lover since ~2005~

Yeah... Still moving but I recall it still has a chance of failing. Guess we can only hope.

I need this stuff to be set back for years. Tired of it being a scare all the time now!

Inyouchuu Lover since ~2005~

And while we're at it, set back TinkerBell to when they were making more Inyouchuu games!

YESSSSSSS, YESSSSSSSSSSS!

Inyouchuu Lover since ~2005~

Well, Discord is officially starting to play with 18+ verification. And you know, I'm going to have to come out and say I was mistaken about something.

We all know it's never about protecting kids, but with all the discourse going on about puritanism, I made the assumption that Discord's plans were based on censorship. Now, granted, I wouldn't be surprised if they were cozying up to that idea too... but when a major platform makes a major decision against its own users, you gotta follow the money to find the real reasons behind it.

Aaaaand it just so happens that at the same time as the 18+ rollout... they are also now serving ads from Fanduel. So THAT's why they were so eager to prove what users were adults. So they can legally advertise gambling services to them.

Anyway, fair reminder that Inyouchuuverse is an open and welcoming place for Aojiru fans, that is beyond the control of advertisers or social media companies in general.

Also, Fanduel can go die in a hole.

Oh yeah, the 18+ verification blitz on various websites has little to do with moral panic and a lot more to do with corporations using the bluntest tools to either make certain business models viable (i.e. finding a way to profit off of gambling) or to cover their ass against rising scrutiny concerning minors getting exposed to inappropriate content because social media sites don't want to invest in the necessary level of moderation needed.

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Collecting personal data is also there as a motive, but the big goal is absolving themselves of any legal liability related to what children may find online.