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Apple brings age verification to UK users in iOS 26.4 beta - Users who don’t verify their age may not be able to download or purchase apps.
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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Because its not about age verification, its about tracking and controlling you and making a privacy respecting solution isn't compatible with that.
So there should be a rebuttal demanding a privacy respecting age verification token, instead of just arguing against age verification, which technically does have a point. This way it’s disabled as excuse to sneak in the other things.
No, we still need to be against it. I said tracking and controlling, not just tracking.
They are already blocking resources that shouldn't be blocked from youth, and even a privacy centric method would still let them do that, and then expand it to anything at a whim in the future.
We don't want the internet built on this infrastructure, it would br a disaster.
Okay, it’s 2 topics then, the privacy, and basically adding a mandatory authorization layer to the internet derived from your real identity.
To some extent this already exists for movies or say to buy alcohol, getting a driving license etc. in the real world, where people often also have to verify their age. So here it could be asked on what exact basis the internet should work differently.
Neither alcohol or the car verifies your age when you use it.
A minor can't really sign up for an Internet subscription, so who gave them access?
Mandate age requirements when buying digital units would be better, but then we're back to the "I have no control over my children and can't set boundaries"
But what about porn / general nsfw, that doesn’t need a subscription and currently anyone can sign up / just visit those.
The basis is its how the world communicates and they become the gate keepers to communication and knowledge. Its like book banning on topics they don't like but on a scale much more massive.
They're already banning internet content from people that shouldn't be about sexual health because its not about protecting kids its about controlling them and people.
You gotta be a good sheep and they're going to do their best to make you one.
Not saying that these are not possibilities, but the technology itself and mistrust of government are, at least partly, different things. This is definitely a complex topic, spanning a lot of topics.
I don't personally think so when it comes to technologies like this that can be used to surveil and/or control a population (edit: and especially that are being heavily driven by governments)
It's pretty much a given that it will be used against us as history has shown us its always the case.
Trying to separate them out, gives them the extra support they need to pass it through and then abuse it.