this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2026
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493
Age checks could turn internet into an ID checkpoint and would kill anonymity, Proton CEO says (proton.me)
submitted 6 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) by Deep@mander.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world
122 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Online threats to children are real, but the headlong pursuit of age verification that we’re seeing around the world is unacceptable in its approach and far too broad in scope — and we simply can’t afford to get this wrong.

To be clear, parents’ concerns are valid and sincere. Few people would argue that kids should have unfettered access to adult material, to self-harm how-tos, to social media platforms that manipulate them and expose them to abuse.

But it’s the very depth of those worries that is being cynically exploited. Age verification as is currently being proposed in country after country would mean the death of anonymity online.

And we know exactly who stands to gain: The same tech giants who built the privacy nightmare that the internet is today.

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[–] XLE@piefed.social 6 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

It's interesting what people expect of Proton Mail.

It's quite mundane actually: people expect what they advertise on their front page.

Their advertising is a stretch at the best of times, and (as seen on my first link) so terrible that it needs to be removed at other times.

[–] qqq@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

Lol, ok, fair.

I guess I see a lot of wiggle room in the marketing speak of their page and I haven't actually "looked in to" Proton Mail's claims in a loooong time. So I guess what I really wanted to say is that it's interesting to me that people take that marketing at face value if they're actually trying to maintain secrecy. I've always just taken it as a given that third party services aren't particularly good at that, especially as they grow in complexity like Proton has. Signal has been easier for me to believe because of the singular focus and the reputation of the founder in the crypto community; although I guess he's long gone.