Ursula von der Leyen, making the internet progressively worse year by year. Cookie banners, GDPR consent dialogs, and now ID verification. Please just retire and take up a different hobby, like knitting.
this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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My freedom shouldn't be implied cause some parent can't use a parental control which is already mandatory in the eu. Your kids isn't my responsability.
It s unreal that the "free world" want my id simply to go online.
Also same shit as rgpd. Only bigger website and corporation can afford putting million toward implementing thoses policiesbwhile all other won't bother and just cut acces to be in compliance.
How is your freedom reduced tho, an app produces a yes or no, how is that a reduction of freedom. Search for zero-knowledge proof and the techniques behind it
I hate how effective the whole "think of the children" rhetoric is. Every person I talked to about this irl is either indifferent or even in support because they want children protected and they "don't do anything they need to hide" anyway so they don't mind presenting an ID.... I agree children should not be on social media, but it's kinda just the parent's responsibility to not let them near it and the tools are out there. Plus let's not pretend kids aren't smart enough to figure out there's alternatives...
This is what it's about. My daughter started reaching sites I had explicitly blocked in her phone and our home network (OPNSense + AdGuard Home) using a VPN.
I dis not blame the sites, or the ISP, or even the VPN provider. She has a PC and Phone because we, her parents, allowed it, so that's on her for choosing to circumvent the security implemented, and on US for providing the means.
So, she has no access to any technology until further notice. Why the fuck does everyone have to pay because some of us are not parenting correctly?
I certainly don't want any company or government deciding what my kids can or cannot have access to, that's my role, not theirs.
Eliminating online privacy has always been framed as "protecting children" and it's always been 100% about surveillance
I mean, why are they not using these resources to tackle child poverty, prosecute the epstein list or the panama papers if they want to help children so fucking badly?
Bingo!
The framework is anonymous and open source.
Even if it's secure (no software is ever 100% secure), it can't be anonymous. How could they verify your ID? Maybe they theoretically don't store the record, and the checks after the first don't provide it, it can't be anonymous or it's worthless for ID verification.
That's the cool part, they found a way to keep it anonymous and still be ID verification, it's called a white card, a simple yes or no if you're 18+, it's like you get a simple white card from a verified institution like a bank saying you're 18+ with no other information like... How is that not anonymous?
Search for zero-knowledge proof, and the techniques behind it
This will just push the actual criminals further underground, while everyone else gets spied on. lose-lose.
Yeah, no.
Can they just stop pretending these laws are not about eroding privacy and be honest for ounce.
Imperial units detected
If you give these people 25.4 millimetres they'll take 1.6 kilometres.
EU’s new social media ~~child protection~~ state surveillance rules to require all social media accounts to produce state ID
FTFY
How else is Mrs. von der Leyen supposed to sue people that speak badly about EU politicians?
If she wasn't corrupt and incompetent people wouldn't say that about her, so maybe she should improve her bad reputation or step down as incompetent supreme.
You're talking about someone that had her floor in the EU building fortified, only allowing access for a few selected people. Does that look like she intends to improve her reputation to you?
That stuff would 100% get leaked and ruin many lives. Hell it would ruin lives even if only authorized authorities have access to it because some perverted cops or politicians will abuse it to stalk women and children. They‘re already doing it but getting a live feed of someone’s online activity by typing in a single number makes it so much more convenient for bad actors. And it would also get leaked on top of it.
Well if everyone's identity is stolen then I guess your identity will mean nothing.
Ironically, kids might still get around the new restriction by using a virtual private network (VPN) connection, which virtually positions the computer in another country, at the time of signing up.
This is just going to be one long pointless game of whackamole and as effective as Prohibition was in the US.
The US claim they are going after the VPN companies now too. Of course it could be all lies and deflection like most things they say now.
That’s nonsense, VPN is tool needed to run companies. Even if they make VPNs business only, people will just register fake businesses
There is no such thing as "fake business". The point is that the government identifies you when you want to use a VPN, so it's either gonna be through your personal ID or through a business where you also register with the government and then they obviously also know your identity.
By fake I mean business which officially registered but effectively does nothing, files 0 profit tax forms and pays just enough fees to keep it formally open. It doesn’t hide your identity from government but it does allow you to access content via countries where there is no age verification thus companies don’t get your id
It’s not just about business use, but citizen access to content. I looked it up and this is the stage it’s at now https://gizmodo.com/the-first-us-law-targeting-vpn-use-takes-effect-september-3-heres-what-happen-2000805001
The new law is narrow. VPN companies say they can’t do it. Fines for businesses that don’t are real. It’s all a little strange.
Very few people will set up their own business or technical venture, though. That’s enough to have a chilling effect.
EU being shitty as always.
Honestly? State ID is better than the current solution which is giving Thiel-affiliated companies photo and other data.
Ideally I'd rather have a governments provided digital ID that's more secure and just gives the company limited metadata instead of full ID info provided from gov't to company. Put in rules requiring warrants or subpoenas for lookups.
Who do you think is checking those ids? Hint: it's not the government, it's some 3rd party company, always.
With cryptographic systems like the EU uses, it must go through the government because a 3rd party can't implement that verification/response pattern without access to the proper gov't cryptographic secrets.