Age Verification is… wait.
It’s literally the same fucking script as like… everything else. Holy fucking shit.
WOW. Oh my GOD. IT’S THE SAME FUCKING SCRIPT?
What is Age Verification for?
Well, long story short, money. Long story long? Well, most companies rely on selling data to make money. For example, let’s take a look at Meta.
Meta makes billions off of selling data. However, Meta’s just encountered a problem. They’re unable to sell data for high prices! Why? Because their data’s authenticity can’t be verified! To continue making money off of user data, Meta needs to find a quick way to solve this dilemma… Yes. Lobbying the government.
Meta has now successfully lobbied the government with millions upon millions of dollars, and bills have now been passed to require age verification to access platforms, all in the name of protecting kids! Yes, put everything on protecting the fucking kids. Now, Mark Zuckerberg, would you mind explaining how revenue has gone up by almost 302% after implementing age verification measures, sir?
Age verification has also been used for mass-surveillance. Sort of like flock cameras, but online. They’re on every site you visit, to the point where these ID verification companies work together to create profiles on you. You, are the product. You, are the money. You, are their paycheck. The reason they aren’t dead yet is because people are inevitably going to give in their ID. That’s the painful truth of it all. There will always be more people who keep the circus running, and less who choose to strike.
Is there a way around this?
Unless they’re using easy-to-spoof algorithms, no. Not really. ID verification is notoriously hard to get around with recent enhancements within the Machine Learning sector, especially with Persona. It’s only gonna get deeper and darker from here, they say. There are obviously options around this, such as other measures of verification, but it depends on the platform, and sometimes, there may not be any other options.
It’s best to rely on open-source software and utilize systems made for privacy, such as picking out a general-purpose Linux distribution instead of Windows, or certain software such as Fluxer instead of Discord, LMStudio/llama.cpp instead of ChatGPT (or any AI service, for that matter) and Codeberg instead of GitHub. Or better yet, self-host your own Forgejo instance! It’s essentially GitHub, but written in GoLang and made for the community.
Remember, your privacy should always come before anything else online. If you disagree, then you are in the wrong place. Your privacy was a right that was promised to you, and shouldn’t be lost to time.
What can I do about it?
For now, all you can really do is adapt to the changes. Going dark isn’t suddenly going to make you a criminal. Wanting privacy is natural, and feeling as if the government is restricting your every move is… the exact same thought everyone else is having. If you truly want to be freed from the constraints of age verification, hop onto a Linux distribution which is user-friendly, such as Fedora or SecureBlue (SecureBlue is based on the Atomic Fedora Spins, with enhancements made to increase security) and offboard your Google presence; Google is one of the lead adopters of age verification measures.
In the next post, I plan on covering more platforms, and possibly even looking into Palantir. If you have any topic requests, contact me. Otherwise, have an amazing morning, evening, or night.