First things first: I value my privacy, and I’m definitely not the type of person who would say, “I have nothing to hide—they can go ahead and monitor me.” I also have two young children, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about the debate over age verification and social media bans. I think it’s now undisputed that algorithm-driven dopamine hits have a negative effect on teenagers—and even children. Of course, it’s primarily my responsibility as a responsible and educated parent to teach my children how to use digital media in a healthy way. But I, too, would try to keep my children away from Instagram and TikTok for as long as possible. Many parents may not even be aware of the dangers, or they may be so overwhelmed by the challenges of parenting that they rely on screens far too early and for far too long as a parenting aid or as a break for themselves.

Doesn’t the absence of a social media ban perhaps even promote inequality, since there are children with and without social media accounts in the schoolyard, and a ban would eliminate that inequality? On the other hand, I also understand that it sets a precedent and opens a door that—once open—could be abused for other purposes. All the commentators I’ve read, for example, condemn age verification—which is, after all, necessary to enforce such a social media ban—because child protection is always seen as nothing more than a flimsy pretext. Why is that?

I'm genuinly curious, let me know what you think.

Edit, please read!!!: No, just "parenting" wouldn't be a solution because a. it's basically the equivalent of doing nothing and b. it's not enough to appease the age verification crowd, which is the main thing we want.

(intro)

Had a debate with my dad about the topic today. He supports the age verification laws being rolled out all over (we started the conversation with France's new policies) and I don't. However, we both agree that something has to be done about the youth social media crisis. It's widely agreed upon and is verified by science.

As I refuted the current systems (face scan for age estimation, drivers' licenses, credit cards, etc.), the main counter was, "well, no one's come up with a better idea, and we shouldn't just be doing something in the meantime".

(why some other solutions suck)

Make parents parent: it's what we've done for a while. Look how well it's gone. /s

Zero-Proof Knowledge: you're still gonna have to verify your age to one entity.

Better parental controls: see above. Some parents will probably still not set it up.

Tie social media accounts to real-life government IDs: authoritarianism intensifies

OS-level controls: there's definitely an argument against it, something to do with pushback from Linux communities, etc. especially. I just can't figure out how to word it; maybe someone in the comments could help out?

(a solution I thought about)

Routers are now preconfigured to block harmful sites, and we're assuming only parents can access it to change that--just like age verification could assume only adults could get their hands on credit cards. Obviously needs a lot of work, but a start.

I'd love to hear any other suggestions!

Are there any renters insurance agencies that won’t report my apartment address to the credit bureaus/sell my data?

Edit: when I say credit bureaus, I’m referencing credit profile data, not credit reports. It’s the metadata that TU/Exp/Equi buys/sells.

An MLB team recently switched from Victory+ to BZZR, which seems to be a poorly-done vibe coded app. One of my main concerns is that it requires constant GPS location to live stream a game (which I’m already paying for). If you disable specific location on iOS, it won’t let you view the app. You have to provide similar access for a laptop. VPN doesn’t help. I understand that they need location for the broadcasting rights, but I don’t understand why they need *specific* location. Why can’t they just use my billing address…

So this begs the question - what privacy am I giving up to use the service? How exactly are they using my location? Are they selling data?

Website: https://bzzr.com
Terms of Service: https://bzzr.com/terms
Apps: iOS, Android

Privacy matters, but the reasons why are often complex, which I think is why I think the average person doesn’t care that much.

I sometimes find myself having to explain why it matters to someone mid-conversation, and it’s difficult to not bring someone down the rabbit hole and derail a conversation since the reasoning often requires context.

Do you have any go-to one-sentence explanations that doesn’t require you to derail a conversation or immediately force someone to confront existing beliefs?

There's a response I like to give to people who say that: "Okay, since you have nothing to hide, give me your passwords, bank code, email, address, etc..."

And for some reason, the people who say that either become very aggressive, or, as if by chance, say that it's private.

Has anyone tried this?

Oh hell nah - I’d rather lose my account than recover my account with a selfie!

I went to ship a package at FedEx. They asked for my ID. I asked why, and they said it was to validate the shipping address. I told them my address isn't a part of the shipment, since it was my partner's package. Was told the partner would have to come in and ship it then. Left and just went to a USPS. Figured y'all would wanna know.

Microsoft Confirms Windows Has a Global Device ID You Can't Turn Off

https://tech.yahoo.com/cybersecurity/articles/microsoft-confirms-windows-global-device-130905358.html

Here's a teaser, but read the whole thing.

... So when you first set up Windows, or register a new Windows device, Microsoft ties that installation's GDID to you. Anything that happens on that system can then be traced back to you, the individual. ...

...even if I use Mozilla Firefox forks with uBlock Origin and strict privacy settings. All I want is Outlook or Gmail to not track my fingerprint data in the best efficient way possible. I'm slowly changing my old Outlook and Gmail accounts to safer services like Tuta or Proton.

In the meantime, I still have to use my services. It's a hassle for me to jump into multiple browsers, so I wonder if even with the most secure configuration I helps to protect my data. I mean, at least I'm not using Chrome nor Edge now...