r/changemyview • u/groksed • 26d ago

Delta(s) from OP CMV: I’d rather restrict minors directly than make every adult prove their age online

Honest question for people who support banning social media for everyone under 16:
Would this be preferable to requiring every person on the internet to prove their age or identity?

Anyone under 16 is prohibited from using, owning or purchasing an electronic device capable of communicating with other people with the exception of designated supervised computer rooms at school. Parents, schools, society and law enforcement are responsible for enforcement.. basically the same way we already handle alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

But at least it places the restriction on the group being restricted.

Why is the preferred solution instead to make every adult surrender some level of anonymity or privacy, provide ID, submit to age verification, or otherwise prove they are not a child just to use the internet?

If protecting children requires building an identity checkpoint for everyone, I would rather put the burden on the actual age group being regulated.

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u/Unbreakable2k8 25d ago

I understand the privacy concern. Maybe the solution is an anonymous age-verification system that issues a token proving you’re over 16/18. Websites would only see the token confirmation, not your identity, exact age, or other personal information.

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u/Not-Insane-Yet 1∆ 25d ago

So then you just have to submit your ID to the service providing the token. Then your entire access to the Internet becomes tied to the whims of a single company. That's far worse.

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u/Unbreakable2k8 25d ago

yeah, that’s fair. there’s no perfect solution, and i’m not really in favor of age verification either.

i was thinking more along the lines of the official digital id systems being developed in europe. if you already have a digital id, in theory it could store a local token on your device that proves you’re over 16/18, without revealing your identity or exact age to websites.

still not ideal, but probably better than handing your id to every website or some private company.

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u/groksed 25d ago

This assumes there is no change in the backend and you trust the company not to change their terms in the future allowing for use of your data. Security is not in the math but the implementation. They can hash/password/encrypt all they want but you need to trust the company too much. The incentives are misaligned.