A Texas federal judge today blocked an App Store age verification law that was set to go into effect on January 1, 2026, which means Apple may not have to support the changes after all. The Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB2420) requires Apple and other app marketplaces to confirm user age when a person creates an Apple Account. Apple Accounts for users under 18 would need to join a Family Sharing group, with new controls available for parents and restrictions for minors.
I would prefer for parents and myself included to be able to pick and choose what’s best for their own children. (Using current technology, such as local parental controls on home routers)
I do not support “digital IDs” and by extension governments with corporations collecting and or processing this data in anyway, or tracking me or my children in anyway.
What I would support is local governments creating a system/group to “curate the internet” similar to how librarians curate books. Classify websites into listed based on certain criteria, and then provide this list for parents to whitelists on a home router. No need to check IDs or scan faces and the end goal of “protecting the children” would be achieved.
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But why would I need to provide my ID when buying a loaf of bread now? Just because cigarettes and drugs are regulated does not mean we should regulated bread “to protect the children”.
This is what a “digital ID” would do, you would need to provide your ID at every interaction you do online. That would include every single website you enter (including Lemmy for example), and every page you visit in those sites.
If you think of this “physically” the equivalent would be the need for you to provide your ID when you enter a store, when you enter any store aisle, when you pull any product off the shelf, and then provide your ID once again when you purchase at the register. Not to mention now when you leave the store you would need to provide your ID getting back to your car/bus/tram so you can head to your next destination.
The biggest difference here now between providing your physical ID at a store counter to purchase cigarettes, vs being ID physical at every corner/street/store is the invasion of privacy and freedoms, not to mention this can be used against you in many ways.
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Cigarettes harm third parties via second hand smoke. Gacha games don’t brain rot the person sitting next to you.
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