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The UK government is so god damn dumb.
evil*
if a phone is tied to a svc acct like a telco provider- age verification should be automatic as THAT provider cannot open an acct for a child.
FUCKING THANK YOU!
I'm not in favour of any of the age restriction stuff UK government is doing.
Good argument, but:
Phones in the UK can be bought without a contract and untied to any network.
Pay as you go SIM cards can be bought without a contract.
Credit cards used to make purchases online require users to be 18 or over. Debit cards on the other hand can be issued to those under 18 (but a bank account will require evidence of ID, address, age). https://www.gohenry.com/uk/blog/financial-education/what-age-can-you-get-a-debit-card-in-the-uk
can a debit card be created by someone under 18? ie does a parent have to do it then give johnny a card? can a bodega owner sell a prepaid to a minor, and can prepaids be used?
just wondering where up the chain the responsibility lies. i’m all for corps being held to task, but also parents. if i handed my kid a phone it was my responsibility.
now he had phones that he acquired. i saw them. so i know it is largely irrelevant my thoughts on chain of concern.
in short: this is a terrible tar pit of gov horseshit sold in the “protect the kids” camp but really is “build a bigger fascist state db…”
This is what happens when your phone is no longer YOUR phone
It’s literally a government mandate, they can’t not do it without leaving the market
And of all the big names, I trust Apple the most to not give my shit to The Man
Open source software like GrapheneOS is the only software you should ever trust to not be government spyware.
Apple is the man. Google is the man. The men claiming they are the men are just little pocket puppets.
Wow, thats fucked. I hope Australia doesn't decide to do this as well. This shit is happening so quickly at the moment
me too but i'm not overly optimistic. i don't think there is a strong enough culture of anti-surveillance
Mixed feelings about this.
However, ethical questions aside, and from a purely legal conformation standpoint, if the phone validates the user is over 18 and passes only that info as a token to whatever application or website requests it, then it's a good implementation. It means elimination of multiple validation requirements, minimal transfer of data to third parties, fewer sources holding personal data, etc. Whether it works that way remains to be seen.
I haven't read this particular law. But one proposed in Colorado still requires service providers to look for other indicators of age and override the one reported by the OS.
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Starmer really needs to fuck off.
What if a butterfly was made out of butter?
These kinds of thoughts could destroy big brother.
no problem, I'll just use apps from outside of the App Store, right?
> can't have apps without an account
> cave have an account without a loicense
Will this finally kill off the "Apple is private enough" mantra I always hear?
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Well, since I'm not doing that, that would prevent me from having to install the apps that every damned company seems to insist I install rather than having a website. Kinda makes me wish for this nonsense to come to the US.
Why is there no privacy respecting solution for age verification? Like the government giving you some sort of token that says you’re over 18 and that’s it?
What if I told you that by regulation, the EU age verification system has to be anonymous and that it’s only the AUKUS countries that are moving forward in a way where anonymity is “a nice to have”.
Denmark’s system, which is a front-runner implementation in the EU, is going to be fully ZKP.
And yes it’s basically built with tokens.
You identify with a government system in an app. The services issues you signed tokens that are anonymous. You hand these anonymous tokens over to the sites that demand proof of age.
That sounds great. I don’t follow the topic closely (probably I should), so wasn’t aware of these developments. This should be brought up in all discussions about age verification, so everyone knows there are better options.
Some people will feel that it’s not ideal, as you still have to trust the government, opposed to full anonymity, but that is a bit of a separate problem.
Ultimately someone has to vouch for “yes, this person is 18+”. People can’t self-attest, except through crappy biometric, so at some point a government ID has to be involved.
I’d trust my government over a credit reference agency that literally makes revenue from selling access to your private data.
Anyone have a more in-depth technical description of how that works? I'm interested.
Because its not about age verification, its about tracking and controlling you and making a privacy respecting solution isn't compatible with that.
Because then you can share the token and everyone can use it
I'm sure a more robust solution is possible though.
You can make them biometric and still be private, but that's even more effort which they wont spend.
Disgusting.
Another reason sideloading is important.
Sideloading isn’t a real term - there is only loading a better OS than whatever spy-tech google is offering.
You can’t “sideload” hardware you own - you just install whatever software you like and prefer
Jesus Tittyfucking Christ, yes it is. I'm not typing out "installing software from outside the Google Play Store" every time, so you can go away.
Holy. Shit.
What the fuck a 6 year old kid buys a $1000+ phone now? Man, these retards are not hiding it anymore
No need for the r slur and parents' handed down phones going to kids is not as sensational as you seem to think
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What the actual fuck?????????
Time for more users to adopt GrapheneOS
GrapheneOS is great and all but I refuse to willingly give google a single dollar for their hardware.
When GrapheneOS can be installed on any device is when I’ll gladly make that switch, and hopefully one day Apple iPhones can run other operating systems.
Buy a used one then. Google won't see your money then.
Or wait a little longer. https://piunikaweb.com/2025/11/19/grapheneos-to-release-non-pixel-flagship-phone-in-q4-2026-or-in-2027/
In a revealing discussion with David Bombal, the GrapheneOS team confirmed they are actively working with a “top-tier Android OEM” to bring their hardened operating system to non-Google flagship devices.
First time I'm hearing about a non google OEM made phone, that would be amazing!
Increasing the value of an used second hand market devices can empower other people to seek the Google Pixel devices as a decisive buy considering they keep their value for a longer time compared to other brands.
For god's sake can corporations and governments stop trying to ~~control and survey people~~ do the job of parents and society. If parents are not doing their job then you need better awareness and education not to take over.
Pretty sure everyone understand it's not about the age.
My Apple account is probably old enough to vote…
I wonder if any companies would ever accept that as proof hah.
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this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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