Man kids should not be able to enter strip clubs, that’s insane to me.

This is the most convincing argument for me. Despite the risks, I know these sorts of anonymous confirmation systems already exist.

Most VPN services tout “zero logs”, and many back it up with audits. We can demand the same from our government.

I’m sure drivers licenses and social security numbers made people uncomfortable too when they were rolled out, but they certainly improved our lives.

A slippery slope is a logical fallacy - we can impose just enough oversight to be helpful AND curtail overreach.

I think at this point it’s clear to everyone that content moderation done by humans is not viable at scale. In this sense the web is unique, and would require a more dragnet solution, like ID verification. This is done in China already to much success to limit game time for youths.

A child would be turned away at a strip club, so perhaps this is a better analogy than a bar.

Still, if a parent wanted their children to browse an unfiltered Reddit they could provide their ID, and in this way we have a similar analogy.

This is just a lack of imagination on your part.

You could theoretically come up with a system that is both decentralized and able verify age using dedicated protocols/API. Just like how most Lemmy sites scan for and report CSAM.

Sure, we all have anecdotes of finding porn on the internet before it was reasonable. And everyone can eventually find ways around barriers. I also remember someone young googling terms and not realizing there was a setting blocking content. They had given up.

Barriers can meaningfully delay, giving young people more time to mature before they are exposed to this content. If every social media platform implemented this, it would have a significant impact. That’s why the porn industry lobbies so hard against these sorts of laws.

I think many underestimate how damaging porn use actually is, how toxic the industry is, and how much of the traffic is generated by the underaged.

We can change anything, and if it makes society a better place then we actually have a moral obligation to try.

Im also not asking for perfectly monitored total surveillance. Just some barriers for surface level use.

A kid can camp outside a liquor store, offering strangers money to buy them alcohol. But this is difficult, and has a chance of having them turned in.

In the same way an ID pop-up can be circumvented with savvy use of VPNs etc., but it will easily block many of the youngest and most vulnerable. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective.

Advertisers have already been mining porn habits on Reddit to sell to third parties. Browser fingerprinting and the Reddit app identify you. If you were concerned about privacy you would not be using Reddit.

But a lot of children and teens do use Reddit, and we should do our best to limit their access to pornography, especially when this data is indiscriminately collected about them too.

If this is true, then this censorship is a terrible tragedy. I still would like government imposed ID age verification for porn though.

Parents should monitor their children’s behaviour AND society should also impose barriers. The “everything is on parents” is the same personal responsibility myth that conservatives use to justify removing government assistance and cutting things such as healthcare and schooling.

On their way home from school children cannot enter a bar and be served alcohol - or at least this is exceedingly difficult. This has undoubtedly saved people from substance abuse. The same can be said here.

Of course parents should discuss porn and its problems, just as they would with alcohol and other vices.

Also, I have taught young people technology. VPNs are not as intuitive for the mobile generation. Many will not bother, or when they figure it out they will be much closer to a reasonable age.

The barriers do not have to be perfect, but they will help.

Unpopular opinion: this is a good thing - there should be more barriers to porn. I know some teens will find a way around it, but it has been proven to affect the developing brain negatively and normalizes some really harmful behaviour.