If you live in Mississippi, you may have noticed that you are no longer able to log into your Bluesky or Dreamwidth accounts from within the state. That’s because, in a chilling early warning sign for the U.S., both social platforms decided to block all users in Mississippi from their services rather than risk hefty fines under the state’s oppressive age verification mandate.

This consolidation of power is a dream come true for the Big Tech platforms, but it’s a nightmare for users. While the megacorporations get more traffic and a whole lot more user data (read: profit), users are left with far fewer community options and a bland, corporate surveillance machine instead of a vibrant public sphere. The internet we all fell in love with is a diverse and colorful place, full of innovation, connection, and unique opportunities for self-expression. That internet—our internet—is worth defending.

  • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.mlEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    Some kind of anonymous token that says “I’m adult” and smart card on credit cards are kind of that, but they have a unique identifier that identifies you. They’re not anonymous which is the only acceptable kind of adult verification. It makes more sense to cordon off all parts of the internet with identity/age verification and consider them destroyed. I’d like to have an IP banlist of all participants in his harebrained scheme, just rip off the bandair immediately rather than have them shit the bed down the line.

    • Pulptastic@midwest.socialEnglish
      1·
      22 hours ago

      Maybe a government run service that reads your unique identifier and provides a simple adult:yes/no to the website. That takes the burden off the sites and keeps personal identification info in a publicly owned system.