FYI Regarding Discord! Discord to require ID and age verification using government issued IDs.
- Thread starter JCitron
- Start date
It is not just Discord (which I do not use) but virtually all social media here now requires age verification. Australia is the first jurisdiction to impose a minimum age limit of 16 years on social media. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit, are in the ban with more being added.
Details are at www.esafety.gov.au/.../social-media-age-restrictions
There are those who see this as an attack on "free speech" with privacy implications, as covered in that "weirdo" video clip, while others see it as a long overdue child safety and protection issue. I am in the latter camp - age restrictions exist for movies, voting in elections, drinking in public bars, driving vehicles, etc, where userID or some sort of visual age verification (including use of the "Mark 1 eye-ball" by an employee at the entrance) is required.
It is how the information is stored and used that does concern me. During the last few days here in Oz there has been a breaking news story about a private contractor responsible for digitizing court transcripts (often containing a great deal of personal, legally protected and security information such as the identity of protected witnesses) had sub contracted the work to overseas operators without obtaining any approval from the courts.
Data breaches in general are now almost routine these days and perhaps part of the price we pay for the conveniences of the "digital age". Age or identity verification may be another price.
My opinions.
Details are at www.esafety.gov.au/.../social-media-age-restrictions
There are those who see this as an attack on "free speech" with privacy implications, as covered in that "weirdo" video clip, while others see it as a long overdue child safety and protection issue. I am in the latter camp - age restrictions exist for movies, voting in elections, drinking in public bars, driving vehicles, etc, where userID or some sort of visual age verification (including use of the "Mark 1 eye-ball" by an employee at the entrance) is required.
It is how the information is stored and used that does concern me. During the last few days here in Oz there has been a breaking news story about a private contractor responsible for digitizing court transcripts (often containing a great deal of personal, legally protected and security information such as the identity of protected witnesses) had sub contracted the work to overseas operators without obtaining any approval from the courts.
Data breaches in general are now almost routine these days and perhaps part of the price we pay for the conveniences of the "digital age". Age or identity verification may be another price.
My opinions.
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I agree, age verification should be part of the equation, but the people behind this with Discord are in it for other reasons including for political persecution and prosecution of citizens. There have already been a few incidents of data breaches of this information and the fact that we have to upload facial images and government-issued IDs means that this information is ripe for harvesting, or more like for sale to the highest bidder. Having access to our face and IDs means that the information can be manipulated and more so in this day and age with AI tools.
With the requirement of government-issued IDs, I draw the line and I will terminate my Discord account and any other service that requires that.
What annoys me is, at least in the UK, is that when there is a data breach we are told...oops sorry but live with it and oh by the way please change your password. That's not good enough.
Yep, he is definitely a weirdo.
I don't know if he mentioned that the ID is just for creating an account although if the system sees childish behavior then it might require proof of age. I guess it will clean out all the trolls from the Trainz server at least. They did mention that if you visit discord servers that have adult content it will assume you to be an adult. I guess they have never met a 13 year old boy.