If it ever gets to this point, I have a ton of books to read. I just won't use a computer anymore. You'll find me under a tree in a park reading 1984.
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Legislators have no idea how technical stuff works. Imagine imposing this requirement on a Raspberry Pi, which has no document scanner or webcam to scan your Government Approved ID or Unique Human Face. Either the device has to be mandated to include a camera or some other similar bullshit, or it doesn't have a way to scan your face or ID. So it would be noncompliant by default, but if you could mandate a camera is included, then you'd have to mandate that it requires the scan and gatekeeps the operation of the device without it, and so on... just a bunch of ridiculous bullshit.
You are still acting under the assumption that we will be allowed purchase our own hardware like a Raspberry Pi, or some stick of RAM to upgrade our desktop PC.
They want us on dumb terminals like in WallE, consuming the content they want us to see, and squashing the inconvenient truths they don’t like.
Does your little Blueberry cake or whatever have Microsoft SecureBoot Copilot Plus? No? It’s ILLEGAL and you can go to JAIL for having it! SURRENDER TO THE AI DRONE NOW.
The real problem is that I’m not being hyperbolic.

“Sir, do you have any Raspberry Pi’s in the vehicle?”
Every new car these days is a computer first, so don't worry, it'll already have all of your personal information if you're interested in driving it.
This. And with the mumblings of autonomous AI kill bots it would be next to nothing in a decade or so for them to detect non-compliant networked devices. Everything already tries to map your network. Imagine you have a degoogled phone and some robocop detects it and arrests you because you have a suspicious device.
The autonomous robot thing freaks me the fuck out. Imagine a cop that could access your phone and listen to your conversations, track you in real time and never get tired. If that happens it's game over. It's not happening this year, but in 5 years? With how much money they are dumping into the industry?
They don't care if the country collapses. They're designing the next one.
The thing about "autonomous AI" is that it isn't what the large, prominent "AI" companies are researching. The money is being dumped into LLM companies for the most part, and LLMs aren't a likely way to get fully autonomous robots.
I'm not saying that it isn't going to happen, especially because they exist somewhat already (drones and palantir). However, when people think "dumping money into the AI industry", most are thinking of OpenAI, Anthropic and the like, especially since that is actually where the majority of money (and power) is going.
I personally think 5 years is a stretch, but I hope the AI killbots come for me first if I'm wrong, because I wouldn't want to live on this planet anymore. Also, I'm not sure that this would be a thing in practice, since they could extract labor out of you instead of killing you with robots simply for having a non-registered network device.
Well they can try to do that but it won't work. I already have at least 4 Raspberry Pis, and who knows how many other computers could be lurking around.
They'll just end up like any other form of draconian prohibition - black markets everywhere. Even my grandpa knew a bootlegger in small town USA where alcohol was illegal.
I mean, even high power desktops don't generally come WITH those devices.
I imagine this would be implemented for devices that come with that stuff, which already tells you how easy it will be for actual predators and criminals to avoid this shit while everyone else gets fucked.
I'm pretty sure that's part of the point. Kill third party and DIY hardwares and softwares. Even if you could develope alternative tech you can't monetize it because it wouldn't meet regulation. The only option becomes hardware as a service, which you validate your age with the host and your pi just becomes virtualized hardware if it exists at all.
It's not just about survaliance. It's about crushing self-educators and putting the working class in a digital environment that is one-way and has no exits.
They're revolutionizing the internet and technology so you can only access what they want and how they want.
Big tech is using very sophisticated methods to lock us out.
You think they're dumb. But they know exactly what they're doing. Like they said in the image, these are pedophile run companies telling pedophile run governments how to collect biometric data about every single person using an internet connected device, which is essentially everybody at this point.
Technically a raspberry pi does not need to be an internet connected device but also consider,
- Smart fridges
- robot vacuums/lawn mowers
- some lightbulbs
What they'll do is make buying second hand as difficult as possible, then make you pay for your devices in a verified way where you are recognized. Every device will most likely have a fingerprint on it so if you connect to the internet through it, all that traffic is tied to you at a hardware level.
Please don't underestimate the people in these federal agencies. They might not seem like the ones pushing it, but they are absolutely carrying out the will of billionaires who think we deserve nothing. And the people working in these agencies are not dumb, they are smart and they are ruthless.
They are serving people who are determined to get their way. And only a massive, and threatening push back will stop this.
So all this is supposed to be part of what lobbies do - provide subject matter input, recommendations, and direction to lawmakers, so that said lawmakers can make better laws. This protects the lobbies' interests because they aren't forced to do unreasonable shit just to comply with nonsense laws.
BUT Citizens United happened, and now lobbies are for funneling money to politicians so that they will produce laws that benefit you, as a company/org, and not the general interest.
You think a Raspberry Pi is hard? Try an elevator.
It has a computer that likely runs the linux kernal, a user interface, the emergecy call feature probably uses VOIP and is likely internet connected, and it may even have hundreds of unique users per day!
I use my desktop PC to browse the web and play games so it does not have a camera.
I assume they'd probably just say you gotta either have a way to load it on-device (e.g. pre-record a video of your face and a photo of your ID, put on USB drive, plug into Pi), or have a way to wirelessly do so from another device, as long as the device you're verifying is able to connect to the internet, since otherwise age verification wouldn't really matter in the first place.
Don't worry, they'll find a way to make you give up your personal data no matter what!
I heard it was Meta pushing all this age verification legislation all over the country. And of not, I'm sure it's some other evil company.
I think this goes beyond them. This has roots in the technofascists, and the ruling class, the oligarchy in general. I don't doubt both google and fb are spearheading it, but they aren't the forces behind it per se. It's worldwide, rolled out now as the mask came off. This is New World Order Shit.
It really only has roots in money like every other thing these people do. They have insatiable appetite for growth at any means, if that means they use fascism or religion as a tool they will, this however seems to be profit motivated not control motivated when you look at the most likely scenario that benefits all involved. The more people want restrictions on social media to and the like the more social media giants become targets for fines and regulatory action if they dont put in more stict content filters or moderation (which would cause rage baited engagement to drop and lower their profits). These age verification laws shifts responsibility from those companies over to the device manufactures and the cost onto consumers. Manufacturers are ok taking the hit of implementing it at an OS/hardware level because it means new devices need to be sold to become compliant, as hardware climbs in price that means it pushed more people on budgets into cloud pc based options meaning they dont loose money on the money invested in datacenters when the AI bubble bursts. It also means open source alternatives could be regulatorly bared from competing if they need to enact this as most will not wont to from an ethics stand point nor have the funds to create any bespoke hardware to fulfil regulations. In addition since you do have the fascists currently in power they can pretend like the amount of data this will generate from could be actionable to try and gain grants from authoritarian regimes looking for more control on a population, which just means profit margins have increased for all involved as they spend less of their own money. In the end its a way to force move people onto cloud based hardware to support the massive datacenter investments the AI bubble created.
Maybe get rid of all the child molesters we fucking already know about if you want to protect kids you fucking assholes.
So, like, my internet-connected lightbulbs would have to verify my age, too?
Insert into orifice
Will it light up if I'm an adult? Brb, research.
Hear that? That's the sound of millions of ER doctors and nurses screaming in despair.
Internet enabled device? So Ethernet, wifi, and cellular modules? Network switches? Routers? Modem? What does it even mean?
Maybe we just rename the Internet, problem solved. My computer is now milfnet enabled, idk what "Internet" is, I connect to the milfnet.
There are ways to set up clandestine connections of computers, that can connect to the broader internet in a variety of ways. It was designed by the USG in fact, for use in countries they wanted to overthrow. They removed most of the information from finding it on a search page long back, but it includes beaming signals from computer to computer with bluetooth type stuff, the tor and onion routers were part of the projects, sending internet traffic over power lines, and all sorts of stuff. I read about this in detail on a dailykos journal of all places 15 years back or so. Can't find it now. There was a lot more to it.
Yeah, no. Get turbo-fucked.
My theory is that the pedophiles in charge want a way to verify they are talking to an authenticated minor, too much time wasted talking to Chris Hansen types.
I’ll go back to buying porn in person with cash.
“So just ball bludgeoners 2, heavy breathing from the closet 42, and my little cumshot: friendship with benefits. Will that be all?”
“Toss in a tube of KY and a hemorrhoid cream. Mama’s going cave diving tonight.”
It didn't feel even remotely normal even when it was normal.
I dunno, I’ve been in plenty of porn and sex shops and the atmosphere was usually reminiscent of a convenience store with sparkles. It’s genuinely not a big deal, unless you begin spontaneously masturbating in the aisle. Paying for porn again, that’s the weird part for me.
What about Back Door Sluts 9?
If that's how it's gonna be, fuck it, I'll just get a real girlfriend. >:[
We're going back to usenet
We're not tho. The pedophiles own the means of communication.
There is so much existing network hardware out there, we could definitely just build our own communication networks. It won't be as robust initially, but it could be decent enough to freely spread information.
I’ll just invent my own internet, with blackjack and hookers!
It’ll be called the sinternet and all the protocols will be the same, but prefixed with “s” so laws targeting the internet can be ignored. It’ll be the lazy persons dark web.
I've started lurking there. It's mostly greybeards and those so obnoxiously insane or annoying they've been kicked off everything else
its all to feed the surveillance obsessed PALINITIR that thiel has been hawking at govts about. it isnt a coincidence he started coming out of the woodwork and talks about it, when he is always very secretive from the media.
Any info about who is pushing this so hard right now? It seems too much of a coincidence that this seems to be pushed everywhere around the world atm. Makes me think it's not the usual incompentent police and secret service combination
I don't think I want the Epstein class to have an easy way to determine who is (and therefore also isn't) an adult over the internet.
I’m getting tempted to go off the grid and just make do with meshstatic or such.
I refuse to live in a big brother world.
Reject modernity, embrace nature
So… this is really THE conversation. How do we roll the Internet back to around 1999? Obviously we include Wikipedia But pretty much every other so called innovation would ultimately infringe the rights of users or manipulate them.
We all sing the same song here.
We love our MP3s played on private devices.
We love our anonymity.
But we also love access to like minds and information.
Yes — nature is a great solution and we need to have it in our lives every day, but it shouldn’t be an either or situation.
For a brief and shining moment - right around 1999, we had the ability to opt in only where we wanted and to protect ourselves completely when we did not. Corporations had not figured out total surveillance.
This is the sweet spot. And Lemmy is a part of this — I consider all of the Fediverse prime time 1999.
I'm afraid you can't just take the good parts of modern technology without the bad. You either let everyone have access to modern tools and we go extinct or you limit access to a small group who will have total control over everyone else. Or simply get rid of the technology. The sweet spot wasn't 1999, it was before we had TV dumbing us down, before we had microplastics making us sick and before we had cars destroying local communities.
Well… yes, embrace nature. But if we push your line of thinking… the sweet spot comes before the locomotive, the pen, the compass.
I’ll venture that individually, groups of people, like the Amish, can and do take the good parts of tech without the bad.
I’m not so keen to go Amish, but I like to communicate with people who understand how instances work. How donations and service work.
I’m just not so quick to give up on 1999.
I’m willing to let others be distracted to death by their toys while they pour out money to the tech bros— I just won’t be one of those.
I definitely think the Amish way of life is happier, healthier and more beneficial to others than American life for the past 100 years. But the way they managed that is by rejecting modern technology with very little picking and choosing like using radios but not phones or cars but not planes. I'm sure when they do pick and choose (e.g., I heard some use pesticides like Roundup) it will usually have negative consequences (see Roundup).
But unfortunately the Amish will die along with everyone else if there isn't a global stop to technological progress. Forming anti-tech communities is an important step in the right direction but awareness of the issues needs to spread to most people on the planet - and fast.
Here we’re are on a distributed network talking about tech. And agreeing.
I like my records and MP3s.
I like my camera and word processor.
But I agree with you that the Amish live a more healthy life style.
I have a family but if I didn’t… i might show up with my two hands and throw my lot in to that lifestyle. Do they allow books? That’s the one thing I could not live without.
Yes, they allow books. But unfortunately you wouldn't be able to join them unless you hold their specific religious convictions.
My hope is that intentional communities can form that support each other so that they are not subject to strong competitive pressures that practically necessitate anti-consumer practices and the use of modern technology that does more harm than good. The central principles would be belief that doing things the natural way is (almost always) best and that societal wellbeing is largely unrelated to efficiency, economics and material goods once the basic needs have been met. No other religion or beliefs would be required. Through their positive example these communities would influence the rest of the world in the right direction too so that we might not become extinct.
To this end I started https://lemmy.today/c/StopTech and https://lemmy.today/c/ParallelSocieties. I'm working on groups on other platforms as well and trying to start a community in the real world.
Such communities would benefit from grant fund seeding.
As you know, intentional communities were very popular in the 70s and likely align themselves to your values already.
You might visit these and see if they might not provide a foundation for the work your hope to engage in.
I’m all for your vision.
I wouldn’t be reading stop tech if I weren’t.
But as you know… my goals are more humble: get everyone reading paper books and using flip phones and mp3 players and meeting in parks to play frisbee and kick hacky sacks
Unfortunately most intentional communities don't last very long and many are cult-like, overly collectivist or based on (what I would consider) wacky ideologies. There's a few that have lasted and seem reasonable but I haven't looked into them much yet and doubt I would be able to visit them. My ideal has some overlap with back-to-the-land movements but it goes further in that it strives to ultimately get away from the internet, cars, drugs and other modern tech. I'm not aware of any intentional communities specifically trying to do that.
So… I long for this as well. But I haven’t even set aside one day a week… call it COLD TURKEY no tech day. I haven’t even done this.
That sounds like a good place to start. Take it one step at a time. You can even start with just an offline morning a week. You said you like reading books so that's one thing you can do in those times. I'm sure you have other hobbies or tasks you can do that don't require digital devices.
My mood gets obliterated whenever I open Lemmy nowadays.
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