zlacker

[parent] [thread] 26 comments
1. qiine+(OP)[view] [source] 2025-09-24 13:14:02
This read more like "we thought pc was a dead relic of the past" sadly
replies(4): >>ameliu+w3 >>ktosob+69 >>sjw987+0f >>sidewn+2h
2. ameliu+w3[view] [source] 2025-09-24 13:30:36
>>qiine+(OP)
I think it's more that smartphones have built in security measures that prevent hacking. It already works for bank apps, so why not use it for government stuff too?

It sucks, yes, but that's probably how these people think.

replies(2): >>dathin+m7 >>little+Pb
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3. dathin+m7[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 13:46:20
>>ameliu+w3
but if age verification is used for what it claims it is such hacking protections are not only unnecessary but fundamentally harmful (i.e. if a child hacks their PC it's fine if they circumvent age verification, the main responsibility still lies with parents and as such tools like parent controls are much more relevant)

the main reason is that this is not a reference implementations or "this is the app everyone must use" case but a "to see what is technical possible/practical" "research/POV" project

this also makes the "EU age verification app" title quite misleading

4. ktosob+69[view] [source] 2025-09-24 13:53:11
>>qiine+(OP)
Well, looking around I see more people using smartphones for anything and even not having a PC…
replies(4): >>mrweas+if >>nozzle+Ug >>marius+Jk >>EvanAn+Em1
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5. little+Pb[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 14:03:50
>>ameliu+w3
> I think it's more that smartphones have built in security measures that prevent hacking.

Which is a joke when you know that most phones in the wild are using an obsolete OS version (most of the time due to lack of software support from the manufacturer, but sometimes because some people just refuse to update because updates are in fact downgrades — looking at you iOS).

6. sjw987+0f[view] [source] 2025-09-24 14:18:03
>>qiine+(OP)
To me it reads that, since many people already believe this is more about tracking than safety, they are focusing on a device which is the perfect surveillance system, and which conveniently already accounts for 7+ hours of many peoples daily computer/internet interaction.

A desktop computer doesn't necessarily have a microphone or camera, and doesn't necessarily have to be connected to the internet. I'd wager most crime, including that which affects children is done on "disconnected devices" in this sense.

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7. mrweas+if[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 14:19:00
>>ktosob+69
I've seen this as well. It's getting increasingly normal, but I cannot imagine doing the same myself.

There's a much bigger likelihood of me going back to a feature-phone, compared to me starting to use my phone for anything but the absolute basics.

replies(2): >>Imusta+5o >>ktosob+mx
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8. nozzle+Ug[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 14:26:01
>>ktosob+69
Smartphones are a lot more portable than desktop PCs or even laptops. Unless you enter everyone's home to take an inventory of their devices, it stands to reason that you're going to see more smartphones than anything else by just looking around.
replies(1): >>bigstr+9u
9. sidewn+2h[view] [source] 2025-09-24 14:26:25
>>qiine+(OP)
you could pretty much replace the statement with "General purpose computing considered harmful"
replies(2): >>qiine+vs >>ethagn+fw
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10. marius+Jk[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 14:42:37
>>ktosob+69
But as long as there are still people using desktop computers, removing access from them is an overreach and makes these ideas totally undemocratic. I am frankly baffled that an organization having the principles and know-how of the EU can even think of gating access to information with something so slipshod.

The only eventuality where this is acceptable is when desktop computers won't even be gated, and then if anyone can circumvent the problem with a computer, why is anyone even bothering with the whole thing...

replies(2): >>bigstr+Lu >>ktosob+Fx
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11. Imusta+5o[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:00:17
>>mrweas+if
I used to use a feature phone and I genuinely didn't miss any of the same things.

my commute is a really long ride and I just don't like using my phone in it.

My dumb phone had music system and sd card (I finally managed to have that sd card fixed after an year of using that dumbphone without even an sd card for music)

I just used to stare into nothingness / surrounding and think. (Yes I have edited it because I didn't used to think, I used to overthink just as I am doing right now lol)

Not that productive, but my current phone is so slow that I can't even tell you guys or start telling you. It takes me 1/2 a minute just to unlock it and the only thing its truly good at is having a music player run and some occasional hackernews or pokemon showdown or youtube scrolling.

But tbh, I don't have any banking apps etc. so to me there isn't thaaat much of a difference. I feel like a macbook is genuinely nice as it has that less friction and a pc is great too as compared to a phone for the most part when I am at home.

My screentime is usually just some shorts that I occassionaly watch on phone when I am extremelyyy bored.

I am sad that my dumb phone was in my bag one day and then it just stopped (working??) , I swear I kinda regret having my dad's old phone. I am not sure how he was even using it.

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12. qiine+vs[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:20:05
>>sidewn+2h
or user 'having free will is problematic and unsafe' if we want to go even deeper :(
replies(1): >>eimrin+sV2
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13. bigstr+9u[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:27:32
>>nozzle+Ug
Sure, but computers are a lot more capable. Even for just scrolling sites, a desktop computer is a superior experience.
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14. bigstr+Lu[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:30:04
>>marius+Jk
> I am frankly baffled that an organization having the principles and know-how of the EU can even think of gating access to information with something so slipshod.

That doesn't surprise me at all. Principles in a government body don't exist. They are all crooks.

replies(2): >>HankSt+Qz >>wwwest+fD
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15. ethagn+fw[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:37:14
>>sidewn+2h
> "General purpose computing considered harmful"

Even though it sounds like _you_ probably know this, Cory Doctorow has been sounding this alarm for years. As usual, it seems he was right about the possibility of this being a legitimate battlefront in the (actual, non-hyperbolic) war on freedom.

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16. ktosob+mx[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:42:13
>>mrweas+if
Same, but I also have other quirks and that doesn't mean this is TheTrueWay and everyone should adapt to it :)
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17. ktosob+Fx[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:43:42
>>marius+Jk
Are they?

Again - this is only just one of the possible implementations of https://ageverification.dev/Technical%20Specification/archit...

It's possible to have others but as POC they are focusing on covering the biggest chunk of the population…

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18. HankSt+Qz[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 15:51:27
>>bigstr+Lu
It doesn't surprise me either, because I'd never be able to use a phrase like "the principles and know-how of the EU" with a straight face. (To be fair, you could replace "the EU" with almost any large bureaucracy.)
replies(1): >>marius+jE
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19. wwwest+fD[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 16:05:40
>>bigstr+Lu
“They are all crooks” is the motto of another kind of personal corruption: the kind where people abdicate any responsibility to detail or distinction for the sheer indulgence of moral posture without any of the work.

Every time someone says “they’re all crooks” they are the enablers of crooks. The crooks couldn’t do it without people like that.

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20. marius+jE[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 16:09:18
>>HankSt+Qz
Sure. But the EU is not just your average bureaucracy. It's an entity that has as one of it's specific goals the following[1]:

> combat social exclusion and discrimination

[1] https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-histor...

replies(2): >>graeme+o11 >>Goblin+pZ1
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21. graeme+o11[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 17:57:19
>>marius+jE
Any large bureaucracy has similarly lofty official goals
replies(1): >>marius+0b1
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22. marius+0b1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 18:41:25
>>graeme+o11
I understand we're all old and cynical here, but one of the tenets of discussions on HN would be to take someone's arguments at face value, so I prefer to believe that the EU as an organization actually wants to diminish social exclusion and discrimination. I'm not sure if I'd give the same credit to any other capitalist entity, but the EU does not have the implicit goal of increasing revenue for its shareholders to subvert any of the others stated.
replies(1): >>graeme+Rk1
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23. graeme+Rk1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 19:34:13
>>marius+0b1
Lots of countries have has similar goals and lofty promises in its constitution.

I take your argument at face value (in that I take it that you believe the EU has that goal at some level). I just to not expect it, as an organisation, to consistently promote that goal (for much the same reasons lots of countries fail to serve their citizens).

Profit making businesses have the explicit goal of making shareholders better off. Management usually choose to balance this against other goals (ethics, the good of wider society, their own interests...), just as the EU has the explicit aim you state, but, similarly, has other conflicting aims.

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24. EvanAn+Em1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-24 19:43:30
>>ktosob+69
The vast majority of those people are never going to know the freedom and power afforded by using a general purpose computer you actually control.

The "war on general purpose computing" need only be the waiting-out for those of us who remember actually owning a computer to die.

replies(1): >>qiine+4V2
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25. Goblin+pZ1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-25 00:00:32
>>marius+jE
There's always "you're not our target audience" exception.
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26. qiine+4V2[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-25 10:07:19
>>EvanAn+Em1
I secretly believe that the PC is simply so unbelievably powerful that its impossible to kill
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27. eimrin+sV2[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-25 10:09:58
>>qiine+vs
What is the location of your free will in your body? Is it in brain or in quantum particles, or anywhere else?
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