alt Hacker NewsDiscord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally
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Oh yay, the company that told me to "just use your wife's phone" when I couldn't verify my own phone number, instead of even trying to fix the problem, now wants a copy of my face?
Pardon me if I don't have a lot of trust in their ability to keep it safe.
I talk to three people on Discord. If I have to choose between A) giving Discord my ID, B) giving Discord a fraudulent ID, or C) just chatting with them on some other program, I'll just go with C. If I cared about Discord more I guess I'd figure out B. May get started with C ahead of time anyway.
> After completing a chosen method, users will receive confirmation via a direct message from Discord’s official account.
Why isn’t this delivered via some sort of notification, menu, pop-up, etc? DMs seem prime for phishing
> Facial age estimation
This clearly doesn't work and they're surely aware of it. Perhaps it's even intentional as a choice to give kids a way out, just trying to cover their own asses in regards to regulation.
https://docs.k-id.com/concepts/verification-methods/
The company that Discord uses lists the methods they accept above. Notably, they do not accept any privacy-protecting digital identity standards from US or EU citizens; they only implement national ID verifications where they receive a full birthdate, with the sole exception of AU where they allow banks to attest to age-majority.
Leveraging this press to highlight their clear desire-for / dependency-on being provided an explicit birthdate, rather than simply a bool backed by the government, would be an effective lever to pull through e.g. New York and California governmental privacy efforts — especially if one somehow got them classified as a data broker in California and therefore bound to a much more expensive set of laws, due to their insistence on being provided PII when more privacy-protecting alternatives are available there.
Yes, this isn’t a scorched earth response. Every other thread of discussion here has that covered already and I have nothing new to add there. But for anyone looking to force privacy into the budding age checks verification market at an early stage rather than trying to shut it down, here’s your roadmap to effecting real change on the matter. Good luck.
> Teen-by-default settings to roll out globally for all Discord users
Does it mean that even people who reside outside jurisdictions touched by the age verification craze will have to deal with all this?
> use facial age estimation
Surely a kid won't be able to ask someone else to pass the check for them. But let's talk about false positives. If the estimator falsely declares someone an adult, is Discord legally liable?
> submit a form of identification
If you have a picture of an ID document, can you verify that it's real? You'd have to ask the government for that. And at least in one country there is no process for that.
> On-device processing
Oh, a client-side check. Must be secure.
It's a relief to finally read that Discord is indirectly shutting down and getting rid of it's users. It was inevitable but dragged out far too long with all the VC money to burn. Hopefully everyone can figure out how to use XMPP and/or get back on IRC. It is a genuine shame how much culture and information will be lost inside their walled garden though.
Can't wait to send my id to the cheapest identification provider they could find.
We're going to need decentralized open source alternatives with E2EE for any major communication services, unfortunately. It's just too temping of a target for Governments. They're never going to give up trying to destroy anonymity online.
The endgame I see is that it will be illegal to communicate on the internet without having a proven bank account. At least in the USA where all ID verification is settling on banks (ie, Plaid). And the banks will tolerate 10,000 false positive denials of service to avoid a single false negative and be happy about it. Plaid even more so. Human beings will have no recourse as they are private companies. This really should be a service that the states of the federal government provide. It's a dark future we're speeding towards.
More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945663
When big tech tosses money at Republicans and the Trump inauguration, they get what they paid for.
They got a world where the dollar is worth 10% less, where their customers turn away to EU alternatives, where the US isn’t seen as stable anymore, where the impartiality of the US corporate legal framework is no longer trusted. As the icing on the cake we’re now turning toward handmaid’s tale-style puritanical law (see also: SAVE act).
You can do business with a country with a thriving middle class, the most scientific research output on the planet, the world’s foremost technological and product innovations, and a dynamic, growing economy. Or you can do business with the USA. No wonder Canada is intersted in importing Chinese cars instead of American ones, because they’re better and cheaper.
Corporations know that doing business in the US has a lot of the risks of doing business in Russia. If Dear Leader sours on your company, expect to pay bribes or be forced to divest.
I hope these new draconian rules harm people like Elon and Zuck by reducing the appeal of their platforms.
I am not claiming that Discord in particular supports MAGA, but the industry as a whole has been enablers. At best they are complicit and silent.
The American two party system is essentially a choice between corporate stability (Democrats) and the actual mafia (MAGA Republicans). We elected a convicted felon who has been a literal part of the Russian mafia for decades.
By Discord's own ToS you can't use Discord if you are under 13, so this change is just to make sure users that are 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 years old are appropriately labelled.
Why doesn't Discord require ALL users to upload their faces to prove that they are at least 13 years old and eligible to use the service?
ITT: Lots of adults angry they can't open NSFW images on a messaging service primarily branded for teens (without sending their ID).
You’re out of your mind if you think I’m gonna upload ID to use a “shitposting about video games with friends” service.