Pornhub and two other adult sites are suing the European Union over a landmark digital content law, the Digital Services Act, which imposes age verification and other obligations on large platforms. The European Commission last year named Pornhub, Xvideos and Stripchat as a category of “very large online platform” under the act, which includes obligations such as age verification measures for minors and creating a library of adverts published on their sites. Companies that fall foul of the law can be fined up to six percent of their global turnover. This lawsuit follows similar legal challenges by online retailers Amazon and Zalando.

  • ninja@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Digital age verification is only advocated by people who don’t know how the internet works. All it’s going to do is drive usage away from regulated sites to unregulated ones.

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      basically the only way it would ever remotely work is if countries adopted the south korean method of identy. they have a kssn used for basic identity purposes, and a seperate id for tax/money related purposes. if a country has both as the same ID, it becomes MAJOR liability if a company had leaked the number. having seperate identity and financial numbers removes the financial risk if the identity value was leaked.

      although of course, it removes privacy as the government now can track users (e. g how korea tracks children’s game playing time online, as a KSSN is required to register to play)

        • Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 months ago

          People use their grandparents kssn all the time according to gamer koreans I’ve spoken with.

          • Tangent5280@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Explains how some 102 year old korean keeps fucking my ass in starcraft every week. I thought I was just terrible at it.

        • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
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          10 months ago

          people often use other peoples kssns, usually parents or grandparents to bypass the child timer yes. but its a roadblock nonetheless

          • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I remember using one in 2004 to be able to play the Korean WoW demo. I have no idea where I managed to find one.

    • sudneo@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Many appliations do identity verification: financial platforms, crypto scams, roblox, car sharing platforms… It nowadays takes a couple of minutes and it’s done once, associated with your account. I am not saying I agree with the idea of doing it here, but I think that many people wouldn’t care to change platform. And if they do, some other platform will grow and eventually will have to do the same.

        • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          You forgot the special fanal on your porch that lights up every time you connect per the new site regulations.

        • sudneo@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          In fact I don’t personally agree with doing it here, but I mean, there is no other way to do age verification. There are technically ways that can make sure the only data reaching the end customer (the porn site) is a boolean (minor or not), and the identity verification is generally done by another entity, but ultimately yes I agree, I wouldn’t do it either and I personally think it’s not worth in this case at all (I think proper sex education in school is probably what I would invest on).

          There is also another thing to consider though, which is that porn is different from -say- a gambling site (where you have to make identity verification) mostly due to religious/moral stigma on sex. This makes me a little bit conflicted because I would like a society in which sex is freed from stigma and shame, and where “associate yourself with a porn site” is not as bad as it is now. Definitely the age verification is not the way to pursue this objective, but overall this makes me ask questions like "why would I have not a problem doing the same for a gambling site but I would for porn? Does it align with my values or is it coming from cultural pressure I disagree with?

          • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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            10 months ago

            But why does it need age verification in the first place? Any horny teenager will find a way to look at porn, this only makes them seek out less reputable sources.

            Besides, when I was that age we didn’t have any of that, and I didn’t degenerate into a weird hypersexual either despite looking at copious amounts.

            • sudneo@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              This is a separate discussion, on which tbh I have not a strong opinion. I can understand the risks of children without proper sexual education consuming porn, but I also understand the pointless nature of trying to block it.