aklim95.bsky.social

@aklim95.bsky.social

A

If SCREEN were to pass, you'd be required to scan your face and upload an ID to access this site because it allows "harmful" material. This affects you even if you don't care about sex work or porn.

404 Media@404media.co · 2d ago

Mike Lee's SCREEN Act, which heads to Senate Commerce Committee for markup on Wednesday, would expand age verification requirements to a nearly limitless scope of websites, and is supported by the architects of Project 2025.

What's more nefarious than age-verification? The chilling effect on platforms. The threat of prosecution is likely enough to get a lot of retailers to end sales of politically "harmful" categories entirely. No more fantasy, no more sex education, no more LGBTQ+ resources. That's the real goal.

And for the really bad news? They've put a target on VPNs. Sites are required to identify (and age-verify) any US citizen, regardless of whether they're using a VPN. In fact, the default is to get the ID and biometrics of EVERYONE unless you can somehow prove their not a US citizen.

Mike Stabile@mikestabile.bsky.social · 2d ago

"VPNs are a privacy and security tool used by millions of internet users every day, and their use should not be treated as suspect. It is particularly galling that the SCREEN Act forces users who intentionally take steps to protect their privacy to identify themselves."

He cites users' ability to mute & block folks as a positive, which is good. It's also why right wing chuds thankfully can't get a foothold here - b/c they violate community norms & get nuclear blocked out of normal people's timelines. Bluesky isn't a *liberal* bubble - it's a *decency* bubble.

The Verge@theverge.com · 3d ago

Bluesky's new CEO Toni Schneider on the platform's reputation for being a liberal bubble: "Yes, we definitely want that to change. It is already changing. It certainly wasn’t designed to attract one specific group of people."