This. Imagine being a company who suddenly has to do the right thing simply because they can’t afford the “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” approach any more.
Litigation may be an awful substitute for regulation, but at least its having some positive effect here.
Shame about the way they’re doing it, though. It’s a wet dream for politicians and activists in favour of age verification, and for the hackers who’ll inevitability get their hands on all of it.
I agree, and do regret the harshness of my initial response.
I thought about editing or removing the response, but we did have some follow up in the thread (where I qualified some of my reasons), so I thought it better to leave me being a dick to a stranger untouched in that whole context. It opens up further discussion from others and serves to remind me to take a breath to consider why others post idealistic, well meaning content.
Not everyone’s had their idealism battered out of them by greedy companies and stupid managers yet. 😅
I mean, sure? Fill yer boots.
That’s what the public forum is: a collection of different opinions and perspectives.
I think the state forcing someone to both learn to code and then force them to contribute to a state-approved FOSS project (as that’s how it will be selected) is, IMHO, the opposite of everything right in the world. But I also get that some people find comfort in things or circumstances that horrify me.
To each their own and, again, fill yer boots. 🤷♂️
Imagine voluntarily sharing such an objectively stupid idea.
Some people really seem to think the entire world needs to watch their brains fall out.
10W? That’s incredibly low - under 100mA wherever in the world you live. About the same as an LED bulb, or a tenth of an average incandescent lightbulb.
For comparison: my NAS and NUC (mix of HDD and M.2 drives; both hosting services) draw 75W combined at idle, measured via Home Assistant and a smart plug, and that’s generally considered low-power self-hosting.
I’d be pleasantly amazed if you could get a laptop to use less, so I look forward to other replies.
I still use all 3, though I’m slowly moving CPU intensive containers to the NUC. The Pi is untouched so far, partly because having edge services there will make it easier of I decide to implement a DMZ.
The NUC+Proxmox is a great combination. Bit of a learning curve (eg. as with Docker, you need to pass devices in Proxmox and then to the container; same with CIFS shares), but there are lots of resources out there. I have no regrets going this route, and it had low power consumption.
On Windows thing, I was specifically referring to the server OS as the NUC came with Win11. Do whatever works for your desktop/gaming setup.
Though I also switched that to Linux (EndeavourOS, though there are other game-friendly options) a couple of years ago, and its worked out great. Guild Wars 2 was my most modded Windows game, and I can run all except one of the Windows-based addons I want for it. Setting it all up the first time is a ball ache (as it was with Windows, but that was done over time 🤷♂️). 😊
I was hosting most of my Docker stuff on my Synology DS920+, use Docker in a Pi 4B for AdGuard Home and WireGuard, and found myself wanting to use Home Assistant.
Can’t use Docker for HA if you want HACS (addons) and Synology decided to kill USB drivers some time back, so looked around for options. Considered a Nabu Casa Yellow with a CM5 compute module (for Voice PE) and its price was more than a GMKtek N150 NUC, which has far higher specs and enough headroom for other things. So I got the NUC.
First thing I did was nuke Windows and replaced it with Proxmox, then installed Home Assistant OS (HAOS) as a VM in it. Plenty of headroom left, so now it’s also got a Linux VM, a few LXCs, etc. (The Proxmox Helper Scripts site makes it very easy).
Could easily install AGH or PiHole and a bunch of other things on it. Think it’s the best bang for buck thing I’ve bought in years.
The Green brothers are interesting and thoughtful. They try to be an overall positive influence on the internet, even aside from their vlogbrothers thing.
FTA: The IDs leaked were from people appealing age verification.
That’s different from the age verification process, which goes through a third party provider.
In short, the leaked IDs were from a standard shitty support platform (Zendesk, Salesforce, etc), not the much-advertised “safe and private” age verification system.
This kind of malicious compliance is exactly what this dogshit Think Of The Children Act needs. Convenience is everything to the majority of population.
If other major sites and resources do this, then the pressure from the people impacted by it will force UK PLC to un-fuck this awful legislation.
It certainly removed my ability to say “Companies are shoehorning AI into everything! I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it with Notepad…” as a form of mockery. It was one of the first damned victims.
Edit: I’m genuinely surprised technical people (with appropriate rights on their PCs) still use it, though. I switched to Notepad++ nearly 20 years ago.
In case anyone is unaware of the point of this: it’s about the UK’s (for now) new age verification law, where you have to be 18 to have a credit card.
This really is the least-worst implementation of this I’ve seen so far, providing you have (or can get) a CC.
And at least it lets you continue buying games/content until this awful law gets repealed or rewritten by competent adults.
Doubling down on the batshit. Everyone knew VPNs were going to be the low effort workaround to this authoritarian batshittery.
I get what the (well meaning, I think) people lobbying for this are trying to achieve, but everything from the lobbying to legislation to enforcement seems to be happening in the worst way imaginable. Almost like it’s an intentional “You want to see how badly can we do this? Hold my drink! YOLO!!”
For me, the tell was UK PLC leaving it up to the sites themselves to decide who/how the verification would be done. Classic bad management “I don’t understand the slightest thing about any of this, but HOW HARD COULD IT BE?!” response. It’s like the “series of tubes” stupidity all over again.
Are you linking “everything is an Xbox” with growing their platform? Are you new at internet arguments?
I mean, it sounds like they’re copying Microsoft’s “everything is an Xbox” lunacy, but its unclear if that’s reality based on what I read there.
But I’d not be surprised if the “Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man” meme applies to this, given how focussed the VP of each company’s console division is on their main competitor.
But who knows… Perhaps not even them? 🤷♂️
Not sure it is the same kind of thing, but I’ve been using Homebank ever since the various personal financial management applications pulled out of the UK market.
I swear “How to disable AI in x…” is all our lives now. 😬
Prompted by this, TIL that !chargeyourphone@piefed.social exists. 😄
By “that shit”, do you mean every website/app that may contain age-restricted (not just sexual) content? Because that’s what comes into force in the UK next week.
I’ve been dreading this for decades. 🤬
It’s not just Reddit, nor are they the first to roll it out early.
I don’t think so either, which is why I didn’t say it. You skipped my final paragraph.
By “right thing”, I was referring to doing anything, which appears to be more than they’ve tried so far.
The parental responsibility argument was probably valid when there was 1-2 standard computers in a home and getting online was a Whole Thing in itself. Now we have supercomputers in our pockets that are permanently online. It’s a whole lot harder than a simple “parents should take responsibility” one-liner.
I’m not saying they bear no responsibility, but to hand wave that as the answer is not an answer.
Also: Thinking of myself at that age, though public internet didn’t exist until I was almost an adult, I know I’d have found ways around things. A digital equivalent to slipping out of your window to see friends or hiding your Brussels sprouts in a pocket.
The technical education required to correctly protect, monitor and configure the necessary hardware and software is unreasonable for the vast majority of people.
Though you could probably find a kid who’ll happily show you how to do it all…