a bailout is a popular way in which public funds lose their publicness.

and a few weeks down the line authors also turn back into new readers...

I have a lot more long term memory than that.

it's not about protecting children. that's only the PR.

once you get this you stop asking why the tech details are the way they are.

Countercounterpoint: It's privacy destruction creep and it always has been.

Countercountercounterpoint: did you actually read the California age "verification" law?

Countercountercountercounterpoint: Yes and like every other age verification scheme in the US the underlying idea is privacy erosion. With a side serving of censorship given most dev's can't be bothered to implement these age verification schemes into their software so users might just end up gated out of applications if their OS goes through with this nonsense.

Other states are even worse, creating another way to have your buddy buddy lobbyist folks fire up a new business opportunity to make money as a verification service.

Type in the number 30 to disable gating

what's the point of black and white statements that are wrong for a major subset of problems that the tool set out to solve?

the one being overtaken could release the throttle for a moment...

THE ONE BEING OVERTAKEN COULD RELEASE THE THROTTTTTTLE...!!!

:)

The overtaker could just not overtake

Yeah, except then they would lose 10 seconds from going 54 mph instead of 56 mph...

it's one service collecting ID's issued by dozens of governments.

the already too centralized is being made even more centralized here.

they deny you access until you give them access...

fsck them! i blocked my fb account and not looking back. once it was a place to find and discuss with interesting people... but now it's just a cesspool of filtered irrelevance and propaganda.

in hungarian it's ~"the exception strengthens the rule", which is equally misunderstood/misused by most people.

whatsapp is facebook; do you need any other "source"?

i'd be surprised if they didn't have straight out government logins...

Of course I need another source. I think you're right too but this is just speculation. I thought you had access to some actual information.

They're getting sued for it.

> They’re getting sued for it

If this is the case you’re referring to, then I don’t know that it is proof of your assertion, in fact maybe the opposite: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/31/us-author...

Anyone can sue anyone for anything. I have no doubt the US government has access to whatever data it wants from all businesses, but a lawsuit is not evidence of anything.

conspiracy theory, anyone? :)

That's a good one.

Are you arguing that calling something a conspiracy theory is a thought terminating cliche?

I suppose it could be, but the lizard people tell me it's not.