There is no legitimate reason to impose age verification on users in jurisdictions that do not legally mandate it.
It is a risk to the privacy and safety of all users on the platform - it provides an easier way for pedophiles to identify underage users and provides more doxable information.
Discord has no business making this decision on behalf of jurisdictions that do not legally mandate it.
> it provides an easier way for pedophiles to identify underage users and provides more doxable information.
Do you have any basis for assuming that that users who are under 18 will have that information revealed to other users? That’s not what I read in this article.
I also think you’re being quite prescriptive about a private commercial service. You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, but companies enact restrictions to their products and services not required by law all the time.
If Discord wants to make their service require a mandatory declaration of allegiance to the Klingon empire, they’re allowed to do that.
It’s actually trivially easy to detect if someone isn’t verified adult: If you DM them something normal it’ll go through, but if you try to send them any image marked as spoiler it’ll show you an error, and they don’t see anything.
So yes, it’s super easy for groomers to focus on children with this update.
I'm not going to test this myself, but anyone can filter 'Mature Sexual Media' and 'Graphic Media' in their settings. You can configure Discord to block it. Wouldn't that same error occur if a user chooses to have that content blocked?
rockskon · · focus · HN ↗
There is no legitimate reason to impose age verification on users in jurisdictions that do not legally mandate it.
It is a risk to the privacy and safety of all users on the platform - it provides an easier way for pedophiles to identify underage users and provides more doxable information.
Discord has no business making this decision on behalf of jurisdictions that do not legally mandate it.
Grombobulous · · focus · HN ↗
Do you have any basis for assuming that that users who are under 18 will have that information revealed to other users? That’s not what I read in this article.
I also think you’re being quite prescriptive about a private commercial service. You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, but companies enact restrictions to their products and services not required by law all the time.
If Discord wants to make their service require a mandatory declaration of allegiance to the Klingon empire, they’re allowed to do that.
hananova · · focus · HN ↗
So yes, it’s super easy for groomers to focus on children with this update.
thetallguyyy · · focus · HN ↗
gcr · · focus · HN ↗
efilife · · focus · HN ↗
mrheosuper · · focus · HN ↗