@iju @ariarhythmic
looking at the emoji in aria's profile, not knowing if they are trans, but if they are i understand why they feel threatened by id checks

if i were trans i would feel intensely threatened, physically, mortally, by id checks

especially in countries like my like stupid fucking country (the usa)

at the same time:

if i *really* cared about id checks, i wouldn't be attacking the wrong entity

aria's heart is in the right place but their brain is AWOL

@benroyce @ariarhythmic
Yeah, I noticed the emoji, and I do understand they're problably really raw about the developments of the past few years. Particularly if they're in the States.

Opposing fascism is really healthy! I'm just concerned that jumping the gun with the GmbH leads to being ignored when sensible applications of age-checks (and what happens if you don't participate) are done.

This seems paramount.

@iju @ariarhythmic
i have a better idea:

do what valve does

you need a credit card

they run a $0 authorization

*no id docs needed*

the server doesn't deal with sensitive data

even better:

now your cc is attached to your mastodon profile

your cc is right there for donating to the server later

as more people should be doing

snag:

germany doesn't consider a cc legally acceptable

but other jurisdictions do

gamingonlinux.com/2025/08/stea…

@Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

Steam UK users will now need a credit card to access mature content due to the Online Safety Act

Valve recently put up a new support page, detailing the steps they've taken to comply with the UK Online Safety Act.

^{Liam Dawe (GamingOnLinux)}

@meowki @iju @ariarhythmic @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

My understanding is that they will be making the software updates available to other servers that are also forced to comply or get shut down. Is my understanding wrong? It could be

@benroyce @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

1. Mastodon's code already includes a setting which server admins can enable to set a minimum age for their server, which will ask for a date of birth to be entered during sign-up. The date of birth is not stored, only checked once. This has been part of Mastodon's code since multiple months now: github.com/mastodon/mastodon/p…

2. What they say in the blog is that they will audit the GmbH's own servers, which probably includes an audit of this feature.

3. The interesting stuff is what that "working group" will come up with.

Add age verification on sign-up by Gargron · Pull Request #34150 · mastodon/mastodon

Allows admins to set a minimum age for their server, which will display a date of birth check during sign-up. The date of birth is not stored, only checked once. The sign-up API will likewise accep...

^GitHub

@nitrml @benroyce @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic Age verification won't, of course, stop someone from setting up their own server.

... which, at least regarding the federation choices this little node will be making... Is enough of its own age-gating process that we will welcome all nodes regardless of age of their admins. 😉

@mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

which is great of you, thank you

...and your stance is dependent upon the legalities of your jurisdiction

so people who do enable the age verification are not assholes, they just don't want their govt coming after them

and your own govt may change its mind, then you have to think about it

the problem is govt

not mastodon admins

@LukefromDC @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

what do you think about my post above asking for a credit card?

it achieves the same effect, and no one is getting a credit card without id. no server is getting your id and the security hassle with that, and you're not revealing your id anymore than it already has been

the big benefit: with your cc already attached to your profile, donating to your server becomes a breeze. and more people should be doing that

@benroyce @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic Some do not have or want credit cards and will simply use other servers.

There is no way any regime can shut down access to every non-agr verification compliant server. Limits on federation woulf just split the fediverse into two networks which would inevitanly be bridged back together.

FL cannot even stop Pornhub: they just block conmections from FL IP addresses and gladly take Tor and VPN traffic

@LukefromDC @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

you mean tor and VPN providers that spy on the people who use it because anyone using that it is flagging their activity as sensitive?

tor was started at the us naval research laboratory for dissidents in countries unfriendly to the usa

you think they don't have enough exit nodes to see what is going on?

and mastodon needs support

i'd almost (i said almost) support the idea of mandatory ccs on sign up with or without id laws

@benroyce @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic .onion access bypasses exit nodes enrirely. If Tor gets compromised dozens of nations find their intelligence services lose covert communication except by direct radio or sattelite. If civilian traffic is blocked or driven off, spy traffic then instantly stands out.

Too many armies need Tor to kill it

@LukefromDC @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

.onion doesn't use exit nodes but it uses rendezvous nodes

and nobody wants to kill tor, the intelligence services love it

the foolishness is people who think something built by the us govt is perfectly anonymous

it *is* anonymous. to most every other entity

@benroyce @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic Perfect security would require our own hardware down to our own fabs making our own silicon. Then we'd have to bridge a new protocol we own over clearnet on the model of the US Government's own SIPRNET classified comms network.

It's easy enough to tell who I am by my writing style. Things like Tor let my bypass censors more than hide who I am.

@LukefromDC @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

understood

but we're now very far away from your average normie who just wants to see cat pictures

and that's where this topic truly lies

@benroyce @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic Indeed so. Totally different needs and it goes both ways. An activist video server for instance could not handle doing 10x its bandwidth in cat videos, a server optimized for easy use to poat cat videos might not be safe going forward for posting videos of police brutality.

As different as a cruise ship and a destroyer, a Cessna and a Spitfire.

@LukefromDC @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

100%

and that's why we can't do purity tests on resistance

purity tests destroy effective resistance

effective resistance that isn't pure is not a betrayal

we resist how we can, in the ways we can

this isn't an argument against your words, i'm just harking back to the argument up higher

@Scrimshaw9 @maya_b @gerowen @ariarhythmic
the essential problem on the left

i didn't say with the left, because some of this infighting is achieved with agent provocateurs and right wingers cosplaying because it's so easy. but, yes, some of it is organic to the left

@sennoma @Scrimshaw9 @maya_b @gerowen @ariarhythmic
😆

but it's even worse than that because most of the world uses red for left and blue for right

so any non-american viewing this will be confused about what is being said here

@sennoma @benroyce @Scrimshaw9 @maya_b @gerowen @ariarhythmic Anyone who thinks the Right is unified has never spent time reading Right side forums.

They are always arguing with each other and complaining about a lack of unity.

And they see the Left as a united horde.

Every movement looks unified from the outside, and chaotic from the inside.

@mike805 @sennoma @Scrimshaw9 @maya_b @gerowen @ariarhythmic
i disagree

of course there is some disunity on the right as well

but what the right has that the left does not is this absolutely devoted, absolutely fucking stupid and mindless, MAGA cult of zombies who fervently show up to vote and fervently obey their plutocrat masters

that's a huge problem