By this I mean sites requiring stricter validation for accessing adult content, rather than just a simple checkbox. Stuff like credit card details or photos of government IDs.
This has been something that's been rattling around in the back of my mind for a while now. And with the place I live passing legislation requiring porn sites to use stricter verification, it's starting to feel like a real thing that can happen.
And... Honestly, it looks like this is probably going to start to be a thing everywhere, seeing how the world is going. To the point where VPNs are probably not going to stay a good way of bypassing it.
It's causing me an unhealthy amount of worry, because of all the privacy implications and the fact that it means some sites could pull out of my country entirely.
I figure I may as well ask people's thoughts and experiences here, rather than reading the same articles on Google over and over.
So, I guess some questions:
- Have you done any of this kind of verification before? How did you find it? Do you trust them with your identity?
- Would you consider sending images of your government ID to Discord/Google/Twitter/Bluesky/Furaffinity/esix to access adult content? They promise they use a third party verifier and delete it after use, of course.
- What about using less "important" forms of ID, like phone numbers, credit card numbers and whatever AI face scanning technology is hot right now?
- What about verifying for Yiffit and/or your favourite mastodon/lemmy servers? Presumably they'll also defer to a third party verifier, but I feel they'll try to go for a privacy focused one.
And let's not talk too much about specific jurisdictions and whether or not they are "right" to do this kind of thing. Or if it's going to be effective or not. I'm sure we all have thoughts about this, but that conversation isn't likely to go anywhere.
@wander , if you have the time, I'd also be interested in hearing your thoughts on this, as a site operator. Especially considering France is one of the places trying to push this.
Hello! Apologies for not seeing this earlier.
In case anyone's wondering my position on this matter, it's this:
In the worst case scenario the site would even change owners (if my physical jurisdiction played a role in the matter) or I'd find any other way. This is not something I'm worried about since we have no shareholders, no need to be profitable in any way, and don't report to anyone but to ourselves.
Furthermore, if the internet continues going down such a path and there is a legal way to help people circumvent draconian restrictions by offering services such as a VPN, I would definitely look into hosting such a service. If there's anything I'm afraid of, it's the amount of time and effort I know I'm capable of recklessly sinking into privacy-oriented projects just to spite anti-queer, authoritarian and surveillance-state political initiatives :P
So, rest assured that Yiffit and Packmates will not make such ID a verification ever a requirement and I'd even encourage you to find ways to avoid any sites that make such requirements.
PS. We're now hosted in Germany by the way!
@Wander I'd like to think that I have some experience in hosting privacy-based services. I may block tor on my own website (mostly for security purposes), but I totally understand the need for privacy and would happily help set up a wireguard VPN or tor node to help that along.
Thank you for the offer. It's super appreciated. Right now I don't think it's necessary, but who knows what the future of the internet holds. If you have any idea or suggestion yourself, don't hesitate in letting me know!