> SESTA/FOSTA, legislation that was supposed to help fight sex trafficking, not only failed to prevent trafficking and help survivors, as research has shown, it decimated online communities and censored sex education content along the way. Much of this content was information many only had access to online, in places like Tumblr, because of conservative parents and abstinence-only sex education we received at school.
> If Congress wants to hold tech companies liable, there’s a ton of low-hanging fruit. The United States is embarrassingly behind in data-privacy protections. That means that right now, it’s profitable for tech companies to spy on kids and teens and micro-target them with addictive and damaging content.
AO3 and Tumblr are cesspools of pornography, eating disorder and self-harm advice (Tumblr only recently cleaned up its act pre-Verizon acquisition-- they got rid of the porn). I don't believe in censorship, but let's not act like these sites have any sort of charter or educational accreditation. The problem KOSA addresses is the fundamental lack of supervision-- something every kid is naturally going to defend. But the only "education" kids will get from either site is the sort they'd get from you using the sex offender registry as a pool of free babysitters. They'll learn something, for sure. Addictive and damaging content...indeed. There is much to be found on AO3 and Tumblr.
Kids don't know what the fuck they're doing, by definition, so let's kick them off the internet altogether. Stop taking them seriously and hold tech companies (and individual content creators) liable for taking advantage of their ignorance.
Ritual infant circumcision of boys is now considered barbaric despite all the very-convincing medical arguments for necessity put forth over the last 50 years, and my dogs' vet currently refuses to spay/neuter either until puberty starts or it'll fuck their bones up, but we're falling over ourselves to let kids watch porn until they demand hormone blockers and sterilization for life. How are we this far out of touch with reality? The more "awareness" there is, the worse this problem seems to get-- the 41% meme is outdated; now it's over 50%?
If you really want to reduce harm, reconsider whether the likes of AO3 and Tumblr have really been what's best for kids.
> If Congress wants to hold tech companies liable, there’s a ton of low-hanging fruit. The United States is embarrassingly behind in data-privacy protections. That means that right now, it’s profitable for tech companies to spy on kids and teens and micro-target them with addictive and damaging content.
AO3 and Tumblr are cesspools of pornography, eating disorder and self-harm advice (Tumblr only recently cleaned up its act pre-Verizon acquisition-- they got rid of the porn). I don't believe in censorship, but let's not act like these sites have any sort of charter or educational accreditation. The problem KOSA addresses is the fundamental lack of supervision-- something every kid is naturally going to defend. But the only "education" kids will get from either site is the sort they'd get from you using the sex offender registry as a pool of free babysitters. They'll learn something, for sure. Addictive and damaging content...indeed. There is much to be found on AO3 and Tumblr.
Kids don't know what the fuck they're doing, by definition, so let's kick them off the internet altogether. Stop taking them seriously and hold tech companies (and individual content creators) liable for taking advantage of their ignorance.
Ritual infant circumcision of boys is now considered barbaric despite all the very-convincing medical arguments for necessity put forth over the last 50 years, and my dogs' vet currently refuses to spay/neuter either until puberty starts or it'll fuck their bones up, but we're falling over ourselves to let kids watch porn until they demand hormone blockers and sterilization for life. How are we this far out of touch with reality? The more "awareness" there is, the worse this problem seems to get-- the 41% meme is outdated; now it's over 50%?
If you really want to reduce harm, reconsider whether the likes of AO3 and Tumblr have really been what's best for kids.