I mean I simply don't think they will bother regarding the many Linux variants.

Same reason they won't bother the Threadiverse. I doubt they even know what it is.

Just the ones we will quit.

I agree. Although over time some of the things we don't expect to be impacted may be. I hope I'm wrong.

Move servers to a country without stupid laws and ignoring the notices/threats. Sure, they might block you in that country, but people will find a way.

Pretty sure 4chan still hasn't paid fines to UK and doesn't plan to as UK can't really enforce such things abroad, they can just block you in their own country if you refuse.

What prevents this? Is it just that you would a need a server that is a bridge on both networks?

They can try to force me adding that for my single user instance, but I don't think they can:

• Force the developers of GoToSocial to add this feature
• And force me to add that to my instance (I don't live in the EU no US)

Do do this, they need to enforce cryptographically verifiable age verification everywhere. It would require forcing big instances to only cooperate with small instances that poof they do age verification and if you're selfhosting then the hoster needed to verify you? Not really possible.

Of course big applications and servers could choose to add age-verification freely to avoid scrutiny. Won't be cheered on in the Fedi I'm sure.

I'm more worried about the proposed OS-level verification, which will be harder to circumvent if you're not using a FOSS OS. Especially since I can imagine a global effort on this by US, EU, China.

Edit: hypotecially, if we ask how could it be added, a zero-knowledge proof that you're >18, without revealing anything else, would be the way to go.

Does it require it to be good? Like an audited service working with government databases and some kind of PKI system or is it just heuristics? If it's the latter, then half ass a local vision model running client side during registration that trys to determine age, and defaults to "sure". Have the age range the guess falls into (6-12, 13-18, 18-25, 25-999) be random number tables pick a fake number in the guess age range and move on. If a user WANTS to be precise let them. Maybe a test on "adult" questions like what is your favorite brand of toilet paper, what did you last pay for eggs, when cleaning a rug what method do prefer, etc (localized to region maybe just so people unfamiliar with a thing don't get stressed by these bs questions).

Even better federation if we could have a concept for the federated servers so that they have a concept of what info actually needs passed along (as in above 18) and pass just that info if the user allows. Useful idea for other bits imho anyways. Pick and choose what actor metadata we share, allow servers to share data calculated on metadata without sharing it, etc.

Otherwise as others have said, Tor, i2p, and maybe freenet? The best case is servers in free countries support all three clearweb, tor, and i2p, and local server behind the wire support just the secure one that works in their security environment.

Not at all.

Protest any age verification laws by not regarding them.

I wonder if a checkbox is enough

[ ] 18 or more?

It's not up to me to hunt down unlawful people? And if it is so, how on earth can that fly legally?

Law in some (many?) European countries already requires more intrusive age checks. The EU also has some explicit requirements. There is also push to ban social media for people under a certain age (maybe 16).

The EU has just presented an age verification app. That app would become a required standard through new laws. or even through case law from court judgments.

I think it's doable if the server can connect to the onion network on its side

It's easy. I would stop going to those servers who want to spy on me. I don't have time to waste on such bullshit. I would read more books and still have fun.

I'd sign and send an email for sure.