Bricktop

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[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

Microstrategy board meeting in 3 years

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@damienslash @arnowellens Governments: get a heat pump.
Also governments: airco is bad.

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@natellewellyn @ClaudeDevs

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@ukhomeoffice

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@harrystabbings I thought this post was satire. Weak men create hard times indeed.

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@theweb3jess @signalapp @depressivehacks Fucking parenting maybe.

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

At least we get to do the 58k meme again 😂

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

So-called age verification for social media is spreading across the world, framed as an effort to create a safer internet for children. In reality, age verification lays the foundation for a fully controlled internet.

The age verification rush must be slowed down, and politicians need to recognize the consequences of different types of legislation and systems.

Age verification is the wrong approach to fix “the social media problem”
The big tech social media companies are bad. Their business model is bad; it is based on mass surveillance and manipulation, and they cooperate with governments in mapping entire populations. But age verification is fundamentally the wrong approach to preventing children from using big tech social media platforms. Introducing age verification is based on coercion; the state forces social media companies to verify their users’ identities. But the big tech social media platforms already know which of their users are children. Their business model depends on knowing this. They know how old users are, and they know exactly what type of person they are. As age verification is based on coercion, politicians could instead force platforms to stop doing the things politicians consider harmful to children, or force them to block children (again, they know who they are) from using their services. But instead, politicians seek to massively invade everyone’s privacy and undermine democratic rights on a global scale. In other words, the latter is the real objective – they do not want to protect children; they want to impose control.

Slippery slope of age verification
It is undeniable that age verification threatens freedom of expression, risks increasing mass surveillance, and is likely to lead to censorship. It will not only shrink the online world and reduce young people’s right to privacy (for example, if VPN services were to be restricted); but also risks becoming a significant step toward a controlled internet for everyone.

Most age verification is identity verification
Most countries are now considering introducing age verification systems, meaning that everyone would have to identify themselves either to the service/website they want to use or to a third party capable of linking them to their activity on that service or website. This is not age verification but identity verification, and the consequence is therefore that freedom of information is restricted (you can no longer visit regulated websites anonymously) and that you can no longer post anonymously on social media. This is a major problem in countries like the UK and Germany where the police conduct raids on people’s homes for posting content on social media that the authorities dislike. Or in the United States, where authorities are trying to pressure tech companies into revealing the identities behind accounts protesting ICE. Social media identity verification removes important tools for activists in countries where criticizing those in power is dangerous.

Restrictions on app store or operating system level
Some countries are looking to impose identity verification at the app store level or even within the operating system itself. This is an exciting experiment, since this is possible to circumvent using open-source operating systems. Some countries are already looking to include open-source systems. Since open-source systems cannot be controlled, politicians would ultimately need to ban devices that are not controlled by the state. The end point: telescreens like those in Orwell’s 1984, devices that both monitor you and broadcast only the information approved by the state.

The Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) alternative and the EU
The EU has presented its own age verification app as “completely anonymous”. The idea is to use Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) cryptography to break the link between the age credential issuer (EU governments) and the regulated services/sites. Currently, the EU app does not have ZKP functionality, contrasting Ursula von der Leyen’s claim that the app ”is technically ready to be used”. But more importantly, the app is currently designed to always function without ZKP technology; if ZKP is unavailable, the app falls back to a non-ZKP model. Even if fully developed ZKP technology could be implemented in the future, it would remain an optional extra feature that countries may choose to disable and that the EU could remove at any time.

Read more on our site.
https://t.co/wTVKHMS1zg

[Arno Wellens @arnowellens]

Het vrije internet wordt afgeschaft. Want het gaat niet om ‘de kinderen’, de EU gaat iedereen controleren. We slaapwandelen een dictatuur naar Chinese stijl in, allemaal om een digitaal paspoort en CBDC te pushen.

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

But don’t forgot to ID your VPN connection please.

[European Commission @EU_Commission]

Let the truth be told, let the press be free. 📰

Journalists hold power to account, uncover injustice, and keep citizens informed often at great personal risk.

This #WorldPressFreedomDay, we reaffirm our commitment to protecting journalists and defending independent media.

Because free press is the foundation of democracy.

[Pavel Durov @durov]

This is how the EU/UK now regulates social media:

🤐 Offer CEOs secret deals to censor dissent.
🚨 If they refuse, open criminal cases against them.
😑 When people push back, say it's "all for the children".

🎭 "Protecting children" has become the standard legal/PR cover.

[Pavel Durov @durov]

So the EU wants to ban teens from social media — except for LGBTQ+ content? What a nuanced way to “protect children” online.

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@AerendirMobile @Paul_Reviews @davcarretta Hey Claude I’ve got a new project 😂

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@vonderleyen Nor is it for apps or the EU. It’s a parents job to shield kids from the web and social media. But yea ggs wp.

[Proton VPN @ProtonVPN]

Things age verification achieves:

• Violating adults' privacy online
• Creating leak and hack-worthy databases with tons of personal sensitive information
• Censoring the internet as a whole

Things age verification does not achieve:

• Protecting children online

[AdGuard @AdGuard]

Governments around the world are rushing to pass “age verification” laws to protect kids online. Sounds noble, right? On paper, sure. But here's the catch: over 400 of the world's top cybersecurity and privacy experts just signed an open letter waving a massive red flag. Their message? These laws might actually be a gift to scammers and a nightmare for your privacy.

Here's what's actually happening under the hood. To “verify” your age, these systems want your government ID, a facial scan, or your credit card info. That doesn't just sit somewhere safely — it creates a massive digital honeypot. And we've already seen what happens when these vaults get cracked. Remember the 2025 Discord breach? Seventy thousand IDs leaked. When you force millions of people to upload their most sensitive information to the cloud, it's not a matter of if that data gets stolen — it's when.

Here's the part that really stings. The experts (the very same people who helped design the technologies behind age verification) say these systems are shockingly easy to bypass and are not ready for mass implementation. Between VPNs, AI-generated deepfakes, and “verified” accounts sold on the black market, determined kids will get through anyway. Meanwhile, regular adults get stuck in a loop of constant surveillance, and people without the “right” tech or official ID risk getting locked out of the Internet entirely.

We’re all for keeping the web safe for children. But trading everyone’s fundamental privacy for “security theater” isn't the answer. Privacy shouldn't be the price of admission to the Internet.

Want to see why the experts are so worried and how to keep your data off these lists? Check out our full breakdown of the report on the blog: https://t.co/aR55i5bwrq

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@GovIE All important stuff in one app is a very bad idea.

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@shanselman @JustWantToQ1 @patriciolatini Folks 😂

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@ZitroniX 😂

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

France are your parents now.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

‼️🇫🇷 France just mandated digital ID for every citizen by banning social media for minors.

Under 15s will be blocked from IG, TikTok, FB, Snapchat and any platform allowing interactions, public broadcasts or user communities.

The banlist is determined by French regulator Arcom.

[Bricktop @BitcoinBricktop]

@disclosetv Soon coming to rest of the EU.