Jeff

Cloud Engineer

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@Chesschick01

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@vikrantnyc @XMRVoid He wants that microsoft development cycle where they just release broken trash on a fixed timeline lol

[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

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@LibertarianG0th

[Session @session_app]

Without additional funding, Session's doors will close next month.

Please read this appeal from Session co-founder Chris McCabe.

https://t.co/nTJCocoDwI

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@RepThomasMassie for president 2028

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@pearlythingz Literally every married man in existence has consumed porn.

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@BrittyKittielol Pretty sure gingers were NOT born to be in the sun all day lol

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@libertydadpod

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@gnukeith Recently, YouTube playlists stopped playing the next video in the list if you do not have the window active on your screen. Have to unlock screen and open the window to get the video to load.

[Lars Mapstead for Congress @LibertarianLars]

Reasonable Tax brackets

$0-$50,000 : 0%
$50,001-$100,000 : 0%
$100,001-$200,000 : 0%
$200,001-$500,000 : 0%
$500,001-$1,000,000 : 0%
$1,000,001-$5,000,000 : 0%
$5,000,001-$10,000,000: 0%
$10,000,000+ : 0%

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@MajToure Any libertarian that fell for the MAGA bullshit and voted for Trump is a moron.

[Monero (XMR) @monero]

The Monero Research Lab has provided an update on Bulletproofs*, with more efficient membership and range proofs that would enable new features such as ZK-rollups!

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@realfemsapien You wore them during the first one?

[Monero (XMR) @monero]

The Monero Research Lab has provided an update on beta stressnet for Full-Chain Membership Proofs (FCMP++) and CARROT!

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@HazelMay38K She should pay.

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@realfemsapien I'm not Japanese but my breakfast is delicious.

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@TRHLofficial

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

If America would embrace capitalism and reject cronyism

in health care, agriculture, military contracting, insurance, media, technology, and banking,

we would experience a renaissance unprecedented in human history.

[Jeff @MachsPrinciple]

@DoingFedTime Do you have any OPSEC book recommendations?