Discussion thread [Serious]

[atomtengeralattjaro]

I also wanna post this:
https://flydontspy.com/

If I could afford to go on a holiday to the US, I'd probably go to Canada instead, I mean, equally beautiful nature, nice people, less of a nightmare to get through the border...
(but no rocket launches. That would have to be weighed in.)

[Ml08180]

For U.S. individuals:
As required by your laws, the EPA is calling for public comment on the planned rollback of environmental regulations.
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/regulatory-reform
I've heard the gov't is required to read and respond to public comments.

I care because even though I've got no say in this as it isn't my government, it's a large country with a lot more global environmental impact than mine.

They're required to, but they pay a bunch of interns half the minimum wage to manage them. The only way to actually get anywhere with things like this is to put together a phone bank and call the various offices so much that the phone system can't handle the load; even the Whitehouse.gov page where people are supposed to be able to get a response out of the White House by getting enough people to fill out a 30-second form isn't actually looked at by anyone outside of a small group unless it gets serious traction. Our government is very much run like the helpdesk at a phone company

There are three ways to comment:

1. Email
2. Mail
3. "Docket" (essentially a blog entry with comments)

I've looked at the Docket, and there are a couple hundred comments. All of the ones I glanced at are saying that they shouldn't repeal any regulations, and that in fact more should probably be put into place, and that they should be enforcing regulations better.

That last part is really true where I live, about two years ago we had a coal ash spill into a major waterway and now we're finding out that some chemical called Gen-X has been pouring out into a major lake AND into the air around the plant that was just dumping it into the river. For a state that tries to sell itself on its natural beauty, we sure do like to dump poison into the rivers

I also wanna post this:
https://flydontspy.com/

I'm actually fairly certain (very certain actually, we had a similar issue when I worked as an RA where one of the mid-level Community Directors was trying to get his RA's to hand over their social media logins) that if they did require that information it would be a clear violation of the amendment to our constitution where you have to get a warrant to gain access to a private social media account. There's been several court rulings on this. They could start doing it, but it would quickly be litigated and stopped. It'd be nice if we didn't have to worry about this in the first place, but that would mean electing people who have actually, y'know, read the constitution

If I could afford to go on a holiday to the US, I'd probably go to Canada instead, I mean, equally beautiful nature, nice people, less of a nightmare to get through the border...
(but no rocket launches. That would have to be weighed in.)

If people in the US could afford to go on a holiday in the US, the tourism industry might be more affordable!

[Uly]

I have a question, as it came up in class today.
What are the long term health of effects of smoking marijuana as opposed to cigarettes?

[Shai'tan]

I believe the long term health effects of smoking marijuana is not very well researched, but it depends on when you start and how much you smoke. The effect of smoking cigarettes are well documented though, it's really bad for you. Smoking things in general is bad for your lungs though, whatever the substance.

[Uly]

A lot of information I have heard about marijuana seems questionable or shaky. I feel as though people are trying to push the legalization of marijuana because they know they can make plenty of money of it. As well, the government could make bank off of taxes on it such as the one on alcohol and tobacco.

[Pocket]

Pot can make you lazy.

[atomtengeralattjaro]

How do y'all feel about this?

coppa.png (12.96 KiB) Viewed 16597 times

I mean I do not condone lying*, but it is quite clear to me that the laws want to force me to ask the user's age, but do not actually force anybody to tell the truth about their age. It's not like the activity would otherwise be illegal or harmful, it's just that parental consent is required. Pretty much like on cable TV (back when that was a thing), they'd tell you that this show is only recommended with adult supervision, as if anyone cares.

*this may or may not be a lie

Also relevant:

[ThingerDudes]

Whatever gets you on the good side of the law I guess?

[Shai'tan]

Is 16 the requirement? Thought it was 13. Whatever keeps us legally clear should be okay, though I doubt anyone would make a fuss about it.

[atomtengeralattjaro]

GDPR says 16 in general, but member states can override it to as low as 13.

I see it as a balance between being on the good side of the law and not scaring people away.

[Froggychum]

well it doesn't affect me, but it came close enough to that I have an opinion:

I am not a fan, I doubt most 16 year old 'children' (or under, say 13 upwards) would go get their parent's permission (not just that, but a goddamned signed form? Maybe that was sarcasm, but it's disparaging) to join a forums. Even though I am knowing how awesome it is here, I am sure I would not have gone through any of that at all. Maybe if the subject is around 12 or less they would be fine with it (see "teenagers don't like talking to their parents")... but nobody I know would bother with that. most people would lie, I wouldn't lie, rather I would just skip the service.. Besides there is no point in lying when your age is displayed on your profile (which is optional, but you should know me by now, anything I can fill in, I will fill in.. Goddamn when i'm older with my own kids i'll probably be enjoying all that paperwork, i'm psycho fam)

[Shai'tan]

Most people would just click the button saying they are older. We should say younger than 16 (in selected European states) or 13 (in USA / World) or something, if I'm not misunderstanding how it works?

[atomtengeralattjaro]

Thanks for your input froggy, I know nobody would really want to fill out a form... I totally agree that it's silly. That's why I'm trying to figure out a way to have our cake and eat it too.

We should say younger than 16 (in selected European states) or 13 (in USA / World) or something, if I'm not misunderstanding how it works?

Yeah probably, I'll try to figure out which country has which limit, and ideally it would be best if this entire thing would only show up if it's relevant to the person (depending on their location based on their IP address, I guess)...

Actually this site shows that a number of countries use age 18 as the limit...
this is all quite absurd, I can't even count the number of places I've registered at between the ages 14-18...

[Shai'tan]

That's... absurd. Unless they mean something else? I don't know. Shouldn't a simple message when they sign up be enough? Like we used to have. Make the button say something like "I consent/agree/confirm" and the text explain? Ex: I agree that I am over the age required in my country of residence/laws that apply to me/etc.

[atomtengeralattjaro]

OK i have consulted the legal experts of the InterWeb, and I've been told that this does not actually apply in our case.
If we did need consent, a child's consent would really need to be via their parents, but we don't need consent in the first place!
We have a lawful basis for processing data based on a "contract" that you enter by registering. (This is for email addresses.)
For IP addresses, I think it works if I put security reasons, including the forum software's built-in security measures for preventing session hijacking. Also, the feature of banning users.

[Shai'tan]

Okay, that's good to hear.

[Froggychum]

great, problem solved!
It is weird that a minor would need consent for that tech stuff, i don't see how it is a special case when your under x age ?

[vraiment]

great, problem solved!
It is weird that a minor would need consent for that tech stuff, i don't see how it is a special case when your under x age ?

People looking to do harm or abuse unsuspecting minors use the internet as their form of attack.

By ensuring you have parental consent you are ensuring the parents/tutors at least are in the know of what is going on. Is like asking for permission to go out and play.

[Froggychum]

ah okay... so it's like a counterspell to catfishing? cool cool

[razo999]

very good question