I miss the internet being a wild west.
It certainly had its downsides, but it felt a lot better than the nonsense that's been happening over the past decade+.
this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2025
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Yeah, but once money got involved we had to start making regulations
I remember being on GeoCities or Lycos and just incrementing the site number to see different sites.
Star Trek, Star Wars, Lego, PORN!
It's the same as fighting against "fake news" which just creates a false trust that everything on the internet is truth. Which is the opposite of what one should believe.
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Add censorship for mods containing adult (sexual) content.
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Slowly move the bar so that more content falls under definition of "adult" (themes of violence, LGBTQ+ themes).
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Continue to move the bar until desired level of censorship is obtained.
Well done, you've used moral panic to control your media.
Dark futures aside, why do I think that folks are just going to VPN their way in?
I'm glad they aren't just nuking every sexy mod from the site and chose to comply instead.
Loverslab would've crashed from all the sign ups lol.
Can I get mods there?
Yeah, the kinky kind.
And sometimes just super plain ones. I remember getting my favourite Skyrim potion texture mod from there specifically.
I was preparing my verbal pitchforks, but it seems they have chosen a middle ground. they will only require verification for adult content, and only in the EU and UK.
which means that if you don't need adult content or you can use a VPN, then it seems it won't affect you. so they are probably doing the bare minimum required by law
As someone who VPNs into the EU specifically for the privacy laws, this is troubling. I do wonder what my next move should be. I’d hate to lose my Steam account in particular.
Genuinely curious, is it just as a side effect of appearing to come from an EU server that means you trigger automated privacy systems? Or is there a legal basis by which you can say "I routed this through an EU server therefore I'm subject to EU privacy law" (maybe there isn't even a difference)
It’s as simple as getting the EU site and privacy policy when you connect from an EU IP. These systems are typically not as rigid as you might expect and the only friction might be around things like payment processing or things like that.
I get relatively uncensored internet access through UK/Ireland servers. This law and this type of law completely terrifies me.
They are not a Very Large Online Portal and do definitely not have to implement this in the EU under the DSA. There is a list, if you are on it, you have to do it, if not then not. Also, the EU wide system for eID is not yet completed and currently there is a plethora of single services, one per country, for eID.
I know that they have to do this stuff in the UK, but fkn leave me alone with that shit. It only causes me to switch location in my VPN and doesn't help anyone, not even the kids this crap law pretends to protect.
e: here'S the list. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/list-designated-vlops-and-vloses
It sucks that they have to do this. But I prefer this than to simply lock out users from the affected countries.
(Looking at steam here, not bothering to create age verification, which in turn means in some countries some games are not visible/purchasable at all)
In NL it is so stupid, I am legally allowed to verify my age and gamble, but opening loot boxes no way.
Worst part is that loot boxes aren't even defined as gambling yet ...
Loot boxes are far more predatory than gambling. They are literally advertised in games that children play.
It really depends on what people consider to be loot boxes imo, yes the traditional Tf2 once or the CSGO once which blew this hole thing open yes.
But does it stop with loot goblins in a game like Borderlands? Or does it stop with Magic the Gathering packs (which are required to play sealed/draft).
Actual gambling involves being able to lose your money and get nothing in return, with loot boxes you always get something. The predatory tactics against children need to stop, but there is no reason that an adult is allowed to gamble, but not open loot boxes.
Let's hope that new EU age verification system is actually good and privacy friendly.
Let's also hope for unicorns
Yes because giving up isn't an option
Privacy friendly my ass. If they ask for my ID, it's not private.
Many European age verification services can verify the age without giving them any data. It works like OAuth. You get redirect to a portal where you login with your citizen ID and you'll get redirected back to the website.
How it would work in practice is still too soon to say. Maybe they'll also share other details such as your name or citizen id number to make sure you can only have a single account on the website. I wouldn't want this either.
Keep in mind that all kinds of age verification like this just shifts a lot of porn into the underground and will increase identity fraud. The illegal sale of hacked verified porn accounts will also become as valuable as porn accounts on paid websites.
Yeah, I'm against all of this control at the core. The privacy is just another step beyond.
If it just shares if you are 18+ or not or heck even if it shares my birthday idc. It's a non realistic identifier if it is only that.
It's way better than having to share your ID what is currently the case when you buy alcohol or drugs online or want to gamble online.
The system is not going to revolve around your ID or passport. The entire point is to make something different, we already have some systems in place that only share part of your personal info.
In NL we already have iDIN and DigiD which are only verification tools, iDIN is used for sharing your name, address, birthday and a couple other things so that would share way to much for this purpose and DigiD shares even more. iDIN uses your bank app and DigiD has it's own app and they show you what data is shared to the site.
I wouldn't want to use one of these things directly siince most people will not read that small list (it's literally just one sentence plus what data is shared in words).
But if we get another app which can only be used to share our birthday it is fine imo. For me personally the year would be fine, or you can do it so it shares if you are 18 or above.