Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for privacy. But between setting up the birthdate when creating my children’s local account on their computers, and having to send a copy of their ID to every platform under the sun, I’d easily chose the former.
I’d even agree to a simple protocol (HTTP X-Over-18 / X-Over-21 headers?) to that.
This is how they move the goalpost. They changed the argument.
You currently can just create a local account - period. It’s yours. No tracking. No personal info.
But now you’re accepting that you’re willing to give a third party information, even just a little.
The next argument is: “If giving your age is okay, why not your home address?”
This is what police do to fish information out of you.
In a era where privacy conscious people don’t even connect their TV to the internet… This is okay to you?
You went from “Why do they want my information?”
To
“I’m not concerned with sharing my age. But how should we do it?”
And that itself is the root issue.
Also this goalpost will move almost immediately. What if the parent doesn’t understand why the OS is asking for a DOB and they type whatever? What if the parent doesn’t log out and the kids use the adult account? What if the kid is really smart and bypasses the check (I think this could actually get bypassed easily)?
Rather than rolling back this rule they’ll just go even further and say the OS must analyze every action and utilize every input (e.g. microphone, camera) to determine the age of the current user and that controls need to be at the hardware level and OSes need to get state certified, etc. Before long only Windows, Apple, Google, and maybe RedHat can comply. An entire community of Linux enthusiasts destroyed. And as some bills have stated, rather vaguely, this can apply to something as simple as a calculator!
Which we have already seen with content ratings. Instead of using the rating to inform themselves on what content to allow their child, they basically relied on the retailers/theatres not selling access to people below the age.