<story><title>France to introduce controversial age verification system for adult websites</title><url>https://www.politico.eu/article/france-to-introduce-controversial-age-verification-system-for-adult-pornography-websites/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yomly</author><text>I agree - for many of people(including  teens) circumventing restrictions is part of the thrill.&lt;p&gt;That said I do think there has been an escalation of porn over the years. It&amp;#x27;s really apparent when you look at things from the 70s. Though apparently banning porn from cinemas shifted content to more &amp;quot;trashy&amp;quot; VHS&amp;#x2F;DVD&amp;#x2F;Online videos&lt;p&gt;I feel data-driven analytics has probably accelerated this, like a race to the bottom (pun unintended). Extremity probably drives engagement so the porn kids are exposed to today is much more extreme than what we may have been as up and coming internet users.</text></item><item><author>raxxorrax</author><text>A mistake many people do. Maybe there are people now wary of children being subjected to certain content on the net. They are forgetting at least three things:&lt;p&gt;They also were exposed and survived just fine&lt;p&gt;Their kids are probably going to be better with tech at some point.&lt;p&gt;The vast majority of pornographic content is available without being on the market which makes regulation nearly impossible. Yes, you can maybe attack the platforms hosting it, but I don&amp;#x27;t see this going anywhere. You would punish commercial distribution on push other content underground. Many in porn are already directly financed by their viewers.&lt;p&gt;Wasn&amp;#x27;t the Australia block circumvented within 24h by a ~14-year old kid?&lt;p&gt;Some people suggested to make brushing teeth illegal so that kids do it in secret in a dark corner.</text></item><item><author>Waterfall</author><text>As a kid, I was able to figure out limewire, Emule, torrents and I&amp;#x27;m sure kids today will be able to download a free vpn or use similar tools I used as a preteen to figure out how to circumvent these pointless blocks. I started with free video samples and only moved onto methods by high school to get access to premium websites. As a human, our strength is not only the ability to do these things but to also teach others to do it. I was able to help my friends to get access as well. If one ape discovered fire it would die with them, but our ability to spread information, like a virus is what gives humanity intelligence. One kid like me at school is all it takes to make this stupid law useless.&lt;p&gt;Adult websites want brownie points and also don&amp;#x27;t like nonpayers, but mess with their revenue and you&amp;#x27;ll get a push back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>belorn</author><text>There has been an escalation of porn compared to the 70s, but so has also every from of consumption and consumerism. What is not clear is if peoples ability to adapt and filter out the extreme aspects has also increased.&lt;p&gt;Violence in movies are also more extreme. As is violence in music, violence in news flows, and violence in the messages of peoples social communities.&lt;p&gt;I am also always aware that here in Sweden there was a significant difference in cultural values around both violence and sex compared to the US during the 70s-90s. Casual nudity and minor sexual references were seen as something funny and embarrassing rather than taboo, while violence was seen as twisting the mind of children. In the US it was the opposite, with violence being perfectly fine but anything hinting towards sex was something that would corrupt children. At the later part of the 90s the culture in Sweden copied that of the US, with English became in practice a second language, so I am always a bit weary of claims that images of sex and nudity will corrupt people, teens and even children, while illustrations and reference to violence are given a wide acceptances as innocent to anyone until studies has proven it guilty.</text></comment>
<story><title>France to introduce controversial age verification system for adult websites</title><url>https://www.politico.eu/article/france-to-introduce-controversial-age-verification-system-for-adult-pornography-websites/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yomly</author><text>I agree - for many of people(including  teens) circumventing restrictions is part of the thrill.&lt;p&gt;That said I do think there has been an escalation of porn over the years. It&amp;#x27;s really apparent when you look at things from the 70s. Though apparently banning porn from cinemas shifted content to more &amp;quot;trashy&amp;quot; VHS&amp;#x2F;DVD&amp;#x2F;Online videos&lt;p&gt;I feel data-driven analytics has probably accelerated this, like a race to the bottom (pun unintended). Extremity probably drives engagement so the porn kids are exposed to today is much more extreme than what we may have been as up and coming internet users.</text></item><item><author>raxxorrax</author><text>A mistake many people do. Maybe there are people now wary of children being subjected to certain content on the net. They are forgetting at least three things:&lt;p&gt;They also were exposed and survived just fine&lt;p&gt;Their kids are probably going to be better with tech at some point.&lt;p&gt;The vast majority of pornographic content is available without being on the market which makes regulation nearly impossible. Yes, you can maybe attack the platforms hosting it, but I don&amp;#x27;t see this going anywhere. You would punish commercial distribution on push other content underground. Many in porn are already directly financed by their viewers.&lt;p&gt;Wasn&amp;#x27;t the Australia block circumvented within 24h by a ~14-year old kid?&lt;p&gt;Some people suggested to make brushing teeth illegal so that kids do it in secret in a dark corner.</text></item><item><author>Waterfall</author><text>As a kid, I was able to figure out limewire, Emule, torrents and I&amp;#x27;m sure kids today will be able to download a free vpn or use similar tools I used as a preteen to figure out how to circumvent these pointless blocks. I started with free video samples and only moved onto methods by high school to get access to premium websites. As a human, our strength is not only the ability to do these things but to also teach others to do it. I was able to help my friends to get access as well. If one ape discovered fire it would die with them, but our ability to spread information, like a virus is what gives humanity intelligence. One kid like me at school is all it takes to make this stupid law useless.&lt;p&gt;Adult websites want brownie points and also don&amp;#x27;t like nonpayers, but mess with their revenue and you&amp;#x27;ll get a push back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throwaway0a5e</author><text>&amp;gt;Extremity probably drives engagement so the porn kids are exposed to today is much more extreme than what we may have been as up and coming internet users.&lt;p&gt;The front page of any given tube site these days is professionals pretending to be step siblings and content produced by the pornographic equivalent of YouTubers and Instagram influencers.  I feel like the extremity peaked ~10yr ago.</text></comment>