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UK’s Starmer gives Apple, Google 3 months to stop children sending nude images (www.scmp.com)
submitted 4 months ago* by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Do they actually know how the technology works? They will have to scan everything inbound and outbound connections, basically managed devices.

Apple and Google have been given a three-month ultimatum to make it impossible for children to take, share or view nude images on their smartphones, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday.

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[–] 166 points 4 months ago (14 children)

Technology as a religion strikes again.

We can't possibly solve this problem the human way, with parent and children awareness and communication.

No, we must solve it with tech. Every problem must be solved with tech !

What a sad world.

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  • [–] 29 points 4 months ago (11 children)

    I mean, I'm all for forcing big tech to provide better parental control tools. Because right now they provide the bare minimum that often locks you out of control... and it's a hassle to set up, maintain and manage.

    Take e.g. Apple. To do any parental control you need an Apple account. Reasonable, to this point. But! To actually have any control, you need Apple devices. It isn't enough to log in through a browser, because you can't properly set rules, limits, block sites or apps, monitor communications, no, you need an iPhone or iPad or a Mac. You can't approve access requests if your child wants to go to a non-allowlisted website for e.g. school work.

    Oh and if we're at allowlists and blocklists... no platform at the moment offers ANY kind of automated lists the parents can enable. They need to manually hunt things down and add them. So you either have your kid constantly pinging you to access resources, or you're constantly reviewing what they're visiting, searching for, etc., to block inappropriate content. And with how many porn websites there are out there that are specifically CLANDESTINE porn sites that at first appear generic kids games but if you go the right way, you find porn, is staggering.

    Oh and one more thing. When are we punishing Google, Meta, etc., for allowing intentionally child-targeted adult themed ads and recommendations? Or did we forget how YouTube allowed incredibly disturbing content in ads and recommendations FOR KIDS (as in, literally injected into playlists meant for kids)?

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  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    I feel like all these locks and bars that people apparently believe that they need to be good parents to their children are a little... much? My mother wasn't an exemplary parent exactly so I wouldn't go down her route, but I think there's a case to be made for connecting to your child on a human level, and being their guide rather than their warden.

    It makes me think of this hysterical American mindset I've bumped into over the years. I've got friends who likened me walking a couple of blocks to school as a six year old as child abuse, when they themselves have no idea how to operate a washing machine. I did experience abuse, but it was more of the slammed into the floor and choked out, than going to and from school on my own.

    There's a happy medium to be made, where you can gradually introduce concepts to a child at a level that's appropriate. Fostering a connection to a child that makes them feel like they can trust in you, and safely go to you when they need it, while also having the freedom to make decisions and grow on their own.

    Oh and one more thing. When are we punishing Google, Meta, etc., for allowing intentionally child-targeted adult themed ads and recommendations? Or did we forget how YouTube allowed incredibly disturbing content in ads and recommendations FOR KIDS (as in, literally injected into playlists meant for kids)?

    I think this is the far more pressing issue. Capitalism will gladly throw the health of people under the bus if it makes them a quick buck.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    It's a different approach based on age, too - the parental controls Apple provides are great for a toddler on an iPad, and may even work into elementary school... but not forever. You can't hide kids from reality, no matter what you take away. I knew too much and more by age 8 and we didn't even have the internet. When our son gets to be 6 or 7 we'll probably have to start explaining the concept of porn and online bad actors, and that's depressing, but it's the world we live in.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    The issue is that unfiltered access to the internet is dangerous to kids - and at a certain age, kids do want to discover that side without any parental interference.

    Limiting what they can access is not an unhealthy approach. It's protective, especially nowadays when certain companies (looking at you, Roblox and Meta) will shelter paedos because it's a financially viable thing to do, repercussions and hurt children be damned.

    And there HAS to be a balance between adults having unfettered access to the entirety of the internet, without having to take a selfie every time they want to have a wank or approach any remotely adult topic. It literally takes a single penstroke from the government to categorise a mundane topic "adult" and start listing people - because ID-ing yourself in a "trust us, your data is safe" (except ignore all the data breaches that have already happened!) environment will TOTALLY not lead to issues. I mean what could go wrong when you start collecting the IDs of trans kids reaching out for help because of abuse, gay/bi/lesbian/etc. kids similarly seeking help, suicidal people seeking help, and the list goes on? What problem could there be from that data leaking, right?

    This bullshit WILL get reversed the moment a prominent politician's weird porn browsing habits leak, and I do hope that happens sooner than later. But even when that happens, we need a SANE option to protect children - and that's by giving the tools to parents, parents whom are mostly overloaded with work, and can't afford to spend hours a day not interacting with their children but reviewing what they do on the internet.

    Yes, being a better parent to your child IS part of that, but so is setting up virtual boundaries.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago

    You say things I agree with, and things I don't.

    I struggle to see the benefit in virtual boundaries, and think it's better to foster a healthy trusting relationship with one's child. They'll encounter bad situations at some point sooner or later, and at that point having shielded them from it in lieu of giving them the tools to deal with it, will have been harmful rather than helpful.

    Further, this kind of informational censoring can be used to actively harm people as well. I've met many people whose lifelines are their virtual connections to their communities, and had their parents been at all technically inclined these people likely wouldn't be alive today.

    Children won't spontaneously combust if they encounter pornography. My first exposure happened at around six or seven, same time half of my classmates. Someone found a pornographic card deck in the bushes during recess.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    You can literally do most parental controls with your home network if you know what you are doing which means those that don't will have to learn, I know how terrible a parent has to learn something to take care of their child. You can even enforce it outside the house by setting up a tunnel to your home network on a phone and making it so the phone has to use the tunnel in order to connect to the internet otherwise there is no internet access, so your network parental controls are always enforced. Hell you could make it so the phone only gets internet access when home too, to enforce even more limitations on internet access.

    Yes this will require constant updating as things change and you discover workarounds and new apps are developed, but as a parent aren't you supposed to be constantly learning and adapting for your child anyways? You may even need to buy some gadgets too which again is nothing new for a parent to do to protect their child.

    This shit can already be done but lazy parents and shitty governments are going to make it everyone's problem.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    The fact that you think this shows that you've never even attempted to set up parental control...

    And sure, let's have parents who work 10-12 hours just so the family survives, do YET ANOTHER chore, which they need to constantly manage.

    How about instead of that, big tech can get their shit together and provide proper parental controls? Including router manufacturers. It's minimal effort from them, makes life easier for millions of parents.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    Its really not that hard to do you could literally find a youtuber to walk you through the whole process since it seems you could use some hand holding with tech.

    But hey if you didn't want so many chores to do after working long hours maybe consider that before having a child. Not my fault parents didn't think it would be a lot of work.

    I mean yeah that would be great if big tech could provide us with more protections and stop tracking everything we do but they aren't going to and governments take their bribes so they won't force them to. So parents are going to need to figure out how to protect their children and adapt to our online world. You can learn these skills and protect your children or not its up to you.

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  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Your entire take is idiotic as best.

    As a society we should strive for making life easier for everyone, but especially those who are having trouble with technology due to lack of time or resources.

    The solution isn't to go online and start spouting off about "how you should've considered that you'll need to learn a dozen new technologies just to raise your kid", but to provide actually actionable, simplified enough solutions that people can utilise.

    Your take is especially idiotic when you put it in perspective of ALL OUR FUCKING PRIVACY RIGHTS BEING VIOLATED because parents are already struggling to keep their kids safe. And you just shrug your shoulders and tell others to parent better? What kind of a fuckwit are you?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago* (2 children)

    I'm just being realistic I said I would like for more protections from tech companies but that isn't the world we live in, but I guess you couldnt comprehend that.

    I offered a solution so that parents could protect their children TODAY. That's why I provided an actual actionable solution a parent who is worried about their child could do to protect them now. You say you care about privacy rights well why don't you stop complaining and start protecting your family rather than wait for the tech companies or government to start caring about you?

    Your options are to protect yourself and your family or complain online. I'm sorry it will require some work to do but hey like I said that is what you signed up for. Yes you will need to do better because we live in a fucked up world that doesn't make it easy on you. I wish it was different but its not. But go ahead get mad because I offered a way to solve these issues, rather than simply agreeing that there is nothing we can do.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Check the discussion you're on right now.

    IT IS ABOUT FUCKING LEGISLATION THAT FORCES BIG TECH TO DO SOMETHING FOR "PROTECTING CHILDREN".

    My solution is that since we're already legally forcing big tech to do something, then why not do it the right way and force them to give tools to parents to enable them to protect their kids, instead of this fucking dystopian operating system level privacy erasure.

    And your solution is still to not give a fuck about the laws that are being introduced, AND not give a fuck about parents besides telling them to "protect their kids". You do see why your take is idiotic, right?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    I responded to your comment that talks about how setting up parental controls yourself isn't really an option and pointed out that it is in fact an option, but I guess you forgot about that.

    Like I said I am all for big tech having to provide more options for parents but it shouldn't come at the expense of everyone else which mind you is what this post is about.

    I am just pointing out that you can in fact set up good parental controls if you are willing to, which you seem like you are not. Its not dystopian to know how to work with your technology that you use every single day in fact the world would be better if everyone understood how their tech worked and could fine tune it for their needs. Its wild to think having more knowledge is dystopian.

    My solution is something you can do without the government or big tech and is something that can give you control in ways they can't and do it today if you wanted to. It will protect your kids and is a very good option for parents in the modern age. But I get it I made you think of stuff that sounds too difficult for you so you're upset.

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  • [–] 20 points 4 months ago

    If they don’t invent excuses to take tech away from people, for scanning everything , to force us using AIs which tell us the stories they want told, how will they retain power and hide their crimes?

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