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'Kids Online Safety Act' will deliberately target trans content, senator admits.::undefined

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[–] randon31415@lemmy.world 90 points 1 year ago (9 children)

"The bill – endorsed by president Joe Biden..."

Why in the world would Biden support this Heritage foundation garbage?

[–] Arsenal4ever@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

'Kids Online Safety Act' will deliberately target trans content, senator admits

He's a granddad. We shouldn't have granddads who can't work a remote be president. I assume he can't work a remote.

[–] uis@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago

Set maximum age for presidency at 25.

[–] asteroidnova@lemmy.ml 35 points 1 year ago

This IS Biden. He's always been a pretty bad human person. The only silver lining is that he's been better than most recently. He's a center-right politician just like most Democrats.

[–] AdmiralShat@programming.dev 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Are you starting to see the cracks in the foundation? Are you starting to see how the game is played?

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 60 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is actually a fantastic example of typical politics, but not in the way you're imagining. It's a classic poison pill. Write a bill with something good (protecting children's privacy online, which I think we'd all agree is good) and then put something unpalatable into it (transphobia and homophobia).

Someone votes for it, "Why do you hate LGBT people?" Someone votes against it, "Why don't you want children to have stronger privacy laws on the Internet?"

It's exhausting and a lose-lose. That said, I prefer if they don't vote for it and take heat for "being anti privacy". You don't negotiate with people's rights.

[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Is it protecting children? Claims need evidence and rules need tests. Until we do that its fear-based, exploitable control for the sake of control.

[–] AdmiralShat@programming.dev 24 points 1 year ago

Government doesn't run on the scientific method, sadly.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah that's the problem with legislation like this. You'll have proponents claim it protects children without actually explaining how.

[–] fosforus@sopuli.xyz -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sometimes we actually need to act before knowing everything. What we know for a fact currently is that the number of children who think they are trans or non-binary is in a sharp rise in many countries in the west. There are guesses why this is: transactivists like to say that LBTQ+ is now accepted so these people dare to come out. The other side cite e.g. social contagion. All this is happening only in the west, somehow. If this is caused by something that is reversible, then that should be probably tried out.

If their transness is completely internal, then nothing external will affect it. If not, they might be "cured" in some sense. Being trans is utilistically negative, after all -- it doesn't make life exactly easier or better. So if its onset can be genuinely prevented, that would be a net positive for the individual.

Dunno if any of this justifies general censorship, probably not, but I think it's complete madness that children are allowed to see everything there is to see in the internet. I think that will be quoted as one of the greatest mistakes of this century. I'm not at all surprised that their mental health is in a sustained nose dive.

[–] rambaroo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Please explain in detail how this bill does a single good thing for children.

[–] primbin@lemmy.one 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Section 3a of the bill is the part that would be used to target LGBTQ content.

Sections 4 talks about adding better parental controls which would give general statistics about what their kids are doing online, without parents being able to see/helicopter in on exaxrlt what their kids were looking at. It also would force sites to give children safe defaults when they create a profile, including the ability to disable personalized recommendations, placing limitations on dark patterns designed to manipulate children to stay on platforms for longer, making their information private by default, and limiting others' ability to find and message them without the consent of children. Notably, these settings would all be optional, but enabled by default for children/users suspected to be children.

I think the regulations described in section 4 would mostly be good things. They're the types of settings that I'd prefer to use on my online accounts, at least. However, the bad outweighs the good here, and the content in section 3a is completely unacceptable.

Funnily enough, I had to read through the bill twice, and only caught on to how bad section 3a was on my second time reading it.

[–] elscallr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I think the regulations described in section 4 would mostly be good things. They’re the types of settings that I’d prefer to use on my online accounts, at least.

Then put them on your accounts. Any regulation in this area is unacceptable.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I don't know that it does. If bills and the discourse around them were actually about the stated topic, it would be revolutionary to politics.

[–] Arsenal4ever@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The only cracks here is that the senate are all a bunch of olds who don't understand the internet.

This tbh...

They fear what thy don't understand...

[–] Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Actually no, and furthermore I reject your ‘both sides’ rhetoric wholesale.

[–] AdmiralShat@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I legitimately can't fucking stand idiots like you.

You can agree with the overall or the majority of policy decisions of a political party while still criticizing their individual decisions as people. To think your political party is somehow 'above it' or morally just through and through is being willfully ignorant. It's a level of mental gymnastics that's outright absurd.

Again, you can still vote for these people and still believe doing so increases the quality of life. And yes, we can make a distinction that one party isn't just the 'lesser of two evils'.

But holy fuck, seriously. Both sides voted to invade the middle east, both sides vote to increase the military budget, both sides vote to increase their own congressional benefits, and both sides play the game where you need to vote on someone's bill to get them to vote on yours, both sides have issues with the legal loop holes of bribery, both sides take lobbiest money, etc.

Just because one is clearly better than the other doesn't remove them from criticism and doesn't deny the fact that they are still politicians doing political shit.

Unstick your head from your ass, ffs

[–] Gravel8@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago

Because he is an old senile man

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

He's desperate to look bipartisan

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People suggest he supports this bill which is not strictly accurate (the bill hasn't even hit a full vote by either chamber of the legislative branch).

Here's where support is indicated for a bill, and Republicans are clearly doing what they always do and making a bill a race to the worst possible bill.

We’ve invested $1 billion to help schools hire, train — and train 14,000 new mental health counselors in schools across the country. And we’re taking steps to address the harm of social media is doing to our young people. And it is doing harm. (Applause.)

We’ve got to hold — we’ve got to hold these platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on — on our children for profit.

Later this week, senators will debate legislation to protect kids’ privacy online, which I’ve been calling for for two years. It matters. Pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it, pass it. (Laughter.)

I really mean it. Think about it. Do you ever get a chance to look at what your kids are looking at online?

Folks, the actions we’re announcing today represent a real step forward to help millions of people get mental health care they need and their insurance should be — and — and the insurance should be provided — should be provided. But there’s still so much more to do.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/07/25/remarks-by-president-biden-on-expanding-access-to-mental-health-care/

FWIW I wouldn't support any bill that "holds big tech accountable" for users using technology, because I think that is stupid. Still, suggesting Biden supports this specific version of a bill is beyond a stretch.

[–] fosforus@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

Then again, Pinknews isn't exactly a impartial source itself either, is it?

[–] peanutdust@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Biden has hurt blacks more than any larper nazi today.