I have this nagging fear that we're really close to a "walled web" coming to full fruition, where people who refuse to verify their identity are just locked out of the web, like with the vaccination pass during the height of the covid pandemic. Trying to browse any site if Cloudflare is down or their captcha service isn't working is probably a good indication of what it's going to be like. Also just trying to access information on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram without an account, or any paywalled news site. I can't really see any other endgame with all of the OS level age verification laws being proposed everywhere and similar discussions going on in the EU and UK, and now the W Social promotion where "verified humans" is the selling point. Protecting the kids from the evils of the internet and you from the bots. Aaaaah, I miss the 90s.

CC: @_elena@mastodon.social

#privacy