So Bluesky is about to require people to verify their age, which means sharing their real identity. I’ve no problem with people knowing my identity but then I’m not trying to hide from abusers. Or explore my gender. Or be a whistleblower. Or protest without getting arrested. Or or or… there are so many reasons people need anonymity.

Despite being myself online I am not keen to show Bluesky my scanned face or my bank card. So I guess I won’t be sticking around there.

I gave my advice before I left, which was “Switch to Mastodon, nobody there cares who you are, as long as you’re funny.”

@purplepadma Its a thorny issue, with nasty stuff able to happen without any retribution, but I agree that much would be lost if anonimity was lost
@Beedazzled That’s not why they’re doing it. It’s because the UK government is trying to restrict young people’s access to porn sites by requiring age verification.
@purplepadma @Beedazzled They did Clause 28 under the banner of protecting children too. I was a child at the time and the wave of homophobia and abuse very nearly killed me, so I get pretty suspicious whenever “but, the children!” comes up like this.
@M1k3yv2 Clause 28 refers to an atrocious piece of UK legislation supposedly intended to.protect children by banning the "promotion" of homosexuality. In reality, it led to erasure and censure, of course. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28 @aegir @purplepadma @Beedazzled
Section 28 - Wikipedia

@ravenbait @M1k3yv2 @purplepadma @Beedazzled It also meant that homophobic schools and teachers would allow (and encourage, and take part in) homophobic bullying under the defence that they weren’t legally allowed to prevent it. All bullshit.
@aegir @ravenbait @M1k3yv2 @purplepadma and that is now happening to trans kids