Mastodawn

Sar Feb 24

Hit their bottom pockets and the "necessary thing" quickly becomes "optional".

Amazing what bleeding money and an impending IPO will do.

@sar

My 9yr sub ran out yesterday, and I don't think I'll ever renew it. They've lost my trust already.

solo Feb 24

@sar @Em0nM4stodon they are still doing it. nothing has changed.

@solonovamax @sar @Em0nM4stodon

Ed Feb 25

The person responsible for that headline should be flogged, at least metaphorically. "Canceled...for now."

Oh, you mean delayed? Postponed? Rescheduled?

Even with the qualifier at the end "canceled" lends the act a more permanent connotation than they actually intend.

...thus concludes my channeling of my news editor father . . . for now.

https://tech.lgbt/@solonovamax/116128249113105750

@EdCates @sar @Em0nM4stodon not just "for now"

they're very clearly still going through with it:

solo (@[email protected])

to anyone touting this as them changing their mind: they have not. they still plan to do exactly the same thing they planned to before. that is, use your messages to determine your and if you get included in the 10% that are assumed to be children you have to upload id/do a facial scan. none of this has changed. they still plan to do a global rollout of age verification. https://discord.com/blog/getting-global-age-assurance-right-what-we-got-wrong-and-whats-changing @[email protected] https://infosec.exchange/@Em0nM4stodon/116127786561206440

LGBTQIA+ and Tech

@solonovamax @Em0nM4stodon

Sar Feb 25

Not quite true though, is it?

Regardless of whether you believe them or not, they're now committing to using companies that will only perform the check locally on your device, whereas previously they were going to be storing your ID/info for up to 7 days remotely. And in the case of their previous partnership with Persona that 7 days would become unlimited duration.

Also, credit card verification wasn't previously an option, which is a better option for those that don't want to hand over their biometric data.

I'm certainly not an apologist for them, and I'll personally not be verifying anything with them (or any age verification service, ever, for that matter), but I do think saying "nothing has changed" is as equally inaccurate as the "cancelled" portion of that headline.

Terminal Tilt Feb 24

This is what happens when you hit them where it hurts, in the nu... I mean wallet. That is the only way they listen. Discord has a long ways to go before it is redeemed, but this is a win for the good guys!

A.Z. Device |Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon All my friends moved to Signal. I assume Discord is just gonna pull a that thing most companies do and wait til they think everyone has forgotten before repeating their b.s.

solo Feb 24

@werringworlds @Em0nM4stodon they even admitted they'll do it in their blog post

We’re delaying our global rollout to the second half of 2026.

A.Z. Device |Feb 25

@solonovamax @Em0nM4stodon 😮‍💨Wow... I'd say I'm surprised but it just seemed inevitable...

@werringworlds @Em0nM4stodon https://tech.lgbt/@solonovamax/116128249113105750

solo (@[email protected])

LGBTQIA+ and Tech

@werringworlds 💯💯💯

@Em0nM4stodon this buys us time, but they will try again. Probably split it into smaller steps to reduce the pushback or smth.

And if they do an IPO and sell, then... all bets are off anyway. Enshittification will take them one way or another.

Epic Null Feb 24

@siguza @Em0nM4stodon Hopefully, "time" is an ingredient we can use well.

Joe Ortiz Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon They're still planning to rolll this out so I would push for alternatives in the meantime.

Flipper 🐬🏳️‍🌈Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon it helps also that all these verification companies seem to be run by clueless muppets.

JAK & Willi Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon too late

My camera shoots fascists Feb 24

Even though I rarely used it, I like to think that I helped in my tiny little middle finger way.

Pip Feb 25

@Mikal @Em0nM4stodon Nice! I just got my confirmation as well.

Nonya Bidniss Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon And also, still leave the platform. Make an example of it.

Faraiwe Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon alternatively, we could just ditch another corporate walled garden, because they will do that, or worse, again. Soon.

Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon We won, but only by a small margin. There shouldn't be this ridiculous age verification stuff. But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so let's keep fighting.

@doin @Em0nM4stodon no we won nothing. they're still doing it. they have not gone back on a single thing.

@solonovamax You're right. But we showed them what we're capable of, and that's already the first step towards victory. I've been anxious about this whole time, so seeing this news this morning made me really happy.

https://discord.com/blog/getting-global-age-assurance-right-what-we-got-wrong-and-whats-changing

@doin please give their blog post a read:

https://tech.lgbt/@solonovamax/116128249113105750

@solonovamax I've finished reading it. I was too optimistic. The main idea of this article is that we're not going to eat people in a barbaric way anymore; we're going to eat them in a more refined way, and we've decided to wait a few hours before eating. Fuck.

@doin exactly

absolutely nothing has changed, except they just want to make it SEEM like things have changed so that all the hate goes away.

@solonovamax Yes, thank you for reminding me. Let go of illusions and keep fighting.

@doin I literally immediately suspected that it was all bullshit so went straight to check their blog

@solonovamax You are a smart person who can see things clearly.

the thing has moved

Feb 24

@Em0nM4stodon Nice.
however, i already deleted my account 2yrs ago, so i don't really get affected

still care tho :)

LittlePolarBear Feb 25

They pushed it back a couple months... It's not going away. Don't celebrate just yet.

廃墟猫 🐈🌈🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛Feb 25

@Em0nM4stodon I think "for now" is the important part.

@Em0nM4stodon misleading headline. They didn’t cancel it, they just pushed it back while they finish fleshing it out. It’s progress, but not much imo

Edit: I was being a dick. See below

@phillip
It's important to celebrate that our collective action had an impact.

Is this solving the problem entirely? Of course not. And Discord is still a privacy-hostile platform, even without age verification.

But the fact that people got angry, and this made the platform move in a less privacy-hostile direction is a win. And we need to celebrate each win. No matter how small.

It doesn't mean we are leaving the fight. It means we can enjoy this small victory today, then fight even harder tomorrow.

@Em0nM4stodon I agree 100%. Perfection is the enemy of progress

Sorry, I had a quick, knee jerk reaction. Wasn’t meant as a slight to you

9to5Mac’s misleading headline irked me and I’ve been having frustrating conversations with friends who don’t see the problem with all of this, and/or don’t have all the facts before making judgments. It has me feeling even more pessimistic than usual :/

@phillip That is understandable. I can relate with how frustrating this can get. Make sure to recharge around people sharing your privacy values to prevent burnout. Self-care is important in this long battle 💚

@Em0nM4stodon doing my best. Thank you, friend 🫶

@phillip 🫶

@phillip @Em0nM4stodon been there. Keep up the good fight.

I can't even get the people I know IRL to understand that having their ID leak via a contractor data breach onto the open web (which already happened!) would increase their risk of identity theft. Let alone whatever else these companies may do with the data.

Nor can I seem to make them understand their refusal to care about their privacy reduces my ability to protect my own identity online.

@theeclecticdyslexic @Em0nM4stodon it’s so frustrating! Especially when they’re in the bell curve of knowing enough to think they know everything

eclexic Feb 25

@phillip @Em0nM4stodon I know one person in particular that is stuck in an endless ideological trap of "all technology is neutral, it will be fine".

The amount of screaming I want to do...

@theeclecticdyslexic @Em0nM4stodon ugh, I feel you :/ it’s a lot sometimes

John Mierau Feb 25

For now.

Discord cancelled the rollout of fsce scans/mandatory ID FOR NOW.

Drikanis Feb 25

@Em0nM4stodon it's going to keep happening for this and other platforms if people keep voting for the politicians who are pushing for this kind of surveillance. Discord is only doing this to get ahead of all the new laws that require it.

Epic Null Feb 25

@drikanis @Em0nM4stodon Which... ironically gives us an opportunity.

We can turn this into a hell of a scarry "Hell No" for any company considering this. Bonus points if we set up offramps for the social medias we know will pull this.

Terra Says Feb 25

While this seems like good news on the surface, I still wouldn’t trust the company or their products ever again.

Terminal Tilt Feb 25

https://climatejustice.social/@terminaltilt/116002889866879054

I am 100% with you, Em. The push back you've received in this thread is the same that I got when I suggested we should be happy that Mozilla and Microsoft clearly hear us, and we should celebrate our wins, even if they are small.

Micdan 💾Feb 25

@Em0nM4stodon That's awesome, but I have a feeling that once they recover their users back again they'll roll out Age Ver again

Beko Pharm Feb 25

@micdan @Em0nM4stodon yeah this. With some bells and whistles, of course. They currently make it about the verification company not about the verification itself. That'll become a Blue is the new Red situation.

Ah well, I'm out 🤘

Dielectric_Boogaloo Feb 25

@Em0nM4stodon I think regardless of this change people should leave the platform. I deleted my account and will be testing out platforms like Fluxer

v Feb 25

@Em0nM4stodon Its a small win. I've been trying to get my friends to move over to Matrix, but its been an uphill battle. I also really hated the "hello fellow privacy enthusiasts" tone of the CTO's blog post.

Not sure if its been brought up, but using the wayback machine it looks like Discord only listed 2 new roles, a privacy engineer and privacy counsel in the past 2 weeks.

eclexic Feb 25

@SwiftVoltas @Em0nM4stodon It's more than an uphill battle. The UX in all matrix clients is basically a non-starter for anyone I know IRL. Element especially, but that's the only one with calls. The UI is cluttered with data the average user doesn't understand, and it's surprisingly easy to break things.

I don't think it's a battle I'm capable of winning until the UX improves significantly. The security doesn't even factor in for people I know IRL. I just have to accept what they will tolerate.