@davidallengreen a group of teenagers under 16 could set up their own mastodon server and NOT federate, just like anyone else.
Just them and their friends.
@JuliaRez @knowprose @davidallengreen Are we talking technically or legally?
Technically, yes. Legally : no, you're still subject to the online safety act and probably the upcoming law too. I'm not sure even if teenagers had the ability to handle the OSA requirements, if they're even legally permitted to because they're not adults.
The only reason Mastodon has got away with it so far is because it's small, and no one has (yet) tried to enforce the law against an instance.
Says the person who is in Sweden, honest guv, cough.
I guess if a masto install is now 'apt install mastodon-server' then _maybe._
@adamrice In the UK, our regular bank cards are generally on the Visa or Mastercard networks. They can be used in *most* online shopping situations that ask for "a credit card".
Merchants (or maybe it's processing platforms) can determine if a given card is Debit or Credit - Steam uses this in the UK as their only form of age-validation for smut-games (must be a Credit card).
But for "get a domain" and "get a cheap VPS" transactions, I have used my regular MC-debit bank card without issue.
@syllopsium @JuliaRez @davidallengreen if it's just a group, it isn't necessarily social media.
An argument can be made that it's the same as email.
The real problem related to teenagers and social media are the lack of privacy, et al.
Are they really going to Napster sue kids for a private mastodon server? 🙃
And who would tell?
@JuliaRez @davidallengreen yup.
Set up a server at home, don't federate, invite friends. Keep it private.
Just takes a little imagination.
Been trying with the idea of of setting up one with pgp encryption. For giggles.
dag
Taran Rampersad
Julia Rez
Pete / Syllopsium
adamrice
Buxton The Red (Matt)