A letter I sent my senators, please consider similar.

[Outsider]

Rather than banning TikTok, make it illegal for young people under the age of at least 18-21 to produce content for social media of any sort.

Looking at other's content isn't a big thing. But to produce content requires a bit of maturity and introspection beyond the average middle-schooler or even high schooler. The tragedies and strife caused by online interactions by immature individuals hidden behind a shield of distance from the immediate interaction- if not outright anonymity- are well known.

I wish you would also sponsor a bill that would put pornography behind an ".XXX" domain. It's been discussed before, but I think this is a fight and a cause worth fighting for, however long and however hard.

I never saw "hardcore" porn until I was nearly 30 years old, now every 12-year-old has seen things that I couldn't have imagined at the time I was exposed to the VHS tape at a friend's house. No little kid, or even a young adult, should have that sick garbage available to them until they are 18-21.

Please consider this. I'm also writing Senator Warnock, and my Congressional representative as well. I beg of you for the sake of the sanity of future generations to work for the rest of your life if need be to enact these changes.

"Influencers" who urge kids to run away from home, and engage in sexual activities should be prosecuted under the full extent of the law. Whether they directly interact with children or not.

Please work to make the digital world a place that's more than a dark cesspool of violence, lust, self-indulgence, and despair, and make it into the potential great library of the human race.

Thank you sir.

[Ken]

Rather than banning TikTok, make it illegal for young people under the age of at least 18-21 to produce content for social media of any sort.

Such an idea would be blatantly unconstitutional. The right to free expression under the First Amendment doesn't kick in at age 18 or 21.

[Josh]

Congress has passed many laws, and so have states like Texas, banning pornography for anyone under 18.

The courts keep overturning such laws, claiming they make it too hard for adults to anonymously view pornography.

My opinion is it would be better for such judges to have a millstone chained to them and be tossed into the ocean than to face the righteous judgment of what is to come for their unrighteous judgment. And Congress and state governments should impeach such judges and then subject them to severe punishment as a warning to others. (And whilst they’re at it, check their hard drives…)

[Ken]

The courts keep overturning such laws, claiming they make it too hard for adults to anonymously view pornography.

It is actually a much bigger issue than that. You are in computers so you should know this.

A very robust age verification system for Facebook or TikTok and other social media would require that such companies collect and maintain a lot of private information on users such as drivers license or passport information since you would have to verify your identity every time you use the platform. If TikTok has the drivers license information of every user that becomes an enormous security problem and would be an irresistible target for hackers and identity thieves. And would require all the different jurisdictions that issue IDs to allow big tech companies free access to their databases. Otherwise, how would TikTok know whether or not you gave them a fake ID. Or someone else's ID. How does TikTok know whether or not user #52034 is a 35 year old mom, or a 13 year old who took a cell phone pic of their mom's driver's license in order to open a TikTok account?

More likely, the Federal government would have to set up some sort of new national ID card with digital and biometric features (facial ID, retinal scans, fingerprints, etc.) all stored in Federal databases and then allow big tech companies to interface with such information in order to do age verifications.

[Szdfan]

More likely, the Federal government would have to set up some sort of new national ID card with digital and biometric features (facial ID, retinal scans, fingerprints, etc.) all stored in Federal databases and then allow big tech companies to interface with such information in order to do age verifications.

I can already imagine the freakout and conspiracy theories about a national ID and long posts on MN about how this is a sign of the End Times.

[RZehr]

More likely, the Federal government would have to set up some sort of new national ID card with digital and biometric features (facial ID, retinal scans, fingerprints, etc.) all stored in Federal databases and then allow big tech companies to interface with such information in order to do age verifications.

I can already imagine the freakout and conspiracy theories about a national ID and long posts on MN about how this is a sign of the End Times.

It’s called a passport. We already have them, just not everyone.

[Josh]

The courts keep overturning such laws, claiming they make it too hard for adults to anonymously view pornography.

It is actually a much bigger issue than that. You are in computers so you should know this.

A very robust age verification system for Facebook or TikTok and other social media would require that such companies collect and maintain a lot of private information on users such as drivers license or passport information since you would have to verify your identity every time you use the platform. If TikTok has the drivers license information of every user that becomes an enormous security problem and would be an irresistible target for hackers and identity thieves. And would require all the different jurisdictions that issue IDs to allow big tech companies free access to their databases. Otherwise, how would TikTok know whether or not you gave them a fake ID. Or someone else's ID. How does TikTok know whether or not user #52034 is a 35 year old mom, or a 13 year old who took a cell phone pic of their mom's driver's license in order to open a TikTok account?

More likely, the Federal government would have to set up some sort of new national ID card with digital and biometric features (facial ID, retinal scans, fingerprints, etc.) all stored in Federal databases and then allow big tech companies to interface with such information in order to do age verifications.

Online banking seems to have no problem doing this. Why can’t pornographic websites simply implement Know Your Customer like banks do?

I think pornographers have a responsibility to ensure children do not access pornography. Do you disagree?

[Josh]

More likely, the Federal government would have to set up some sort of new national ID card with digital and biometric features (facial ID, retinal scans, fingerprints, etc.) all stored in Federal databases and then allow big tech companies to interface with such information in order to do age verifications.

I can already imagine the freakout and conspiracy theories about a national ID and long posts on MN about how this is a sign of the End Times.

Do you think pornography should be freely accessible with no age verification?

[Ken]

The courts keep overturning such laws, claiming they make it too hard for adults to anonymously view pornography.

It is actually a much bigger issue than that. You are in computers so you should know this.

A very robust age verification system for Facebook or TikTok and other social media would require that such companies collect and maintain a lot of private information on users such as drivers license or passport information since you would have to verify your identity every time you use the platform. If TikTok has the drivers license information of every user that becomes an enormous security problem and would be an irresistible target for hackers and identity thieves. And would require all the different jurisdictions that issue IDs to allow big tech companies free access to their databases. Otherwise, how would TikTok know whether or not you gave them a fake ID. Or someone else's ID. How does TikTok know whether or not user #52034 is a 35 year old mom, or a 13 year old who took a cell phone pic of their mom's driver's license in order to open a TikTok account?

More likely, the Federal government would have to set up some sort of new national ID card with digital and biometric features (facial ID, retinal scans, fingerprints, etc.) all stored in Federal databases and then allow big tech companies to interface with such information in order to do age verifications.

Online banking seems to have no problem doing this. Why can’t pornographic websites simply implement Know Your Customer like banks do?

I think pornographers have a responsibility to ensure children do not access pornography. Do you disagree?

Well, this isn’t primarily about porn. It is about kids on TikTok and Instagram. There is already endless porn on the internet. You don’t need any sort of account to find it. The purpose of accounts like porn hub is for companies to make money on porn by putting it behind a paywall.

But when it comes to regulating age on the internet. Do you want every single random web site that you access (like for example Mennonet or a Toyota car repair forum) to be required by law to collect your driver’s license, social security number, and other identifying pieces of information? That is what it will come to. And if you do that it is an enormous invitation for a tsunami of identity theft. New social media sites will pop up just to harvest personal data. And since it is a global internet they’ll be popping up in places like Russia to harvest personal information of Americans.

And it won’t really work that well anyway. Because kids will just move on to other sites like Discord or Reddit if they are blocked from Instagram or TikTok. It will be like whack a mole. They will have an absolute radar for finding their own private spaces online. Count on it. Kids are very clever. The do things like create shared school files (say a google doc lab report for a science lab for their lab group) and then use the editing comment fields on that google doc to chat all day long on their school computers when they are off in Spanish class or someplace else. Or at home when they are supposed to be doing homework and have their phones checked away by the parent.

[Jazman]

Rather than banning TikTok, make it illegal for young people under the age of at least 18-21 to produce content for social media of any sort.

Looking at other's content isn't a big thing. But to produce content requires a bit of maturity and introspection beyond the average middle-schooler or even high schooler. The tragedies and strife caused by online interactions by immature individuals hidden behind a shield of distance from the immediate interaction- if not outright anonymity- are well known.

I wish you would also sponsor a bill that would put pornography behind an ".XXX" domain. It's been discussed before, but I think this is a fight and a cause worth fighting for, however long and however hard.

I never saw "hardcore" porn until I was nearly 30 years old, now every 12-year-old has seen things that I couldn't have imagined at the time I was exposed to the VHS tape at a friend's house. No little kid, or even a young adult, should have that sick garbage available to them until they are 18-21.

Please consider this. I'm also writing Senator Warnock, and my Congressional representative as well. I beg of you for the sake of the sanity of future generations to work for the rest of your life if need be to enact these changes.

"Influencers" who urge kids to run away from home, and engage in sexual activities should be prosecuted under the full extent of the law. Whether they directly interact with children or not.

Please work to make the digital world a place that's more than a dark cesspool of violence, lust, self-indulgence, and despair, and make it into the potential great library of the human race.

Thank you sir.

I think the intention and motivation is good. I like the last line's beginning... "make the digital world a place that's...." But, how do you propose this is done (practical / technologically speaking) and how do you think it could be enforced? Even if every single person in gov today - all parties, all positions supported the same thing you propose here... Have you thought through those questions?