[Opinion] Age verification is coming to search engines in Australia – with huge implications for privacy and inclusion

"[The changes] will impact everyone who uses the internet in Australia – not just people under 16."

I'd argue that these kinds of laws usually only affect people other than the people who are being blocked. The people being blocked will just find alternatives that don't block. VPNs or alternative search engines, etc. The only ones affected are the adults who now have to sacrifice their privacy and allow companies to collect and sell all of their information more easily and governments to build a profile of everything a citizen does without context. Search for information about nuclear reactors because there's a new one being built in your neighborhood and want to know about the risks, and you'll likely immediately get added to the watch list for nuclear terrorism. Add in a search for explosives to get rid of a tree stump in your yard, and now you may end up on a secret no-fly list and not find out until your vacation is ruined. So many implications to context-less search result data collection which is likely the real aim of these laws rather than keeping kids "safe" since it ultimately just forces them to use less safe alternatives.

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How do we help Australians get around this?
"[The changes] will impact everyone who uses the internet in Australia – not just people under 16."
I'd argue that these kinds of laws usually only affect people other than the people who are being blocked. The people being blocked will just find alternatives that don't block. VPNs or alternative search engines, etc. The only ones affected are the adults who now have to sacrifice their privacy and allow companies to collect and sell all of their information more easily and governments to build a profile of everything a citizen does without context. Search for information about nuclear reactors because there's a new one being built in your neighborhood and want to know about the risks, and you'll likely immediately get added to the watch list for nuclear terrorism. Add in a search for explosives to get rid of a tree stump in your yard, and now you may end up on a secret no-fly list and not find out until your vacation is ruined. So many implications to context-less search result data collection which is likely the real aim of these laws rather than keeping kids "safe" since it ultimately just forces them to use less safe alternatives.