I’m glad I am not the only one who sees that the UK’s ban on children using eBay is, at best, foolish.

@neil I, too, felt that the push to ban children from more types of sites was more about pushing age verification than protecting the kids. After all, I still remember being a kid. Banning stuff just made it more appealing. And, if we couldn’t get to the thing you highlighted, we would decamp to something less protected and more dangerous. Being old, I remember what happened when they banned a bunch of party drugs. More ravers wanted to try them out, and many users sought out the so-called “legal highs which were much more dangerous. If you push people who want privacy more than shopping, along with the under-18 crowd, off of mainstream sites, well, the dark web exists. The dark web does not ask you who you are. That’s the whole point. It is hidden. That’s where the crime, drugs, and dangers are. If you really wanted to protect children online, you would push online safety as a core curriculum subject. You might mandate child-safe online spaces. You would insist on better reporting…

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