We all know “proof of age” or “age verification” is synonymous with mass surveilance

Is it? I was under the impression that websites would use private identity verification companies like iDenfy to perform age verification. The identity verification company would need to use a government API to verify the person’s existence and age, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the identity verification company is reporting to the government which people have initiated age verification, or for which websites.

Do you have evidence to support the claim that European elections are being rigged?

It is in the best interests of the parties to put forward candidates and policies who will have voter appeal, in order to prevail over competing parties.

The USA is not a healthy democracy.

Sometimes policy issues arise after an election cycle, in which case the voters didn’t have an opportunity to vote for or against the candidates based on their position on the policy issue. Was that the case with age verification in the UK?

In a healthy democracy, future elections decide the fate of these policies, which can be reverted. Even the USA’s complete prohibition on recreational alcohol, which was popular with voters at the time, and codified into the constitution itself, later became unpopular with voters, and was repealed. So as long as the democracy remains healthy, there is always an opportunity for bad policies to be repealed.

This is a great start, but this one is showing its age, and could use an update.

At the risk of sounding like an out of touch janny, what’s a janny?

I’d argue the opposite: satire and humor are the best way to get people on your side and motivated.

Republicans would be upset about Wikipedia being censored if they knew how to read.

It’s possible to hate a country and also be forced to capitulate to it (or die trying to resist, if you don’t have a family that you care about).

The countries under discussion are democratic republics, aren’t they? If so, then age verification is what the people voted for, not an insidious plot by “they”.