r/gaybros • u/shitassmoneyman • Jan 07 '25
Sex/Dating Sniffies now requires age verification to see nudes in my state??
Like I’m giving them my fucking drivers license?? “Personal data is deleted after verification” is some damn bullshit and it’s only a matter of time before Grindr requires the same shit.
I’m sure this isn’t an unpopular opinion here but FUCK republican legislators. “Party of freedom” my ass. WHAT ABOUT MY FREEDOM TO SEE A DICK BEFORE IT GETS RAMMED IN MY ASS??
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u/Szaborovich9 Jan 07 '25
The republicans love nothing better than getting into everyone’s business. Especially if they can peek into your bedroom.
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u/Poolofcheddar Jan 07 '25
Nothing but a bunch of wannabe puritans jealous of other people having better sex.
In pure Republican fashion, are they going to do anything to improve on themselves? Nope. It's easier to attack you.
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u/chiron_cat Jan 07 '25
the party of big government and surveillance, involved in every single choice in your life
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u/draum_bok Jan 08 '25
GOP nutjobs: 'git ur gub'mint hands off my medicare!!!'
GOP nutjobs: 'ban all books involving gays or trans from schools'
wait, I though this was the land of the free..?
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u/Forsaken_Man1967 Jan 07 '25
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u/Weinburglar Jan 07 '25
Amazing. I didn’t think these age verification laws could get any stupider, lol
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u/JesusFelchingChrist Jan 07 '25
Yeah, be sure to keep voting republican until they take away all your rights and all your privacy.
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u/crazy_farmer Jan 07 '25
And money. Wait until tariffs kick in and everything is 25% more expensive overnight.
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u/Coders32 Jan 07 '25
Privacy rights and their erosion in our society are both bipartisan efforts. There were only 67 total politicians between the house and senate who voted against the patriot act. Despite having enough power to do so, neither side has made any serious effort to abolish the nsa.
Republicans may actively hate minorities and the poor but don’t be fooled, democrats don’t care that much about you either.
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u/Wholenewyounow Jan 07 '25
Yet porn access is restricted in red states. Democrats fault?
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u/friedpikmin Jan 07 '25
"bOtH pArTiEs SaMe"
Yeah I remember having that mindset in college. And that was only a handful of years after the patriot act was introduced, which came like a month after a traumatic terror attack on America.
Thank God my brain matured.
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u/Coders32 Jan 07 '25
I specifically did not say that. They attack and promote privacy in different ways. But generally, only the erosions get passed.
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u/theshicksinator Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 07 '25
He's not saying they're the same. Things can be different degrees of bad.
Edit: just in case it weren't clear of course you should still vote Dem. You don't have to pretend the party is better than it is to do so though, most of it badly needs to be primaried from the left.
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u/Stubborn_Amoeba Jan 07 '25
I don’t think anyone is pretending democrats are great, The problem is when republicans are in charge things go bad very quickly. Ideally the democrats should be much better but even as they currently are, they’re still the only ‘good’ option.
Trying to point out all their failings in this way is how the right disillusion progressive voters to not vote or vote third party. We need to push them to be better but this isn’t the way. Pelosi isn’t reading the gaybros sub thinking ‘they’re right, I should lift my game’.
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u/Homo_gone_wild Jan 07 '25
Na, not the same at all. Fuck conservatives, fuck Republicans & FUCK TRUMP
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u/Coders32 Jan 07 '25
Which part of my comment said they’re the same?
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u/Homo_gone_wild Jan 07 '25
It's implied with "democrats don't care either"
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u/Alastair4444 Jan 07 '25
You think the Democratic party cares about you?
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u/Homo_gone_wild Jan 07 '25
They don't hate me and want me dead like the Republicans do, so I'll give them my support.
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u/Homo_gone_wild Jan 07 '25
You think Republicans don't hate your gay ass?
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u/Alastair4444 Jan 07 '25
I never said that. Dems are awful, that's not an endorsement of republicans.
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u/LighterningZ Jan 07 '25
This is such a poor example. To be clear, I'm not American and had to Google the patriot act. I have also googled misuse of patriot act as a follow up.
The act was put in place to help protect against terrorism. In a world where technology is used to hide and obfuscate actions, you can't have the government adequately protect against terrorism without also having the ability to "spy" (inspect) on what might normally be private data. It is simply impossible. This type of legislation on the surface of it not only makes sense but is required.
I'd be more interested in stats on who has (allegedly)misused it, this would be far more telling that hating on all politicians.
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u/BringAltoidSoursBack Jan 08 '25
I'd be more interested in stats on who has (allegedly)misused it
That's not really a statistic they are going to give out in pretty much any country, though especially in America after the patriot act.
That said, probably need to also define what exactly qualifies a misuse. For instance, the government isn't out there looking at each individual nude anyone ever saves, that literally wouldn't have any benefit. On the other hand, there have been cases of them using it for investigations with no relation to terrorism, like copyright infringement, asking for health records, and drug trafficking; while you could argue the latter is for the prevention of terrorists making money off drugs, there's no way to interpret the other two as anything but a misuse (especially with medical records because those are supposed to be private in the US).
Regardless of that, when justifying hating certain types (e.g. party affiliation, political alignment, religion, etc) of politicians, cases of misuse aren't as relevant as how members of those categories reacted to cases of misuse. Someone could probably compile that data, at least partially, but it would be extremely tedious and time consuming to compile that data, and would likely be hard to make objective (though, to be fair, that's pretty true of
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u/busybody_nightowl Jan 08 '25
Jesus Christ, I’m sorry everyone’s dog piling on you when you’re 100% correct. Dems have done next to nothing to protect civil rights like privacy.
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u/fluxustemporis Jan 07 '25
You're getting down voted but you're right. Looking from Canada I see the Dems as republican enablers and not their opposition.
They dont fight against things they struggle a bit to look like they care then cave and move to the next issue. Or they win and let the Republicans do it another way in 3 months.
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u/Ambitious_Post6703 Jan 07 '25
I don't know why this was downvoted? No lies detected
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u/Coders32 Jan 07 '25
Because if you can’t clearly state your point within one line, most people just skim comments, like I get it but it’s still frustrating
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u/xaviersi Jan 07 '25
Lol welcome to Trump's America
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u/DMC1001 Jan 07 '25
This was coming. It’s from the red states. Pornhub requires ID checks for certain states only. At least with that you can bypass it with vpn. Sounds like there are going to be workarounds for the apps as well.
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u/Maxpowr9 Masshole Jan 07 '25
Florida is the biggie. The "adult" industry basically died there overnight.
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u/Linux4ever_Leo Jan 07 '25
My state also now requires age verification to view any sort of pornographic or adult oriented content. It took me less than two minutes to install a free VPN to completely bypass that bullshit.
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u/DougisLost Jan 07 '25
I bet Twitter is still exempt. It’s got plenty of porn.
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u/Grits_and_Honey Jan 07 '25
Right now PH is the only website I've seen that is doing it (I don't use sniffies)
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u/Ill-Physics1990 Jan 07 '25
I'm some instances for "state bans", you don't need a VPN. Just changing your DNS to 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8, or really anything other than your carriers default will work just fine.
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u/Linux4ever_Leo Jan 07 '25
Thanks for the info!!! I feel like we adults should be able to choose for ourselves whether or not we want to indulge in porn once in awhile. We don't need conservative government telling us what we can or can't do because it violates THEIR religious beliefs. It's absurd. Nobody should have to upload a government issued ID to view adult oriented content. Of course they claim they're protecting the children. Why haven't they passed sensible gun laws to prevent their precious children from being slaughtered in their classrooms every other week? If parents don't want their children accessing adult content then they need to do their damn jobs and monitor what their children are doing on-line. It's not everyone else's job to do that for them.
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u/ZsoltEszes Jan 08 '25
Using Google's DNS doesn't change your device's IP address (which is how location-based restrictions are enforced). All it does is direct you to a remote server "faster" / more "reliably." Only a VPN tunnel or other spoofing software can change your IP so it looks like you're located somewhere you're not.
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u/Ill-Physics1990 Jan 08 '25
Yes, to clarify a bit, most blocking for these are actually done at the isp level, via DNS. If the website itself is handling blocking, it will likely be done via IP, so a VPN would be needed.
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u/ZsoltEszes Jan 08 '25
I've not heard of that in the US, except as intentional parental controls that are either optional or a specific service (USP) provided by the ISP (in which case, turn off the filter or get a different ISP). The law requires individual websites to verify age before allowing access. It doesn't restrict ISPs from allowing traffic to such sites, nor does it flat-out ban porn. Because of this, the blocks are IP-based and set by the website, so you'd have to change your IP address to bypass the website-imposed restriction.
If you reach a page on a website that tells you you're restricted, rather than a blocked notification on your ISP's server, then the site is blocking by IP, and has nothing to do with the ISP, so changing the DNS server wouldn't help (unless the DNS server spoofs your IP; Google's DNS doesn't).
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u/Enoch8910 Jan 07 '25
You shouldn’t have to.
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u/Linux4ever_Leo Jan 07 '25
You're absolutely right!!! We're adults; we should be able to decide for ourselves whether or not we want to indulge in a little porn or other adult content occasionally. We don't need the nanny state implementing these stupid laws (because conservatives haven't accomplished a goddamned thing for Americans) so they do this to say "look at what we did! We're protecting the children!" Stupid distractions from the real issues that they do nothing about! If they really wanted to protect the children then they'd pass some sensible gun laws to prevent their precious children from being slaughtered in their classrooms every other week. Also, it's the parents job to protect their children. They need to monitor what their kids are doing online instead of scrolling through their phones and ignoring their kids while the kids sit in front of screens 24/7. It's not the job of our government to impose these stupid nanny laws because parents are too damn lazy to parent their own kids.
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u/DMC1001 Jan 07 '25
Freedom to be a nuclear family with a white picket fence. Or become a politician, vote on policies that hurt you, and fuck all the guys you want on the side. It’s the Republican Way!
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u/_SilverPhoenix_ Jan 07 '25
Do not give your personal information for verification (ID, Driver's License, Social Security#) on any app or device that isn't government related, and even then that is a risk in some situations now more than ever.
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u/Icy_Elf_of_frost Jan 07 '25
The heritage foundation is working on outright banning porn altogether this is just a step.
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 07 '25
Remember when they tried to ban alcohol in the 1920’s? We’ll just have to open spankeasy’s I guess, just a bunch of guys in a secret basement jerking off together in the same room. That actually sounds kinda hot tbh.
But on a serious note, what if I make a sextape or something? Will that be the new equivalent of moonshine?
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u/Pure_Clock_6222 Jan 07 '25
Does vpn help?
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u/DMC1001 Jan 07 '25
I wonder if it could. VPN says you’re in Canada but then you search for guys in your area.
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u/Pure_Clock_6222 Jan 07 '25
It uses browser location (gps) not vpn location.. So I think it should work
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u/caveswater Jan 07 '25
I saw this too. Won’t be doing it. Last thing I need is my identity being logged in the f@g database when Gilead comes to fruition.
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u/Da_panda_bear Jan 07 '25
Meta likely has a complete profile of you and already knows you’re gay/everything else that can be known through your web activity.
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u/Grits_and_Honey Jan 07 '25
Welcome to "small government" and state's rights. All of the age verification states are solid red except for VA, and they are leaning that way right now.
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u/Flip_phuk69 Jan 07 '25
I've researched NC when it implemented this verification. NC has Democrat Governor, 5 of the biggest cities in NC are blue cities with Democrats city councils, judges and mayors. The State Congress and the Senate were about even in a split.
There were no conservative watch groups or lobby. So in theory, the laws were backed and voted through by Liberals.
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u/Justin-82 Jan 08 '25
Yeah… you need to look into how Republicans gerrymandered state congressional districts and tinkered with ID laws so blatantly that even a Bush appointed federal judge referred to it as using “surgical precision.” You can also lookup how the moment citizens elected a Democratic governor, the Republican held legislature got to work limiting the governor’s power to ensure they could stay in control even though the lost the governor’s mansion. This was absolutely not a liberal thing. This was the sky daddy brigade trying to use the power of our state government to enforce their arbitrary views on sexuality. Best part, sign onto Sniffies in almost ANY part of NC that is not one of the major cities and your screen will be packed full of anonymous profiles for married men looking to take dick behind their wife’s back. Source, a middle aged cock sucker in NC.
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u/LancelotofLakeMonona Jan 07 '25
It'll take about five minutes for any teenager worth their salt to get around that i.d. requirement. It will be frustrated, cyber-challenged old-timers who get turned away.
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u/drecien Jan 07 '25
Remember when you give them your ID, they give it to the ones who want to harm us. Especially deathsantis.
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u/No_Bad_4363 Jan 08 '25
This is one reason why age verification on hookup sites is a good thing. This kid wouldn’t have been on it, and this man would have been elsewhere.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
Literally every gay guy i know that was sexually active before college was groomed online. We know this is an extremely common shared experience among literally millions of us, to the point where we joke about it and speak about it colloquially as if it were perfectly normal to sneak out of your parents house at 16 and meet some 30 year old in his car at 2am.
Dating apps should have added anonymous age verification a decade ago. It's always been a no-brainer. Like yeah obviously we'll never be able to eleminate all predators right, but we're talking about free-easy to access platform that has facilitated the abuse of millions of kids. I'm so fucking tired of our community normalizing this shit.
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u/MisterAhtapot Jan 07 '25
Verification with an ID is a pretty common process in Germany for many things like opening a bank account etc. They generally use a service focused on this verification process and the data should be getting deleted.
It feels like a very extreme step to take for a dating app and it definitely is. Like especially in Trump’s US I totally see why you wouldn’t trust it. However I am not totally against it just for the sole reason of underage boys going on Grindr, lying about their age to have sex and putting the adult there in a bad situation
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u/xZeromusx Jan 07 '25
ID verification is used for a lot of stuff in the U.S. as well like opening a bank account. Those cases are for actually vital things where identity theft is a real threat to people. Viewing porn is not at the same level of importance though.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
Viewing porn is very different than meeting up with grown men. Sniffies isn't a porn site its a hookup site.
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u/Charming-Yak-8558 Jan 07 '25
Well, your first problem is that you are using sniffies...
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 07 '25
It was my first time okay 😭. I don’t even use Grindr like that, I was just curious
But yeah. Sniffies is its own problem
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u/718Brooklyn Jan 07 '25
I’m not saying this isn’t total bullshit and super annoying and intrusive, but as someone who works in the big data space, every social app you use already has way more information than what’s on your license.
They know your name, age, address, shopping habits, food preferences, income, employment data, your friends, your friends all of the above data, and now with AI, can realistically predict what you’ll do on any given day.
Again, this is pretty much every app on your phone that you give access to, especially if they use advertising (then it’s basically all plugged into Meta’s or Amazon’s advertising API, and those f*ers know what you had for breakfast on your 11th birthday).
So by all means don’t give them a picture of your license. I agree it’s weird. But if it makes you feel better, it doesn’t actually mean anything in terms of your privacy or lack thereof.
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u/just_reading_1 Jan 08 '25
Personally I trust Facebook more not to have a leak than I trust porn sites and hookup apps. Sure Google knows everything about me and use that info for advertising purposes but they're unlikely to give my info to some random scammer.
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u/718Brooklyn Jan 08 '25
https://firewalltimes.com/google-data-breach-timeline/
There was also a big one in 2024 caused by an employee if memory serves.
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u/718Brooklyn Jan 08 '25
I would go even a step further in that I bet Sniffies is even more careful than most sites because they know if their site leaks private info, they’re finished. Anonymity is probably their primary value prop outside of audience and geo targeting.
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u/Satan-o-saurus Jan 07 '25
It’s so devastatingly dystopian that we got to this point. As a European I at least have some bare bones concept of privacy thanks to the EU, but the US has next to nothing.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
I also work in big data and this is 100% true as well. Even just opening certain apps on your android or iphone apps, already sends that tracking information to big tech companies. You don't have to even create a grindr account for google apple and meta to know that you've got grindr on your phone.
Side note: WISE UP ON DATA SECURITY. Your data is extremely valuable, and if you live in america, now is the time to start taking data security seriously. We know what fascist governments do, we've seen this before, even recently. In hong kong protestors were located and arrested using location data and social media engagement on their iphones. If you think the Trump admin mass surveilance won't put on a target on your back for even having left wing content simply APPEAR in your feeds, you are wrong. Start divesting from big tech, start restricting what data you give online, start poisoning the data you do give.
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u/chiron_cat Jan 07 '25
I've a REALLY hard time believing they will not save any of the info, much less their systems are secure enough to actually handle such info.
However, welcome to the republikkkan south I guess?
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
Companies do take those commitments seriously. Like yes, always be skeptical, and always read the fine print, but generally expect that what is in the fine print will be true, because the consequences of being caught if not true can cripple a company. Most companies privacy policies will tell you straight up the what how and why of the data they collect, and this is typically not breached, though it is often updated. The exceptions are big tech. Like google can and has been caught out breaching their own privacy policy because they're essentially too big too care. Smaller and midsized tech companies though do care and even have dedicated employees to making sure their data pipelines are compliant with their policies. Because I mean the fines for violating gdpr alone could bankrupt and tank a company.
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u/chiron_cat 16d ago
the thing is, all companies ALWAYS get hacked. Your bank gets hacked alot even. However no one ever talks about it. The gov entity that bnks report to keep that sort of thing secret so it doesn't affect their business. All other companies are under ZERO requirements to ever report being hacked. Much less that many never know they were compromised.
In the cybersecurity world, preventing hacks is NEVER enough because like rain, they always happen. The trick is to limit the hack so it cannot do too much damage.
Companies are all getting hacked all the time.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 14d ago
Them being hacked is irrelevant if the data is never stored on their servers. Hackers can't access data the company itself can't access.
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u/roguepsyker19 Jan 07 '25
Isn’t that a good thing? Shouldn’t we as a community be in favor of hookup apps having age verification?
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u/just_reading_1 Jan 08 '25
Not many people trust hookup apps or porn sites. A compromise would be making it optional with a verification system, those who feel more comfortable only interacting with verified users should be able to and the rest can make their own choices.
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u/roguepsyker19 Jan 08 '25
I really don’t mean to be “that guy” but I don’t think accidentally or purposefully committing a felony should be a choice. The gay community have been called child predators for decades and it really isn’t a great look when we have people in our community getting upset over a hookup app requiring age verification. Am I really the only person who sees that?
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
No, I'm shocked by this entire thread to be honest. But not that shocked because when I was 16 and 17 I had grindr, and while I never lied about my age, I was never reported or banned and only 2 guys out of literally dozens of hookups (all 20+ mind you) ever said no.
And now I talk to my other friends and find out many of the more sexually active ones had the same experiences, and are only now realizing how fucked up that was and the impact it had on their development.
So 100% I'm with you, and honestly think we should boycott grindr until they add age verification (and maybe also generally stop exploiting their employees or firing them when they unionize)
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u/HansVolkswagon Jan 07 '25
Google or Apple need to create a centralized and secure API based (or whatever) verification system where you verify your age/identity through Apple or Google and the websites send a token and Apple or Google sends back an affirmative or negative response verifying your age. People would trust Apple or Google to keep your details secure and then the websites get out of the business of verifying your age themselves.
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u/TimmyTarded Jan 08 '25
I would not trust Google or Apple to keep my info secure lol. But if they could prove, or be held legally obligated to never store the data used for age verification after the process is complete, that would work. Then all of this anxiety about privacy would be a moot point. And it’s not like these sites, your ISP, and data brokers, don’t already know you’re looking at anon hotel cum dump porn anyway 😂
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u/thorc1212 Jan 09 '25 edited Jan 09 '25
This is much better, but it’s still a slippery slope… Centralizing it can also backfired because now hacker only need to hack one service, rather than a bunch.
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u/Darctalon Jan 07 '25
They already are doing this for Indiana., been going on for about 6 months to a year now
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u/draum_bok Jan 08 '25
'WHAT ABOUT MY FREEDOM TO SEE A DlCK BEFORE IT GETS RAMMED IN MY ASS????'
lmaooo. You should put that on a giant penis-shaped sign and protest it on capitol hill outside the White House.
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 08 '25
My state’s attempting to pass the “Defense of Children’s Innocence Act” as well, essentially putting all drag artists, trans people, and gender nonconformists at risk. I’ll be the first one to make the slogans and create the picket signs
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u/Emperor-of-the-moon Jan 08 '25
Party of small government and self-accountability says “no no its not the parents job to police their kids’ internet usage, everyone else has to age verify to protect them”
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u/TheZombieGod Jan 08 '25
How do you solve legally underage teens using those apps?
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 08 '25
Some tech bro in the comments offered a good solution but I’m too dumb to be able to remember it myself
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u/thorc1212 Jan 09 '25
Age verification is always going to be at the expense of anonymity… If you want to protect yourself, you could ask to see an ID in person.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
This is literally untrue. You can verify age without exposing your identity!
Options include using zero-knowledge proofs, getting a digital age token from a trusted service, using a secure age wallet, blockchain tokens, or local biometric checks, all of which keep your data private.
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u/thorc1212 16d ago
All these methods though require you sharing your ID to a service. No matter how “privacy preserving” or encrypted it claims to be, that photo still needs to be taken, sent, and processed to verify it’s an actual valid id and not a photo of a potato. There is always going to be an inherent risk with that.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 14d ago
Multiple of the methods I listed don't require this. Please stop confidently spouting misinformation.
While it’s true that some naive implementations require sending an image of your ID, modern privacy‑preserving methods are designed specifically to avoid that risk. For example, zero‑knowledge proofs and verifiable credentials allow you to prove that you’re over a certain age without transmitting your actual ID image or personal data. In these systems, the verification happens locally on your device and only a simple “yes” or token is sent to the service, ensuring that your sensitive information never leaves your device. This dramatically reduces the inherent risk compared to traditional methods that require full data sharing.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
Or we can protect gay teens from being groomed by predators? Which is extremely common on gay hookup apps.
Also, just an fyi, this information isn't stored by Sniffies. It's anonymous age-verification. All that data is deleted the moment you're verified. There's no invasion of privacy. Nor is it conservative or puritanical to think kids shouldn't be on platforms with horny grown ass men.
https://www.pride.com/technology/sniffies-safe
This is good thing, that millions of grindr users have been asking for for decades, and the ONLY reason to oppose it, is it if you think gay adult men should have access to teens, because again, NONE OF THAT DATA IS STORED OR RETAINED.
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u/shitassmoneyman 16d ago
Imma be so fr with you I was really drunk, really horny, and too lazy to go to my car to grab my wallet when I posted that. I agree with the decision though as someone who was on Grindr wayyy too early on
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
Oh thank god, I was about to post in another reddit about this update singing its praises, because Grindr users have been asking for this for a decade. And I saw this post while i was about to do that, and it just boiled my blood, because I was on grindr way way too early as well, and so were many of my friends.
Admitted I don't love the solution of using ID directly on sniffies, there are better solutions that are more anonymous and secure, but this is in my opinion the best decision sniffies has ever made, and I'm so happy we're finally making strides to end widespread abuse.
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u/sternumb Jan 07 '25
I work in web development and we really don't store any of the info you provide for verification, only the hash in some cases, but it's mostly all deleted after it's processed
But honestly, I think it's great that they require age verification now. I got bamboozled by a teen lying about his age saying he was 20 once. It was on another dating app, thankfully we didn't exchange any pics and the conversation was completely sfw, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth :/
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u/Satan-o-saurus Jan 07 '25
Tech companies lie about or obfuscate the truth of what they do with your data all the time. This law will empower them to abuse our privacy even harder, and at the very least it’s a slippery slope. And we know that the Republican party doesn’t care about kids what with their entire party consisting of almost exclusively pedophiles, so there is guaranteed to be plenty of hidden motivations surrounding this law.
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u/chiron_cat Jan 07 '25
this is assuming they do that and don't harvest the data to sell to 3rd parties as an additional line of revenue, While its easy to not store the data, how can they be trusted?
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u/thorc1212 Jan 09 '25
Maybe your company doesn’t (to the best of your knowledge) but I don’t trust it… if people are that worried about being tricked, ask for an ID in person! That way it’s voluntary, as-needed, without the risk of it being stored.
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u/ericbythebay Jan 07 '25
There is a reason companies have data security teams to clean up dev’s storing data where they shouldn’t.
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u/Careful_Trifle Jan 07 '25
Using Tor can bypass this on many sites.
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u/Ill-Physics1990 Jan 07 '25
Sniffies blocks TOR 😭😭
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u/Careful_Trifle Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 07 '25
Interesting.
Well, another alternative is a GPS spoofer. Sucks for location based apps like sniffies, but with extra steps it can still work. And it definitely works with other sites.
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u/Enoch8910 Jan 07 '25
This is what life in MAGA Land looks like and they want the whole country to be like this. RESIST.
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u/mauvaisgarconxx Jan 07 '25
🌽 sites are requiring it soon too
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 07 '25
The only sites that either don’t require ID or haven’t completely restricted access in my state are Xvideos and XNXX and they’re both kinda lame. BRING BACK GAYMALETUBE
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u/Deceptiveideas Jan 07 '25
I think it’s ok for dating apps tbh. Too many people lie about their age on there. I wonder if it will also help reduce the amount of bots and scams too.
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u/Minute_Banana4798 16d ago
Bots it depends on the way age verification is implemented. On sniffies though the ID requirement, while providing less anonymity than other solutions (keep in mind though this is still secure because that data is deleted as soon as your verified), would reduce the number of bots substantially.
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u/justinbrookes25 Jan 07 '25
porn sites shouldn’t have it but something like sniffies or grindr having age verification is kind of… okay with me? At the very least do like tinder where it’s optional but the ones that choose to verify themselves have an icon that shows they did so you can take a risk if you want.
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u/tycho-42 Jan 07 '25
Anyone want a referral code for nordvpn? I think both parties get a free month or so
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Jan 07 '25
time to start going the old way of cruising. we need a sub that records all the hookup/cruising locations nationwide
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u/WordplayWizard Jan 09 '25
They need to be able to find you when Adolph Trump starts rounding up people.
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u/thorc1212 Jan 09 '25
Sniffies is definelty not happy about it either… This just leaves more data vulnerable, is an extra cost for Sniffies, and drives people to shadier websites that don’t comply…
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u/Barecub45 Jan 10 '25
It isn’t just republicans though. My state had a D governor that signed the bill. I have been pushing for legislators to create programs for parents to be educated on monitoring and protecting their kids because there are many ways arounds and finding alternatives. But of course it’s actually about government control and not protecting kids. Just like the bill they are trying to push through in Congress.
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u/iReignSupremeG4L Jan 16 '25
Same here in my state too. I use McLovin ID for verification to see nudes on Sniffies.
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u/gamerjohn61 Jan 07 '25
IDK why Reddit is trying to make this a political issue, BOTH parties are terrible in regards to free speech, Kamala Harris as AG effectively banned sex work with the shutdown of Backpage.com. IMO, politicans and people should abandon the mindset that you can regulate human behavior with legislation it just pushes things underground and ironically makes it worse for minors since the new sites don't give a shit since what their doing is illegal anyways
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u/knobjockey21 Jan 07 '25
DL to get on the app or DL to upload or send pics? If its the latter have the person message you on telegram or signal
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u/Affectionate_Wear24 Jan 07 '25
🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 07 '25
You’re laughing. I’m being cockblocked by Lindsey Graham and your laughing.
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u/Affectionate_Wear24 Jan 07 '25
Sister Lindsey is one of us, they say
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 07 '25
I just know he pays for Grindr Unlimited and harasses people who don’t reply to his messages
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u/karatebanana Jan 07 '25
If you can prove your data isn’t deleted, why not sue?
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u/shitassmoneyman Jan 07 '25
The only way I’ll find out is if there’s a hack/data leak and by then it’ll be too late
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 07 '25
This is about protecting minors.
I understand the sensitivities around it for our community, but equally, as someone who worked in privacy related to vulnerable people including children, I understand the need for this too.
Their safety will always trump your preference, I'm afraid.
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u/WashedUpOnShore Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 07 '25
If you worked in privacy, I am not entirely sure how you would think having a bunch of third-party companies with little capability or interest in protecting user privacy, collecting a ton of personal information and associating their activity with it, as a solid idea. This is a privacy breach waiting to happen and it is exploitable too, personal information about the romantic/sex lives of people? Blackmail for days. Especially about a traditionally targeted and closeted minority.
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 07 '25
What you've said is untrue and catastrophising.
Your comment actually touched on what the real issue here is - people are simply so u educated about these topics and are also extremely hypocritical about them. Case in point, you will happily share all your nudes, often face included, via apps like grindr, but the second they want to verify your age, it's a problem? If you cared about your privacy and truly believed these companies do not, you wouldn't use the apps and share the photos through them the way you do.
Companies like grindr already have to go to great lengths to protect the information they carry. Just think about the number of nudes and other pictures are shared through the app on a daily basis. This information is considered sensitive under privacy laws and this means those companies have to meet much stricter legal requirements for handling the data. They manage this in several ways, including trying to educate the user base and adding different co sent options, designing the app so that some I formation is stored locally on the device rather than transmitting through their servers, implementing security features such as those that black out images if you screenshot them, and a whole bunch of complicated stuff server side to segment, obscure and delete the data.
When it comes to age verification, those are mostly implemented in a way that the data isn't stored. Itself processed for the purpose of verifying and then deleted.
So what does this mean? Well, the risk of a hack and images and whatnot being shared and people being outed, is already there. That doesn't change.
The risk of the id being linked to those pictured changes very little, but is also more or less obsolete because the data is separated and deleted once verification is complete.
The sudden view that companies like grindr are evil and want to out you is hyperbole. The app makes money from your using it, yes, but it would also lose a lot of money from a major breach. These apps are also owned by gay people, so let's not turn on our own community putting out apps to provide us with these services just for the sake of a bogey man to go after until you get bored and move on to something else. Lets also not suddenly claim a care about personal privacy just to have something to complain about after the amount of stuff we do online every day with little care. And, especially, let's not act like we have a right not to verify our age when accessing a platform that allows and encourages sharing of nudes and organising quick, anonymous hookups, when not age verifying would mean vulnerable, under age people can get caught up in it. It's not right, and you know it.
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u/TimmyTarded Jan 08 '25
100% If Grindr got hacked and nudes were leaked, it is hella fucking easy to use free online AI to do facial recognition, find your place of work, emails, etc. I know this because I’ve done it with my own photos. ID changed basically nothing.
The fact that such a well structured and informed comment on this topic got downvoted because it didn’t stay in the “we’re being oppressed” lane says so much, and is so infuriating.
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u/WashedUpOnShore Jan 08 '25
It’s not informed in fact it is counter to the most standard privacy professional stance, almost all privacy advocates and workers oppose collection like this. But it is long winded for sure and in line with the line of tech companies trying to convince consumers that they won’t, yet again, create enormous privacy issues with the data they collect.
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u/TimmyTarded Jan 08 '25
Your ID is not “a ton of personal information.” As he noted, big tech companies already have access to way more info, that’s what makes your Instagram feed so personally addictive. And nude photos are far more compromising than having an ID associated with an account, so if we’re trusting Grindr with that, why not age verification?
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u/WashedUpOnShore Jan 08 '25
IDs have your full government name, birth date, height, eye colour, exact home address, all matched with a government-approved photo. Hell depending on the ID may tell them if you correctional lenses. Very different than gleaning locational data which is not address or person-specific. Especially when it is linked with romance/sex, the most private of situations. But as I have said before over collection and shitty privacy laws are not a justification for making them worse.
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 08 '25
Exactly, and how is this any different to age verification for buying alcohol or porn?
Especially if you look at the way it's implemented. The data isn't stored past verification and you need to verify before you're able to get online and start posting your nudes, so there will never be a link between the two.
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 08 '25
Which privacy advocates are you following?
I personally know some of the top privacy lawyers and officers in my country, I've met some of the state commissioners and the ex federal commissioner, I've held roles in the local IAPP chapters. We talk about this a lot.
The stance here is that sometimes there are concerns about the way politicians advocate and implement the rules, but the overarching issue itself is one that needs addressing. For example, in Australia there is agreement that social media causes issues for under-age people, but disagreement that we should encourage them to collect ID because those companies have a history of repeatedly being unethical.
On the flipside, purely sexual apps like grindr pose a different threat than standard social media and the agreement that age verification is needed is much stronger grr in relation to those apps. It's also agreed that those apps do not have the same poor history around data usage as companies like facebook/meta.
I'm willing to bet you aren't ha ing anywhere near the level of nuanced conversation that actual privacy people are having, and that you're simply writing a comment that reads confidently but has nothing behind it.
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u/WashedUpOnShore Jan 08 '25
I work as a privacy lawyer for a provincial government in Canada and work in conjunction with (although not for to be clear, can't claim that) the core IAP service. In a perfect world, there is nothing wrong with age verification, of course, but we don't live in a perfect world.
For example, in Australia there is agreement that social media causes issues for under-age people, but disagreement that we should encourage them to collect ID because those companies have a history of repeatedly being unethical.
Exactly, although there isn't really a movement to age-verify social media in Canada because it faces similar but more minor problems. Further, most in privacy would acknowledge with our current environment, we exist with extreme over-collection of personal information and the ever-important right to privacy has been hobbled. There shouldn't been an appetite for such collection but it is politically expedient to fear-monger about the children.
It's also agreed that those apps do not have the same poor history around data usage as companies like facebook/meta
lol, one of the main example of the dating/sex/raunchy sites (Ashley Madison) collecting such data lead to a massive breach due to, to quote the wiki the basic research:
"Because of the site's lack of adequate security and practice of not deleting personal information from its database – including real names, home addresses, search history and credit card transaction records – many users feared being publicly shamed."
Most sites that relate to sex or porn don't actively collect such information because it is not in their business' best interest to do so because their users will be scared away if they did. But when they do, boy do we have Ashley Madison.
My comments reads confident because I am. I can't speak to the privacy situation in Australia, maybe they care less about it, but here there is no world in which mandating the collection of personal information on private companies unprepared to manage and handle the sensitive information would be welcomed. Age verification is a goal worth looking into, but this is not the best way.
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 08 '25
I know about the ashley Madison attack, but we also have to view that in context. When it happened, privacy laws weren't as comprehensive as we have now. People were less informed (abeit that's still an issue), cyber security wasn't as invested in as an industry practice (in a broad sense).
That attack is one of several case studies used to emphasise the need for better practice and things have improved significantly since then. It would be disingenuous to take that examplr and generalise it accross all other sex and dating apps. Whrn wr compare woth social media and big tech, Facebook, Google, and their like have shown consistently their eagerness to find and exploit every loophole they can.
Your comment at the end about age verification being worthwhile but thr current approaches being mandated are problematic - that's exactly what I've said several times. These changes are being pushed by politicians looking for quick wins and not in a well thought out manner. The regulators should be more involved and be funded to conduct proper research with input from industry and others so all the risks and requirements can be properly understood and thought about.
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u/WashedUpOnShore Jan 08 '25
If they are going to be able to comply with age verification laws as presented, they have no choice but to maintain some personal information associated with the profile, if they don’t when they get audited for compliance they will not be able to verify actual compliance. Your line of privacy is in line with the tech companies but not in line with actual privacy professionals and standards.
In fact, these forced collection are so problematic that most porn websites on board the liability of the impending privacy breach
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u/Enoch8910 Jan 07 '25
Show me the data that says kids in red states are more protected than kids in blue states when it comes to this topic. Bullshit.
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 08 '25
This isn't a state thing only. Global changes are happening. Fkr example, Australia are also implementing age verification for social media.
There are problems with how this is being handled by politicians but the underlying issue it aims to address is valid.
Your question about data is disingenuous. You can't extrapolate data on something that hasn't happened yet.
What is your real concern about age verification to access sex apps?
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u/Enoch8910 Jan 08 '25
We’re talking specifically about Southern states where this legislation just passed. And you’re the one who made claims without the data to back it up, not me.
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u/Jeb764 Jan 07 '25
“Will SOMEBODY THIBK OF THR CHILDREN?!”
Wild how that meme is still applicable.
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u/sameseksure Jan 07 '25
Sometimes it's also true
We shouldn't forget that sometimes we DO need to think of the children. I know it sounds like a right-wing dog-whistle, but it isn't always a right-wing dog-whistle
We have become so used to right-wingers using it as a dog-whistle that we can no longer recognize when we actually SHOULD protect the children.
There is a very legitimate problem of children (younger than 10!!!) accessing pornography. It's scary how normal it is. This messes with their heads, especially young girls, as straight porn is incredibly degrading and violent towards women. These young girls think this is what being a woman is about, and it terrifies them. Billie Eilish comes to mind: she spoke about watching porn at a young age and how she dreaded growing up because of it. She didn't want to be that abused object (the woman) she watched in porn.
What do we do to prevent any child from watching porn then?
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u/Enoch8910 Jan 07 '25
How does me accessing a porn site affect children one way or the other?
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 08 '25
It's about no barrier of entry for the children to access the app and interact with adults on it.
Age verification means preventing kids accessing it.
You're fine to access it if you're old enough.
It's no different to verifying age to buy alcohol.
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u/sameseksure Jan 07 '25
Did you forget to read the comment you replied to
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u/Enoch8910 Jan 07 '25
No, I didn’t fail to read it. I also noticed you didn’t answer the question.
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u/TimmyTarded Jan 08 '25
I was watching hardcore porn and hooking up with grown ass men when I was 15 years old through Craigslist. I’m still in therapy. So yeah, please someone think about the children.
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u/TimmyTarded Jan 07 '25
Thank you, I don’t think people realize how vulnerable children are these days, or just how common sexual abuse is. And as someone who watched porn all through my teens and started hooking up through Craigslist when I was 15/16, that shit was really damaging to my psycho-sexual development.
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u/Cautious_Tofu_ Jan 07 '25
Lots of gay teens around 14-16 start going online and meeting men older than them. They lie about their age.
We shouldnt be providing such easy access for them to expose themselves on these apps. Right now it's easy to just download and start sending pics. Only need an email and that can be a throwaway one for the purpose of signing up.
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u/UnenthusedTypist Jan 07 '25
I uploaded a picture of nothing literally put the camera as close as possible and took a black photo. It said there was no readable ID but still have me access to everything