> but they are trivial to bypass.

That's assuming the parental controls allow the kid to create a virtual machine. And then that the kid knows how to create a virtual machine, which is already at the level of difficulty of getting the high school senior who is already 18 to loan you their ID.

None of this stuff is ever going to be Fort Knox. Locks are for keeping honest people honest.

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tuetuopay 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

We could argue on the technical feasability all day, as non-kvm qemu does not need any special permission to run a VM (albeit dog slow).

I honestly don't really agree on the difficulty, as if this becomes a commonplace way to bypass such laws, you can expect tiktok to be full of videos about how to do it. People will provide already-installed VMs in a turnkey solution. It's not unlike how generations of kids playing minecraft learnt how to port forward and how to insatll VPNs for non-alleged-privacy reasons: something that was considered out of a kid's reach became a commodity.

> None of this stuff is ever going to be Fort Knox. Locks are for keeping honest people honest.

On that we agree, and it makes me sad. The gap between computer literate and illiterate will only widen a time passes. Non motivated kids will learn less, and motivated ones will get a kickstart by going around the locks.

	▲	AnthonyMouse 19 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> We could argue on the technical feasability all day, as non-kvm qemu does not need any special permission to run a VM (albeit dog slow). That's assuming the permission is for "use of kernel-mode hardware virtualization" rather than "installation of virtualization apps". Notice that if the kid can run arbitrary code then any of this was already a moot point because then they can already access websites in other countries that don't enforce any of this stuff.

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Ntrails 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If the kid knows how to ask an llm, they can do whatever technical hacks are required

	▲	autoexec 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Would that make the LLM (or the company who made it) liable under the DMCA for showing someone how to work around a digital lock that controls access to a copyrighted work.

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stavros 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It might be Fort Knox just fine at some point, when computers will require a cryptographically signed government certificate that you're over 18, and you can't use the computer until you provide it.

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AnthonyMouse 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Even in that case the large majority of the population would then have that certificate and the motivated minors would just beg, borrow or steal one.

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voakbasda 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

No one has ever faked a government ID?

	▲	stavros 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Nope, not a zero-knowledge proof with cryptographic signatures.

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b112 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

And then that the kid knows how to create a virtual machine

It's just a bunch of clicks, even under linux.

Just install virtualbox. It literally walks you through a VM creation.

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AnthonyMouse 18 hours ago | parent [-]

> It's just a bunch of clicks

I promise there are people who can't figure out how to do it.

And again, the point of the lock on the door where you keep the porn is not to be robustly impenetrable to entry by a motivated 16 year old with a sledgehammer, it's only to make it obvious that they're not intended to go in there.

	▲	bonoboTP 16 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Depends on how much people want the hidden content. People in Eastern Europe, regular people, noch tech wiz kids, know how to use torrent and know about seed ratios etc. At least it was so ca 5 years ago. People can learn when the thing matters to them. Regular people want to get things done, the tinkering is not a goal for them in itself and they gravitate to simple and convenient ways of achieving things, and don't care about abstract principles like open source or tech advantages or what they see as tinfoil hat stuff. But if they want to see their favorite TV series or movie, they will jump through hoops. Similarly for this case.