What they're not telling you: Considering that many countries are trying to create social media regulations for those under 16 and are experiencing hacking at the wrong time, I think most State government have forgotten how private or important data is get hacked in Indonesia.
# THE TAKE: Age Verification Theatre Ignores the Indonesia Precedent Most governments pushing age verification mandates are structurally incapable of learning from Indonesia's 2022 catastrophe—when their national ID database leaked 4.7 billion records. Why? Because admission requires acknowledging what they won't: centralized identity verification systems are honeypots, full stop. The UK's Online Safety Bill, Australia's eSafety measures, and EU proposals all demand age gates tied to government ID databases or payment systems. Each creates exactly what happened in Jakarta: a single target containing the biometric/financial data of millions of minors. State governments implementing these frameworks aren't ignoring Indonesia through negligence. They're ignoring it deliberately. The architecture serves surveillance infrastructure deployment more than child protection. A genuinely concerned regulator would mandate *federated* verification or accept anonymous browsing. Instead, we get centralized databases—the only outcome governments actually want. The hacks aren't coming. They're already here.
What the Documents Show
This story originates from r/privacy. The details have received minimal coverage from major outlets — which should tell you something. surveillance-state news is at the center of what's emerging.
Primary Sources
- Source: r/privacy
- Category: Surveillance State
- Cross-reference independently — don't take our word for it.
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