Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

To the founder of Omegle, I would say: do not lose heart. The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. In the end, we will prevail over those who destroy the good works of others under the guise of false victimhood and social justice, and build a very special place in hell for them, where we will condemn them for all eternity.


What makes you think the universe bends towards justice? For the last 10 years, every metric of personal and economic freedom has declined. Most countries peaked in 2007. Its starting to look like personal freedom was an anomaly and we’re now retiring to the historic norm.


Turns out Thrasymachus was right after all.


Alas, the universe can stay unjust longer than we can stay conscious.


Still, a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit in.


Platitudes might help maintain optimism, but how do you get old clear-cutters and strip-miners to start planting trees?


A stitch in time is worth two in the bush


> bends toward justice

[citation needed]



I truly admire your optimism.


I don't really see what aspect of this situation involves a false sense of victimhood, unless you are referring to the multimillionaire founder who is unwilling to add age verification to their website.


How is age verification supposed to work? I don't suppose users of the site are going to provide legal documents just to use it. It's tantamount to shutting it down.

I ask because there was a similar moral outrage around age verification for access to porn sites that I recall being a big issue a while ago. I don't recall exactly how it played out in court, but it appeared to amount to nothing, which I can't help but to feel was due to the fact that mechanisms to verify someone's age online are either trivial to circumvent or present such a high barrier to entry that no reasonable user would surmount it.


It's supposed to work perfectly. That was easy. Next?

But in all seriousness, age verification will soon be a legal reality. It's only "hard" because it's optional. When the government makes it required, they'll also have to make it possible - or those laws won't stand up in court. It'll probably require government issued digital IDs and MFA hardware.


How do you verify someone's age anonymously? More practically, how do you do this in a framework that works globally?


> How do you verify someone's age anonymously

No anonymity on social media sites. Not saying that's desirable - but it's the logical conclusion. You can run your own site anonymously.

> how do you do this in a framework that works globally

Lots of things work globally but are subject to local laws.


I think it's likely just to result in offshoring of site, which is a net negative, imo, for constructive regulation of these sites. I think the effort for age verification is going to turn back the clock on progress that has been made in content moderation done by the bigger sites in the US, by pushing eyeballs to less regulated sites overall.


age verification wouldve killed it. most legitimate users use the site because they can just open the site and start talking without sign up


>unless you are referring to the multimillionaire founder who is unwilling to add age verification to their website.

Mandated ID checks are fine as long as we're using it to bludgeon the privileged in the process?




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2026 batch! Applications are open till July 27.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: