Apple iOS now requires age verification to access websites it deems 18+. Not even using another browser like Firefox works, it’s blocked at the OS level.
I was putting off switching to Graphene or e/os until prices improve, but looks like my hand is forced.
Edit: VPN doesn’t even work because Apple knows your GPS location. I haven’t tried location spoofing yet because that’s a bit more annoying to setup.
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FYI, there are no alternative browsers on iOS. Every single one is Safari with a skin, even Firefox. This is also a requirement by Apple, and one of the many reasons why I’ll never own an iPhone. It’s my device; I should be allowed to use any browser I want, install anything I want.
This has actually not been the case, in most regions, since iOS 17.4. Chrome and Firefox now use Blink and Gecko, respectively. There are exceptions where WebKit is still to only engine including the EU.
That’s… crazy. Though, they do this with discord too on iOS.
Is it possible to circumvent it with VPN?
VPN with custom DNS didn’t work. Firefox didn’t work either. It was an OS level A.I. block or something.
GPS spoofing might work, but I can’t be bothered trying right now
How about a different web browser?
On ios there are no “diferente browsers”. They are safari in a trenchcoat, because apple doesn’t allow other browser engines.
gemini:// and gopher:// browsers work I suppose… but they’re not really typical web browsers haha. I tried a bunch but they are all blocked. Brave, Vivaldi, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, DDG. Nothing would let it through. Firefox said an interesting error message though.
The URL was blocked by a content filter: WebKitErrorDomain
I wanted to rewatch a theater play filmed in the 80’s on YouTube. This time it ask for my birth date to confirm I’m an adult. I clicked the button wondering which birth date I could have used on this account then it crashed. Tried thrice more, crashed each time.
We living in a decade where the quality of internet service decreased in a obvious way. At the same time, we should have more restriction and start paying for it. Big tech should at least be consistent.
That’s why people need to be against censorship, in principle. If people’s only objection is that it ‘isn’t implemented correctly’, people will just try and they again to implement it “correctly”. We need to squash it down from the start.
Censorship just hurts marginalised youth, especially trans youth since HRT is so age sensitive. And you cannot trust parents to safeguard their kids, no, just because you gave birth to someone does not mean you know what’s best for them, crazy ik
I got this same page when trying to connect to a WiFi hotspot (In the UK). Now I’m planning a migration plan for the family away from iOS.
Most people won’t care but for me this is where it crosses a line.
Yeah… this is the first time I’ve felt like someone reached into my device and said “no, fuck you.” No tricks or traps work, because it’s operating system level bullshit.
The thing I paid like $1600AUD for a few years ago is no longer my property; the terms have been changed retroactively. It makes me quite angry, actually.
I t cones down to, what does apple require as verification process? And how do they store the data?
They wanted my driver’s licence, shared with third parties. They claim it’s deleted shortly after upload, but I don’t really trust it to be honest… maybe they do, but they won’t even tell me who the third parties are
Why you need to be over 18 for for that site? It’s comedy and not pornography.
Did they also ban news websites or is that brainwashing allowed?
Try searching on startpage.com and from there click on visit in anonymous view …
I was trying to research a meme I saw recently here on Lemmy. Someone posted a photo of ramen called “soup for sluts”. I wanted to see if it was real, or A.I. generated like some commenters suggested.
Yeah the search result is just a comedy website making fun of the ramen. That’s why I’m especially offended. My guess is that Apple simply detected the keywords in the title as pornography, rather than doing anything intelligent. I’d estimate that any website with the title containing naughty words would be blocked!
Good idea with the startpage thing, though. It actually works! It’s a bit glitchy though; I was able to read for 10 seconds at a time before the website crashes. Better than nothing, though. Thanks!
My guess is that Apple simply detected the keywords in the title as pornography, rather than doing anything intelligent. I’d estimate that any website with the title containing naughty words would be blocked!
By including naughty words in the titles of a bunch of important web pages, we could show them the stupidity of that move.
This isn’t required under Australian law, Apple can fuck right off.
Yeah these guys are overcomplying and promoting censorship. Never seen a big tech company take this stance. Fuck them. Post Covid big tech is shady as.
All Apple had to do was age verify their App Store. And on that they had the nerve to force it a month before quietly releasing a on device facial age estimation option rather than just rely on id or credit card. Forcing many to use id/credit card when esafety would have been lenient enough to wait.
Never seen a big tech company take this stance
Optus blocked 4chan after the Christchurch massacre. Nobody asked them to.
This looks like it’s on another level though. That site is tame. Totally SFW.
The only people who can control any apple device are the people working the back end of Apple’s ecosystem
Did you know they already did that in the UK?..even though they weren’t obligated to.
You can’t VPN to the UK, Australia or any of the EU countries anymore because of this crap. And in case anyone hasn’t figured it out yet, it’s not about protecting kids from anything. It’s about unmasking everyone online and the next step will be digital ID and CBDC
What do you mean? That I can’t set up something like tailscale on iPhone? Or can I set it up as long as it’s in the same country and I can’t set up a makeshift VPN service by routing my traffic through a VPS in a different country?
Maybe internet content will improve as a result. In my early life I was hard pro anonymous internet access, but the way social media content is impacting liberal societes I suspect now that was an error.
What is apple’s endgame of unmasking everyone online? Better ad placement? Hardly seems worth it.
Or does apple really have interest in allowing governments around the world to track and identify people who view certain content or say certain things?
Like how does this benefit apple?
It’s to combat bots and AI scrapers. It’s expensive tracking every bot and scraper out there. They created a problem. Now they want us to fix it for them so their money printer doesn’t slow down.
it benefits them because they get to continue having customers in dictatorships like china, the UK, australia and the EU.
they’re bending over and pulling that fascist dick up their asses so they can keep operating in as many countries as possible.
Before you say it. I’ll ask this…What do YOU call it when you get arrested for words that aren’t threats?
Calling the EU a dictatorship is outstandingly uneducated. Like, stone age levels of primitively stupid.
No free speech, Forced age verification, chat control. They made it illegal to run your AC during a heatwave.
Do you really need more than that?
Freedom of expression is a EU law, age verification is stupid but isn’t enacted, the current chat control version is stupid but doesn’t force anything, and no it’s not illegal to run an AC you dumbass
China will be interesting with this ridiculous precedent Apple are self inflicting on themselves.
They already put censorship into every china-based apple device over 10 years ago
Wow by censorship do you mean Apple literally enforce the Great Firewall blocklist at device level? If so wild.
Permits to build factories, datacenters, other infrastructure. Better chances of striking deals. Being considered as a supplier when time comes to upgrade state phones and IT.
Lots of potential benefits of licking the boot.
Looks like I will continue not updating my iphone. They can’t do this without a software update, right?
Yeah for me it happened after I updated
:/not sure how long you can delay it thoughWhat version did it start?
iOS 27.0.1
iOS 27 introduces the next generation of Apple Intelligence and Siri Al, as well as new features to help parents create safe digital experiences for kids, and improvements that make iOS more responsive and delightful to use.
Didn’t read patch notes, my bad I guess
How does graphene bypass it if they require a weird proprietary api in the future.
Like imagine a government mandated ISP-level protocol that scans your internet packets for a Apple, Google, or Microsoft (or any of the “government approved” corporates) signature before allowing your packets to go through.
👀
Depending on how that is implemented, it would just spawn a second “underground” internet you must opt into. Personally, I would just abandon mainstream internet if that happens
You should try Gemini. The name came first than the AI from google. It’s a mostly text based internet you can’t access with a regular web browser. Basically, all links start with “gemini://” instead of “http://”.
Text-Net via Meshtastic/Meshcore xD. Sure, images are gonna be too much bandwith, but a Text-based uncensored infosharing platform that bypasses most regulations is a cool concept.
Or, enjoy your Linux PC, or any PC, while you still can, if it gets to the point where thin clients tied to the state cloud are the only thing you can use.
This is my fear and I think it might be a real possibility
I’m a bit confused. “Decive-level parental controls” have been touted on Lemmy whenever anything age-gating-related has come up on the service side.
Now here they are. And you don’t need to scan your face, it seems. “You’ve had this account for a long time” or “you have a credit card” seem to be pretty sane unlock methods, using data Apple already has from you.
When I clicked to confirm my identity out of curiosity, it asked to scan my government ID (drivers licence). I could also use a credit card if I had one. My concern is this phrasing:
Apple and its trusted service providers use the image of your ID to confirm you are an adult and prevent fraud. The image of your ID is kept for a short time to complete this process, after which it is deleted.
Trusted service providers. That means it’s being shared with a 3rd party age verification service, which have already been “hacked” very recently, and were keeping photos longer than they said they would. No thanks.
Ah so you answered my question in this sub thread.
But that procedure doesn’t strike me as insensible. I honestly have more problems with a stance that expects companies breaking their contracts by default. I’m all for better controls where appropriate, but as a default stance this disallows you to do anything in our world. It’s just not possible to do anything if you say no to every contract that requires your identity.
It’s already happened where identity providers had a data leak, and it has been exposed the extensive surveillance they participate in. You can’t trust these companies with your data.
Age verification vendor Persona left frontend exposed
researchers found details about the extensive surveillance Persona software can perform. Beyond checking their age, the software can perform 269 distinct verification checks, run facial recognition against watchlists and politically exposed persons, screen “adverse media” across 14 categories (including terrorism and espionage), and assign risk and similarity scores.
Persona collects—and can retain for up to three years—IP addresses, browser and device fingerprints, government ID numbers, phone numbers, names, faces, plus a battery of “selfie” analytics like suspicious-entity detection, pose repeat detection, and age inconsistency checks.
Never upload your government ID and selfie; it’s an extreme risk to your online privacy. In recent years, and depending where you live, it could be a risk to your physical safety as well. First thing that came to my mind is detecting whether the user “looks [gender] enough” to detect transitions.
OP said age verification via credit card is also possible.
Some people think the only problem with censorship is implementation, for some reason. Others like me think it’s fundamentally a bad idea that will hurt marginalised and queer youth.
