Editing Eurovision Wiki:Village pump (idea lab) (section)

== Age verification protest ==

There should be a banner (at least) about age verification laws, why they are bad, why they would harm free software, why digital wallets will force everyone to have Android or iOS, why some variants (like the New York one) would even ban root access to your own computer! [[User:Gugalcrom123|Gugalcrom123]] ([[User talk:Gugalcrom123|talk]]) 17:16, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

:I personally am not a fan of age-verification software either, but I don't understand what that has to do with Wikipedia? [[User:Sentimental Dork|<span style="font-family: Georgia; color: darkblue">Sentimental Dork</span>]] ([[User talk:Sentimental Dork|<span style="font-family: Georgia; color: darkblue">talk</span>]]) 19:37, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
::They might be what we need to raise awareness. [[User:Gugalcrom123|Gugalcrom123]] ([[User talk:Gugalcrom123|talk]]) 19:42, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
:::If it was directly restricting access to Wikipedia, I would agree. But Wikipedia doesn't take sides on issues or promote causes, no matter how just. '''[[User:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#0c4709">Thebiguglyalien</span>]]''' ([[User talk:Thebiguglyalien|<span style="color:#472c09">talk</span>]]) 21:15, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
::::True.  But we do provide factual, neutral, non-advocacy information in articles such as [[Age verification system]], and the better those articles are, and the more they rely on the [[WP:BESTSOURCES]], the better Wikipedia's will understand the subject.  I suggest that anyone interested in this find some very good sources and improve the related articles. [[User:WhatamIdoing|WhatamIdoing]] ([[User talk:WhatamIdoing|talk]]) 03:31, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
::::It might be genuinely banning free software like GNU/Linux, which Wikipedia runs on. For example, requiring that all OSes have circumvention-proof ID checks kills it. [[User:Gugalcrom123|Gugalcrom123]] ([[User talk:Gugalcrom123|talk]]) 14:15, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
::::Wikipedia has taken sides and promoted causes in similar situations in the past, most notably [[Stop Online Piracy Act#Wikipedia blackout]] [[User:CauliflowerMoon|CauliflowerMoon]] ([[User talk:CauliflowerMoon|talk]]) 04:12, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
:::::The difference is that was an existential threat to Wikipedia. Age verification, while pointless, moronic, ill-conceived, etc..., isn't. &#32;<span style="font-variant:small-caps; whitespace:nowrap;">[[User:Headbomb|Headbomb]] {[[User talk:Headbomb|t]] · [[Special:Contributions/Headbomb|c]] · [[WP:PHYS|p]] · [[WP:WBOOKS|b]]}</span> 04:33, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
::::::Maybe not now, but age verification laws could affect Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects (especially the Commons) one day. [[User:Some1|Some1]] ([[User talk:Some1|talk]]) 00:15, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
:@[[User:Gugalcrom123|Gugalcrom123]]  I doubt that anything will, or can ever, ban "root" access to your own computer.  And nothing can require everyone to have either Android or iOS.  Even if such things are proposed, they won't be implemented.  And Wikipedia is not the place to raise those alarms,  IMO. [[User:David10244|David10244]] ([[User talk:David10244|talk]]) 02:24, 19 March 2026 (UTC)