Referendum against excessive youth protection law

The parliament in Bern has passed a law to supposedly protect minors in the areas of film and video games. But it aims far beyond the goal, bullies the youth, brings an enormous bureaucratic effort and horrendous costs. MASS-VOLL! therefore supports the referendum against this senseless and dangerous law. Let's say no to the compulsory identification on the Internet! Let's say no to total control on the net!
Take a look at our arguments:
What is it about?
The law requires that an age check be introduced on platforms such as Steam (gaming) or YouTube(video) (Art. 8 and Art. 20). In the parliamentary debate, credit cards or even
SMS verification were mentioned. Not all 18-year-olds have a credit card by a long shot. People without a credit card would therefore no longer be able to use YouTube. Which platforms will follow next?
The clear verification for the "protection" of minors can then only be done with a scan of the ID or passport. Such an ID requirement would be a novelty in Switzerland and would in particular affect people with Impairments or people without official ID would be prevented from unrestricted access to the Internet. This is the starting signal for the compulsory identification on the internet - everything you look at will become your fundamental right to privacy is once again ignored.
The clear verification for the "protection" of minors can then only be done with a scan of the ID or passport. Such an ID requirement would be a novelty in Switzerland and would in particular affect people with Impairments or people without official ID would be prevented from unrestricted access to the Internet. This is the starting signal for the compulsory identification on the internet - everything you look at will become your fundamental right to privacy is once again ignored.
Repel attack on our fundamental rights
The new law is a fire hazard: massive encroachments on fundamental rights are being introduced under the guise of protecting minors. (Young) citizens are to get used to identifying themselves on the Internet as well. The
ID requirements are being extended - and soon there will be checkpoints everywhere on the Net. The great promise of freedom and the democratization of society through the Internet would thus be at an end.
Preventing a police state on the Internet
The law brings useless rules, regulations, levies and costs for the affected industries. A gigantic bureaucratic control apparatus is being built up. With questionable benefits. Anyone who is not involved in this
police state action on the Internet and, for example, fails to carry out an age rating or check, will be punished with a fine of up to 40,000 francs.
Censorship of the Internet: Netblocks!
The provider abroad will not even bother to implement the law. The Swiss market is not lucrative enough for that. As a consequence of the wording of the law, network blocks would have to be
network locks would have to be used to enforce the law. This is a profound intervention in the architecture of the Internet.
Profits for foreign tech companies
Explicitly, only the data of minors are protected. The data of persons of legal age may be reused and sold to third parties. The U.S. law (CLOUD Act) obligates U.S. companies to hand over data even if local laws at the place of
to hand over data even if local laws in the place where the data is stored prohibit this. Since most providers (platforms, providers, servers and clouds) are not based in Switzerland, they are also not
obliged to comply with Swiss data protection law. Google, Facebook, Oracle etc. already collect numerous data sets with our personal data, behavior and preferences. A tracking of the
customers, as well as officially verified data, increase the value of these data sets enormously.
High effort - no proven benefit
The law is intended to protect minors from videos and games with violent or pornographic content, for example. However, images are not covered by the law and may continue to be consumed without any
without a protection mechanism. Likewise, videos can continue to be shared easily via P2P platforms or chats such as WhatsApp, Signal or dating apps. Editorial platforms and advertising films are also
also exempt (Art. 3).Although the law has many paragraphs, many loopholes remain open. With just a few clicks, for example by using a VPN, anyone instantly bypasses all control systems.
Browser plugins can bypass IP geolocation and consume or save the protected data. Once again, it is clear that for our politicians, the Internet is still uncharted territory that they know nothing about.
understand.
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