But this proposed data center is so big, it would have its own dedicated energy from gas generation and renewable sources, according to Collins and company officials.

The “depending on how you count” probably refers to the renewables.

Data processing mandated by law is legal. Governments can pass laws, unlike private actors. Public institutions are bound by GDPR, but can also rely on provisions that give them greater leeway.

I don’t see how that this is in any way necessary, either. But a judge may be convinced by the claim that this is industry standard best practice to keep the app safe. In any case, there may be some finer points to the law.

The state legally cannot force you to agree to some corporations (i.e. Google’s) terms,

I’m not too sure about that, either. For example, when you are out of work, the state will cause you trouble if you do not find offered jobs acceptable.

It’s another question, if not having access to age-gated content is so bad as to force you to do anything. Minors nominally have the same rights as full citizens, and they are to be denied access, too.

There are 3 parties:

1. the user
2. the age-gated site
3. the age verification service

The site (2) sends the request to the user (1), who passes it on to the service (3) where it is signed and returned the same way. The request comes with a nonce and a time stamp, making reuse difficult. An unusual volume of requests from a single user will be detected by the service.

A phone can also be shared. If it happens at scale, it will be flagged pretty quickly. It’s not a real problem.

The only real problem is the very intention of such laws.

On a surely unrelated note, the richest man of Europe, formerly of the world, is the owner of luxury clothes brand LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

Bernard Arnault is currently #5 on the Forbes 500 list. His kids went to a prestigious private school where they were taught by Brigitte Trogneux, who would later marry a pupil and go on to become France’s first lady Brigitte Macron. Small world.

Anyway, I’m sure glad that us Europeans are being diligently protected by wise regulations that completely prevent the rise of oligarchs. I can’t imagine the harm caused if every trashy peasant can pretend to afford a Louis Vuitton handbag. Know your place!

violates the GDPR.

I wouldn’t be too sure. Data protection mainly binds private actors. Any data processing demanded by law is legal. You’d really have to know the finer points of the law to judge if this is ok.

The key doesn’t have to be on your phone. You can just send it to some service to sign it, identifying yourself to that service in whatever way.

PS. I am rarely touched by the death of strangers, even if they entertained me. This gesture touched me as someone who has often complained about common culture being “private property”. I don’t begrudge any creator their money, but they need to accept that at some point, their work also belongs to the fans who made it theirs.

It’s crazy, how long and far the fame of some black and white musical comedian spreads.

Thank you, Tom Lehrer, for everything.

Been wondering myself. It’s certainly part of the general right-ward trend. Societies are becoming more illiberal. It’s not just the right that is moving to the right.

Obscenity laws have always been about enforcing the “correct” sexuality. Protecting minors meant preventing them from becoming “confused”; ie becoming LGBTQ.

You also have growing nationalism. In Europe, people are saying we should enforce “our laws” and “our values” against meddling foreigners (ie Big Tech). It often sounds a lot like the rants against the “globalists” that have been a staple among the US far right for decades. Age verification is part of that.

For example, Germany has long enforced age verification within its borders. It’s part of the whole over-regulation thing that makes competitive tech companies almost impossible in Europe. For some reason, Europeans have trouble accepting that. You can see it here on Lemmy. The solution must be to enshittify everything to level the playing field.

3 years ago, he gifted all his songs to the world. A farewell gift for us, I should think.

All copyrights to lyrics or music written or composed by me have been permanently and irrevocably relinquished, and therefore such songs are now in the public domain.

[…]

In short, I no longer retain any rights to any of my songs.

So help yourselves, and don’t send me any money.

NOTICE:

THIS WEBSITE WILL BE SHUT DOWN AT SOME DATE IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE, SO IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING, DON’T WAIT TOO LONG.

https://tomlehrersongs.com/

Hmm. I usually like her comics but this one has “I pray for you” energy.

Coined by Down himself, actually. I once looked up Down’s original writings because I wanted to know how much racism was in the expression. To my surprise, I came away with the impression that Down was actually a very humane and unprejudiced person.

ikr? None of that stuff looks intimidating or totally useless. Not. Real. Math.

There is no real math on that graph. It’s just what anyone learns in a good education. Well, that and probability theory, combinatorics, and statistics.

I’d really expect more from a math student.

Nice try. But all Cartesian Theaters use DCI-P3.

I’m sure I never drank shampoo and yet I feel I know what it tastes like. Odd.

Who’s calling for that boycott? Putin?

Respect for the true pacifists out there, but investing in EU-based defense industry is hardly questionable by ordinary standards.

They are a small, harmless minority. Isn’t that enough? Maybe it’s made worse by the fact that they are perceived as non-violent and effeminate, because of their strong opposition to suffering, even when the victims are helpless, like animals. There is no personal risk in bullying them. It’s like the hate for environmental activists, trans-women, or liberals in general. I wouldn’t know that vegans aggressively proselytize their life-style if people didn’t aggressively tell me so; something that they share with “the gays”. Of course, people wouldn’t mind if they didn’t shove it in their faces all the time. Where have I heard that before?