LW admins instance-ban a Lemm.ee user for being underage
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/39616364?scrollToComments=true
https://lemmy.world/u/sag@lemm.ee
https://lemmy.world/modlog/?userId=1957570
Underage, you will be unbanned when you turn 18 (happy birthday in advance)
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YDI. The instance rules state that minors are not “allowed to use or access the website”. To my knowledge, Lemmy as a whole does not have the infrastructure to age gate content except by users voluntarily filtering out NSFW content themselves. If somebody posts mature 18+ content anywhere on Lemmy and the admins of a server know or at least suspect that an account is ran by a minor who may see that content via federation with that server, the admins may be held legally liable. Implementing an age gated system in the Fediverse that is effective in filtering out mature content is the only way to avert servers being held liable if they know of an account that announces themself (even jokingly) as a minor. It’s not powertripping; it’s covering the instance’s back against an instant and total shutdown. There is a case to be made about hypocrisy and double standards, say with servers that allow and/or endorse piracy, but that is not as dire in the eyes of the law and most people’s morals.
Is anything over https: a website? I'd argue its lemm.ee forwarding the post on his behalf.
Not if they’re a federated user. They’re not my user to worry about. Even if they say they’re not 18 it doesn’t apply imo, they’re not interacting directly with lemmy.zip.
I think that is unwise of lemmy.zip’s admin. Their instance rules state “4.1: No one under 18 years of age is allowed to use or access the website.”, and I think the admin’s course of action would be contradictory to that. A NSFW post on one server can federate to lemmy.zip and then federate to a server hosting a minor (i.e., the minor passively used the lemmy.zip website); in that case, which is what the lemmy.world admins were trying to avoid, a server which is neither hosting a minor nor hosting NSFW content would be culpable in bringing the NSFW content to whom they would know or suspect is a minor. This may be uncharted territory legally due to the newness and niche-ness of the Fediverse, but it seems in poor judgment for an admin to be willing to take that risk. Yeah, it sucks for the user, I don’t dispute that; but if the law turns out poorly for the admins, then everybody loses access to that instance.
You're getting it a bit backwards.
Here's the simple answer - can I delete your account or prevent you from accessing your home server? No. Therefore I'm not offering nor providing YOU a service. I am providing a service to people who have signed up to lemmy.zip.
I own and run lemmy.zip. I state that only over 18s can sign up. I do this because lemmy as a software cannot prevent a person from seeing nsfw content if they're under 18, which is a limitation of the software. However admins can turn off nsfw content entirely, such as feddit.uk does. Anything tagged nsfw their users cannot see.
The home instance is liable for their own policies. If they allow under 18s and have nsfw turned on, that's their risk not mine.
A NSFW post on one server can federate to lemmy.zip and then federate to a server hosting a minor (i.e., the minor passively used the lemmy.zip website)
That's not how it works and they're not using lemmy.zip at any point during that anyway. Otherwise your argument would suggest that we are all subject to every websites ToS even if we've never been on that website, which isn't the case.
You should probably update the ToS to clarify this.