🚨 Google is now asking you to grant camera access and show your hands to prove you're a human?!

--> I am not a robot tests have officially gone to far.

Just when you think the Big Tech can't get more privacy-invading, it does! 🫣

#Google #verification #privacy

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Screenshot of a Reddit posted titled, "This is getting ridiculous" with a screenshot of Google's gesture with your hand verification system.

Mastodon has an account verification system, but it works differently to most social networks. There is no central authority confirming people's identity, instead there is a self-service system based on ownership of websites or web pages. You can find out more at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-verify-my-account

For example, the official account for LibreOffice is @libreoffice and we know it is official because their profile page's link to https://www.libreoffice.org is green.

#FediTips #Mastodon #Verification

Howdy folks, as some of y'all are aware, I carry an Android phone - specifically a Oneplus 11 on Lineage.

This whole 'Android dev lockdown / verification' situation irks me. I don't like the play store, I see it as a den of malware and villainy, only meant to peddle corporate spyware, invasive Ai agents, tracking systems and ads into our lives.

So I am faced with a dilemma, but as a millennial, I remember Y2K. The world didn't end just because it suddenly went from 1999 to 2000, and so the world won't end just because September is coming, then August, and so forth.

There will be holdouts, there will be devs who 'dgaf', who continue putting out apks for 'unverified' Android. Hell, you'll likely have two years of boredom and tossing it about in your mind before you actually have to do anything about it to function in society.

So, where do I sit? I'm in the holdout camp in the short term. I have a plan for the bigger picture that will basically treat a post-2026 cellphone like a piece of radioactive material that's only purpose is to beam a tetherable wifi connection, and only be used for calls and ordering pizza whenever it's rarely let out of its Faraday bag or vaccum-sealed lead box.

Thanks to Google, Apple and Microslop, We live in a caustic world that hates and despises us, but that's all well and good.

So do they.

#cellphones #android #google #unverified #verification

I wonder if the people at #X ever read their own announcements.

Literally explaining how they sold out and enshittified the "blue checkmark".

This also seem like yet another step towards mandatory #IDverification on social media! (only to protect them kids & democratize the platforms of course 😉)

#Enshittification #SocialMedia #Twitter #Internet #announcement #news #web #verification #online #privacy #privacymatters #europe #eu #decision #digital #id #rights #legal

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Screenshot of an X notification: Update on X's blue checkmark Following the European Commission's Decision of 5 December 2025, we must explain the meaning of our blue checkmark and verification policies: Premium accounts featuring the blue checkmark are not verified under identity or authenticity criteria [highlighted in yellow](accounts verified based on an ID are labelled as "ID verified"). [] As you know, on 1 April 2023 we began winding down Twitter's legacy verification program: Previously, to receive the blue checkmark, [highlighted in yellow] accounts had to be authentic, active, and deemed notable by Twitter staff [] (for more information on the legacy policy, please click here). Now, following the changes implemented to democratize the platform, the blue checkmark has a different meaning and identifies accounts that have an active subscription to X Premium/X Premium+ (including services such as reply prioritization) and are complete, active, secure and non-deceptive, regardless of perceived notability. X supports freedom of speech and does not endorse or validate the views expressed on accounts featuring checkmarks.