remedia

In order to provide a “yes, this person is over 18” service for a vendor, the vendor has to know which real name (or other personally identifiable piece of information) to look up, don’t they?

So if you have to provide the vendor with a real name, phone number, ID card number or selfie that identifies the account “draco_aeneus@mander.xyz” with “John Doe/555-4556/X1234567” that eliminates your anonymity, they’ve accomplished surveillance over your personal opinions and whatever other content you share. The real problem isn’t age verification, the problem is they’re trying to eliminate anonymity.

Yes, it’s encrypted. Wouldn’t be much of a point if it was just plaintext.

Hoping for the best with your little guy.

There’s a time to run, scream and shout. There’s also a time to fight like a cornered animal. It’s all very situational. There’s an entire spectrum of scenarios out there, and a basic self defense class isn’t going to teach it. They’ll usually give you a few “tricks” and send you on your way. I’ve been training fighting and self defense for 26 years, been teaching for 13. I’m just a random on the internet, but there are a lot of cons out there in this field. Many will claim to give you a silver bullet that will fix everything. There are no silver bullets. Some situations you’re just fucked by default. Learning how to use credible, effective force within the confines of what society will accept and not send you to prison for life for is very complicated and takes a lot of practice. Even then, you might fail. Happens all the time.

If you want some good reading material on the topic, try “Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision Making Under Threat of Violence” by Rory Miller. It’s a lot more complicated than the average self defense class makes it seem, and the instructor doesn’t have to answer for your actions. You do.

Maybe look into the legality of lethal force, and the circumstances under which you can use it. A knife isn’t any more of an end-all-be-all than a gun is. Nowhere near every situation requires lethal force, which a knife legally is, regardless of the end results.