#1732 It's Never Just About the Kids (Online Censorship, Age Verification, and the Project 2025 Agenda)

Air Date 8/24/2025

The nature of politics and public policy is that there's always a need to balance opposing interests. Almost nowhere is there a more intractable set of opposing interests than in the attempt to protect children from harmful content on the internet while maintaining free access to adults, particularly because people wildly disagree about what qualifies as harmful and what degree of privacy invasion is an acceptable tradeoff.

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Full Show Notes

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KEY POINTS

KP 1: Age Verification Will Kill Free Speech Online - Taylor Lorenz - Air Date 6-6-25

KP 2: Can the UK Child-proof the Internet? - Front Burner - Air Date 7-31-25

KP 3: Social Media Is Making Us Self-Censor - The Bitchuation Room (with Francesca Fiorentini) - Air Date 8-14-25

KP 4: Republicans Want to Redefine 'Obscenity' - Here's Why That Should TERRIFY You - What A Day - Air Day 5-17-25

KP 5: Meet the Creepy Pro-Trump Billionaire Profiting Off of Internet Censorship - The Humanist Report - Air Date 8-7-25

KP 6: Freedom to Connect: Aaron Swartz (1986-2013) on Victory To Save Open Internet, Fight Online Censors - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-14-13

(00:46:37) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

On the need to demand serious arguments about serious issues

DEEPER DIVES

(00:52:04) SECTION A: AGE VERIFICATION

(01:19:18) SECTION B: SAVE THE CHILDREN

(01:45:50) SECTION C: CENSORSHIP

(02:20:34) SECTION D: ANTI-PORN AGENDA

SHOW IMAGE CREDITS

Description: Photo of a stack of protest signs that say “Fight for your digital rights!”

Credit: “Netzpolitik Demonstration for press freedom in Berlin” by Sebaso, Wikimedia Commons | License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | Changes: Cropped

Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

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