this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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China turns on ‘minors mode’ to keep kids safe online (www.theregister.com)
submitted 1 day ago by Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

Parents can invoke minors mode with a single click and set usage time limits. Devices set to minors mode will even remind users to take breaks, and collect stats so parents can make sure their offspring are surfing the web in an age-appropriate and socialist fashion.

This sounds awesome. This isn't the weird shit like some states in the US have for determining if you can log into porn, or South Koreas weird government-login-page-in-everything scheme, it's part of the parent's family plan for their kid they can turn on/off.

I realize there's worrying undertones (that already exist on the Chinese internet regardless) but the actual feature as-is seems like the ideal for this sort of thing.

[–] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Looking up more information about this I found a much less sensationalized analysis on this from the UofC:

https://cjil.uchicago.edu/print-archive/kids-no-phones-dinner-table-analyzing-peoples-republic-chinas-proposed-minor-mode

[–] RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I could have sworn that a few months ago it was on the news that the government restricted all online stuff like video games, to only a few hours a week or something for minors?

[–] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

They can't log on after 8pm or something like that?

[–] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I think that was the draft proposal for this.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But who is collecting the stats?

Here are my issues with this:

  1. The service needs to know if it's a minor or adult
  2. Service needs to put that data somewhere, and I highly doubt it's on the user's machine
  3. There's no way this isn't tied to the user's identity

There are internet filters you can buy already that the user controls. Why not just use that?

[–] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

there are internet filters you can buy

Seems like that's exactly what this is, it's a mode that you turn on on the phone and it uses a government supplied list of vetted websites for the kid to visit.

Interestingly the way this feature set reads out is exactly the same way that Nintendo's parental controls work.

I realize that this being the Chinese government, them keeping usage stats has connotations that go beyond the data itself... But in a country with a more liberal government I'd rather have them keep records of my kids' internet usage than a private company. The idea being that you can pass protections around that data. (Not that that seems to be stopping the current US government so maybe that's a pipe dream).

Ideal is, of course, completely on your own hardware (the device or your server at home), but between this and a system where Apple/Google/Nintendo does all this instead I'd prefer the government method.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

government supplied list

Does the government know which sites users attempted to access? Or is it strictly a static list with everything handled on the device?

But in a country with a more liberal government I’d rather have them keep records of my kids’ internet usage than a private company.

I'd rather neither. Why does the supplier need usage stats? Just provide a list and keep it at that, with an option to request a site be allowed through (that obviously would go to the supplier).

But maybe that's me in the US speaking. I don't trust my government with that information, and I also don't trust countries I visit to have that info either.

between this and a system where Apple/Google/Nintendo does all this instead I’d prefer the government method.

I don't really have a preference since I reject both as unacceptable. I prefer my approach: no filters, and I only provide access to devices if I trust my kids to follow the rules, and if I catch them breaking the rules, they lose access to the device.

[–] person420@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I suspect you don't have kids? Most schools require a laptop (usually Chromebooks). What do you do then other than parental controls?

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago

I do. Our school issues Chromebooks for use at school (supervised), and my kids use my regular computer for anything at home (Linux) without any filters but under supervision.

[–] sommerset@thelemmy.club 2 points 1 day ago

US can't even pass a federal data privacy law

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 0 points 1 day ago

This isn't the weird shit like some states in the US have for determining if you can log into porn

Age gating porn doesn't sound very weird to me. Methods can be pretty shit though

so parents can make sure their offspring are surfing the web in an age-appropriate and socialist fashion

Imagine if the US did this lmao