Sun, 03 Sep 2006

The Internet Not for Old People

Ya know, this is pretty awful, but isn't it just a variant of the same policy that keeps teens from surfing freely?

The real problem is that people deserve to be judged on their competency, and instead they get judged on their age. Or race. Or gender. And there's a really simple reason for this plethora of patronizing, too.

There's too many of us. Judging us as individuals would take an inordinate amount of time, and undoubtedly drive up costs. Better to set an inflexible policy and let the chips fall where they may.

Of course it speeds things up to make blanket judgments on whole groups, and, at times, it might even be warranted, as in the case of forcing drivers over 70 to pass a driving test at each license renewal. But the net effect is to reduce each individual's liberty, and conflate it with other members of some real or imagined group of people.

But groups don't have liberties, people do. And reducing the liberty of individuals by assigning them to groups does nothing to enhance freedom for anyone: it's does just what it claims to, it reduces liberty, either by restricting economic choice or simply closing off the political process (note the claim in the comments on the original piece that persons over 70 are restricted from jury duty in the UK).

There's really no good solution to this except to try to slap it down whenever it rears it's ugly head.

The Daily Mail is reporting that if you want an Internet connection and you are over 70 you may be in for a surprise. From the article: "After walking the Great Wall of China and making plans for a trip to Russia, Shirley Greening-Jackson thought signing up for a new Internet service would be a doddle. But the young man behind the counter had other ideas. He said she was barred - because she was too old."

(link) [Slashdot]

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