To be clear, I’m not advocating for online age verification. I’m very much against it in any form. I’m just curious from a technical standpoint if it’s possible somehow to construct an accurate age verification system that doesn’t compromise a user’s privacy? i.e., it doesn’t expose the person’s identity to anyone nor leaves behind a paper trail that can be traced to that person?
There are tonnes of ways but honestly, the easiest way is to do it at the ISP level. Have an internet connection you don’t want used for adult material? Have an opt in service at the ISP to block XXX rated sites and maybe social media. If you are old enough to pay for your own internet you should not be required to jump through hoops to access what you want, but kids should not be thrown onto the internet without guardrails. Some kids will get around it but it would be an active choice, so most kids would not. And to be clear, this would be done at the ISP level where you already have verification of age built in to billing, so no additional privacy concern. Honestly, the fact that this is not the solution is what tells me all of this filtering is not about protecting kids, it is about centralisation and control along with pork barrelling for age verification companies.
The kids are just bait for the masses, the big bad wolf doesn’t care about the safety. Control is what they’re after.
Besides that the point about guardrails, is what I agree in. It would prove beneficial for kids until they become fully aware teenagers. It is also beneficial to note the lack of distinction between teens and kids within these laws. This is what truly makes this predatory - where the fully aware individuals are stripped off their rights.
If they are going to take away the rights of our children, teens & adolescents, what is stopping them from taking away our rights?
Yeah, there is a massive difference between a 9 year old and a 14 year old. Someone who is 17 is not necessarily significantly different from an 18 year old, yet we have to draw the line somewhere. I think if you own and pay for the service it should be up to you at a service level, not up to the government to demand a random third party company be accessed to verify ID and so on. That third party company stands to make money while also being a wonderful target for hackers.
That brings us to the whole concept of the internet. Decentralisation. Everyone at this point is impacted; and while age is being used as a weapon, the internet is becoming more and more centralised.
Amazon and cloudflare outages were warnings before the real storm. Decentralisation is where we should strive for - and yet the only thing this proves, is the naiveness and the lack of understanding the people that make these laws have.