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Could online age verification be done in a way that protects privacy and autonomy? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by 58008@lemmy.world to c/ask_experienced_devs@programming.dev

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Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I thought actual developers with a deep understanding of how technology actually works would be the people to ask!

If you were tasked with setting up a safe and secure way to do this, how would you do it differently than what the UK government is proposing? How could it be done such that I wouldn't have to worry about my privacy and the threat of government suppression? Is it even theoretically possible to accomplish such a task at such a scale?

Cheers!

EDIT: Just to be clear: I'm not in favour of age verification laws. But they're on their way regardless. My question is purely about the implementation and technology of the thing, rather than the ethics or efficacy of it. Can this seemingly-inevitable privacy hellscape be done in a non-hellscapish way?

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[–] Zagorath@quokk.au 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm not sure what you mean. Nobody's talking about contracts?

[–] IceFoxX@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Exactly, that's the problem. That's where age verification comes into play (at least in Europe). It doesn't matter whether it's prepaid or not. If a minor has internet access, it's automatically considered to have parental consent. (No anonymous Internet connections... No anonymous SIM cards... Everything has already been verified with real data.
Do you want to register for internet service? You need to provide valid information and be of legal age.
Do you want a prepaid SIM card? You can only register for one with valid information and only if you are of legal age.
So we’ve had age verification in place for a long time. )