As a father of three, I think a lot about online safety. Kids need protection, but current age verification mandates are creating a dangerous precedent—not because of their goal, but because of how they’re being implemented.

Texas SB1181 and similar laws in other states require age verification for adult content. The intention is sound. The execution is problematic.

*Today’s verification methods are:*

• Expensive ($0.31–$1.53 per user)

• Privacy-invasive (require uploading government IDs)

• Easily weaponized (complex compliance makes selective enforcement trivial)

Make something costly and risky enough, and you’ve created a de facto ban without ever saying the word.

*There’s a better way.*

I’ve built a demo using passkeys and banks’ existing KYC infrastructure. Banks already verify your age when you open an account. My system lets them attest “this person is 18+” without knowing where you’re going or what you’re accessing.

*Live demo:*

https://app.hornpub.click (a mock bar & grill site)

*Video walkthrough:* https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MmcUJ5u65Q0

The bank sees: “User needs age attestation”

The site sees: “Valid attestation from trusted institution”

Nobody sees: “John Smith, age 34, visited this specific website”

*Why this matters:*

Age verification isn’t going away. If we don’t build privacy-preserving solutions now, we’ll normalize surveillance infrastructure that gets repurposed for far more than protecting kids.

We can verify age without building databases of who visits which sites. We can protect children without creating tools for censorship. We can meet legitimate safety goals without sacrificing privacy as the cost of access.

If you see flaws in this approach or have ideas to improve it, I genuinely want to hear them. This problem deserves better solutions than we’re currently deploying. h