Can't we just do this age verification locally on-device? Just some WASM to run a small AI model, which scans face+ID.

I know it'll be easier to bypass, but that does not matter. We're trying to stop children, not adults with technical skill.

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randerson an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Don't forget teenagers can be extremely skilled technically. Plus they have a lot of time!

But you're on the right track.

I think of a solution like:

1. Browser does one-time age verification through 3rd party service, without disclosing any details about which sites you'll access.

2. Browser stores your age, signed by that service.

3. When a site requests it the browser passes that signed age over. The site simply has to check if it has a valid signature by a trusted authority's public key.

The browser could even use Palantir in this example - but they would never get any data about what users are accessing.

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jasonvorhe 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not about age verification but control and digital id.

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phatfish 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Doesn't everyone have a digital ID already?

My passport has biometrics, the government knows everything about me already through the tax system which is "digital". All my other interactions with the government are through digital services.

What exactly would a digital ID allow a government to do that it can't already? Apart from solve all the issues with having to provide scans of (my already digital) ID documents to every bank/solicitor/mortgage broker/estate agent/etc i interact with, where in many my personal ID documents probably sit on a company file share or some random persons One Drive.

A government digital ID with a one-time code to complete verification would solve all of this nonsense.

On control, again, what possible super power would a "digital ID" give a government that it doesn’t have already to control you?

	▲	xinayder 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Restricting content you access, or using that to shape what is offered to you on the internet.

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pnt12 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The browser could also emit the age, which sites could check to block, and parents could manage via parental controls.

But that's no fun: can't assure control of the children (bad), monetization (even worse) not share with government (the worst, given the current administration).

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uyzstvqs 3 hours ago | parent [-]

True, and that'd be the best method by far. A European politician recently proposed this.[0] The issue is that a single service can't just implement this. If I'm a service and I need age verification, I need something that I can implement by myself.

[0] https://democrats.eu/en/protecting-minors-online-without-vio...

	▲	TheCraiggers 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> The issue is that a single service can't just implement this. If I'm a service and I need age verification, I need something that I can implement by myself. I don't understand. A simple if age<18 check is quite a lot easier to implement than doing age verification yourself, or even shopping it out to some other "partner".

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sghitbyabazooka 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

k-id, owned by epic games, which is one of the age verification companies used by discord, already does something like what you proposed. of course, our favourite infosec twitter zoomers already dissected it. https://github.com/xyzeva/k-id-age-verifier

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notyourwork 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is a face scan accurate enough to do that with 100% accuracy?

	▲	SeanDav 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Even a face scan is a hard no for me. I have no desire to make it easy for companies to start linking me (the person) to anywhere else, directly via my face metadata.

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bitfilped 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They are not trying to stop children, they are tying to vet verify and collect information on anyone adult or kid.

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fragmede 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

children have access to 4chan and ChatGPT. hacking the macOS kernel driver to disable the LED that says the camera is on should be out of the technical realm of children, but, well, it happened and was abused by children against other children.