The internet is full of perils -- this we know.
Among the rich trove of content we have at our fingertips is a combination of legal material, illegal material and material that falls into a gray area -- often referred to in vague terms as "harmful." This is the kind of content that might be appropriate for anyone with a fully developed prefrontal cortex to view but that you wouldn't necessarily want your kids stumbling across.
In the past, accessing such content has been easy, regardless of age. You've been able to tick a box declaring yourself older than 18 or 21, or input a false birth date with no hassle. But that's beginning to change.
Last month the UK became one of the first countries to mandate that tech companies verify the age of people using online services where they might be exposed to harmful content, including pornography. I'm a British citizen, and within the first few days of the rules coming into force, I was required to verify my age on Bluesky and Reddit. And it's just the start.
Age verification is coming for you no matter where you live. Most states across the US are considering or introducing age verification laws. The result right now is a mishmash of rules, some fully cooked, others half-baked, with a lot currently unknown.
One thing you can be sure about is that age verification will impact your internet use at some point in the near future, if it hasn't already happened. Here's what you need to know.
What are the pros and cons of age verification?
The obvious, straightforward argument in favor of age verification is that we need to make the internet a safer place for kids.
The arguments against are more complex and varied.
Concerns about privacy encompass doubts about how securely your data will be stored and processed during the verification process (see the Tea App data breach), and extend to whether the systems being put in place could potentially be used to track people's internet use.
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