Comment by cogman10
3 months ago
I honestly think this is a bad/dumb idea. Age verification in general is just silly on the internet and laws mandating it are inane.
The main thrust of such measures is "Let's make sure a kid can't see/access this". However, without an actual camera to double check that "yes indeedy, this really is the person attached to the ID" then "faking" it is all too simple. I can almost guarantee you'll get IDs floating around the internet which kids will use to completely bypass these protections (or they'll simply swipe their parents' ids when they aren't looking). It's a half step above "what's your birthday" checks.
Too true. The better option is for each computing device with internet access to continuously do a biometric scan of the user (fingerprint, retina, face, etc) and check against a government controlled database that stores identity info.
:D If perfect law enforcement is the end goal then yes, that's the better security approach.
Now, I (and I assume you and most people) don't value perfect law enforcement. I certainly value my privacy more than I value "catching bad guys" or keeping kids from seeing a trailer for an M rated game.
That's why I'm calling the idea dumb. It won't work and the next steps to make it work better are horrifying. It's better if we didn't even try.
even if kids stop visiting porn sites, there are many other ways of downloading porn and what they will download will be even worst