Comment by thewebguyd
23 days ago
It doesn't have to be exclusively digital. You can be psuedoanonymous using some form of key as verification. To get a key, you have to present your ID in person at, for example, the social security office or local DOL.
All the key does is attest that "this person is over X years old" with no other identifying information associated with it.
I think blending in person & digital together is going to be the best way forward. Like going to the store and buying alcohol. I have little privacy risk from the cashier glancing at my ID for a second to check my birth date.
Imagine your abusive ex is looking for you. She could go to a few alcohol vendors in the area and tell them "Respectful cashier, I suspect that my husband is reverting back to being an alcoholic. If you see the birthdate 1971-06-21 then please phone me after he leaves".
To which the vender replies "Why on earth would I check if someone over the age of 50 might be under the age of 18 (or 21 in some parts of the world)".
Well, I did have many more recent exes in my early twenties than I do in my fifties.
But also the mechanics of the check might be important. For instance, I always go to take the baby out of the back seat when I park, even though I have not driven a baby in years. Because I do not want to ever risk leaving a baby unattended in a car. The store policy might be to check every ID, even in seemingly obvious cases.
But that would require the government to set up the system that lets you present your ID and get a key. They haven't done that, so it's not valid to blame businesses for not using it.
> with no other identifying information associated with it
Not possible, the key itself becomes identifying information similar to how an IP address + timestamp is identifying information even though their is no information abut you stored in the IP address or timestamp.