“Papers, please: Age verification laws threaten everyone’s online security and privacy.” Laws that require adults to upload their driver’s licenses or passports to access apps, websites, and VPNs will make the entire web less safe.
https://this.weekinsecurity.com/papers-please-age-verification-laws-threaten-everyones-online-security-and-privacy/
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This analysis article looks at why age verification laws are bad for cybersecurity, privacy, and surveillance.
> “Age verification laws are a lazy way for politicians and governments to appear as if they are tackling online child safety, but without any forethought to the future consequences of amassing vast banks of personal information for verifying people’s identities.”
That’s the neat part, they don’t care about our privacy and security. If it was up to megacorps and governments, they’d have cameras installed in our toilets to watch us go.
There is a very simple solution which is to have a trusted third party who is not the government – but who does have a good reason to need to know your identity and age etc. i.e. your bank – act as an intermediary, such that when you need your age verified, the bank verifies it’s you and the thing you’re trying to access trusts your bank to say if you’re old enough or not without having to share your actual age, dob or any other personal data.
This is about surveillance and data harvesting. It was never made to protect anyone.
This is a tool to give them full control of our digital lives.