When the nonprofit Freedom House recently published its annual report, it noted that 2025 marked the 15th straight year of decline for global internet freedom. The biggest decline, after Georgia and Germany, came within the United States. Among the culprits … Continue reading
If your account is older than 18 years old and you still get to see this: As if having your email history and photos isn’t enough for them.
On Wednesday, MEPs adopted a non-legislative report by 483 votes in favour, 92 against and with 86 abstentions, expressing deep concern over the physical and mental health risks minors face online and calling for stronger protection against the manipulative strategies … Continue reading
[…] Under the new rules, online service providers will be required to assess the risk that their services could be misused for the dissemination of child sexual abuse material or for the solicitation of children. On the basis of this … Continue reading
If you’ve been following the wave of age-gating laws sweeping across the country and the globe, you’ve probably noticed that lawmakers, tech companies, and advocates all seem to be using different terms for what sounds like the same thing. Age verification, age assurance, age estimation, … Continue reading
Roblox is starting to roll out the mandatory age checks that will require all of its users to submit an ID or scan their face in order to access the platform’s chat features. The updated policy, which the company announced … Continue reading
Once again, we’re reminded why age verification systems are fundamentally broken when it comes to privacy and security. Discord has disclosed that one of its third-party customer service providers was breached, exposing user data, including government-issued photo IDs, from users … Continue reading
A new report suggests that the UK’s age verification measures may be having unforeseen knock-on effects on web traffic, with the real winners being sites that flout the law entirely. […] Sure, there are ways around this if you’d rather … Continue reading
[…] Identity‑proofing creates a privacy bottleneck. Somewhere, an identity provider must verify you. Even if it later mints an unlinkable token, that provider is the weak link—and in regulated systems it will not be allowed to “just delete” your information. … Continue reading
[…] While not a traditional “labor issue,” like union rights and equal pay, the government’s role in regulating and restricting forms of expression that can be produced, distributed, and monetized for entertainment media consumption is a dimension of the age-gating … Continue reading
[…] when politicians are demanding that technologists NERD HARDER! to realize their cherished impossibilities. That’s just happened, and in relation to one of the scariest, most destructive NERD HARDER! tech policies ever to be assayed (a stiff competition). I’m talking … Continue reading
Age verification has officially arrived in the UK thanks to the Online Safety Act (OSA), a UK law requiring online platforms to check that all UK-based users are at least eighteen years old before allowing them to access broad categories … Continue reading
A controversial European Union proposal dubbed “Chat Control” is regaining momentum, with 19 out of 27 EU member states reportedly backing the measure. The plan would mandate that messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, must scan every message, photo … Continue reading
Yesterday, I wrote about how YouTube is now using AI to guess your age. The idea is this: Rather than rely on the age attached to your account, YouTube analyzes your activity on its platform, and makes a determination based … Continue reading
Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, and Italy are the first to test the technical solution unveiled by the European Commission on July 14, 2025. The announcement came less than two weeks before the UK enforced mandatory age verification checks on July … Continue reading
TL;DR – use a VPN or take a picture of yourself in Death Stranding Earlier this week, the United Kingdom’s age assurance requirement for sites that publish pornographic material went into effect, which has resulted in everything from Pornhub to … Continue reading
Many porn sites, including Pornhub, YouPorn, and RedTube, all went dark earlier this month in France to protest a new age verification law that would have required the websites to collect ID from users. But those sites went back online … Continue reading
Discord has begun requiring some users in the United Kingdom and Australia to verify their age through a facial scan before being permitted to access sensitive content. The chat app’s new process has been described as an “experiment,” and comes … Continue reading
The fundamental flaw with the age verification bills and laws passing rapidly across the country is the delusional, unfounded belief that putting hurdles between people and pornography is going to actually prevent them from viewing porn. What will happen, and … Continue reading
For quite some time now we’ve been pointing out the many harms of age verification technologies, and how they’re a disaster for privacy. In particular, we’ve noted that if you have someone collecting biometric information on people, that data itself … Continue reading
In the past I’ve sometimes described Australia as the land where internet policy is completely upside down. Rather than having a system that protects intermediaries from liability for third party content, Australia went the opposite direction. Rather than recognizing that … Continue reading
A spate of child safety rules might make going online in a few years very different, and not just for kids. In 2022 and 2023, numerous states and countries are exploring age verification requirements for the internet, either as an … Continue reading
Senator Brian Schatz is one of the more thoughtful Senators we have, and he and his staff have actually spent time talking to lots of experts in trying to craft bills regarding the internet. Unfortunately, it still seems like he … Continue reading
[…] We’ve already spent many, many words explaining how age verification technology is inherently dangerous and actually puts children at greater risk. Not to mention it’s a privacy nightmare that normalizes the idea of mass surveillance, especially for children. But, … Continue reading
What’s important to know: On March 25, 2024 Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law requiring age verification for accessing pornographic sites. This law, known as House Bill 3 (HB3), passed with bipartisan support and has caused quite a stir … Continue reading