Age verification is the surveillance nobody voted for
The author argues that mandatory age verification laws, while framed as child safety measures, threaten user privacy by creating centralized databases of identity information. The piece warns that these requirements normalize surveillance and increase the risk of data breaches.
Why it matters
The debate over age verification highlights the tension between protecting minors online and maintaining individual privacy rights for all users.
The US bill's authors dropped KOSA's controversial “duty of care,” the standard critics warned would turn platforms into speech police. EU negotiators dropped the mandatory client-side scanning of private messages, the provision that would have broken encryption for everyone. Civil liberties groups are, rightly, claiming partial victories.
The article takes a critical stance on government regulation, emphasizing civil liberties and privacy concerns.
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