EU chief calls for a bloc-wide push on an age verification app to protect children online. If enforced, users will have to prove their age to access legally restricted sites.
The big problem is the trustworthiness of that central authority to maintain the confidentiality of your information, and to not use it for other purposes.
This authority will provide you with tokens indicating you are 18+ (or whatever age verfication you may need)
These tokens are stored locally, and contain no identifying information other than a simple “is this guy 18+?”
So they’re reusable? One token can be used for multiple age checks, right?
If not, then think about what that means.
The token gets sent back to the authority for revocation.
The token is authorised by the central authority as still valid.
The token is uniquely identifiable
The central authority knows who it issued each token for
The central authority knows who has asked it the verify age.
Sure, the company you’re purchasing from may have no new information, but the central authority now has everything it needs to know:
How often you buy tobacco, alcohol or medications
What discussion boards you are a member of
Have you purchased anything age restricted from any store (e.g. propane from a DIY store)
The big problem is the trustworthiness of that central authority to maintain the confidentiality of your information, and to not use it for other purposes.
The central authority is basically my government. They already know.
They already know how often you do all the things you have to be over a certain age to do?
This won’t tell them that.
A response I gave elsewhere in this thread.
I don’t know how the system works, but that is definitely not how it’s supposed to work. I would not like to use a system like that.
Which they of course will not.