Posted by axbyte 1 day ago
I love how a lot of the "this is the parents' responsibility" opinion-havers don't seem to remember what it was like to be a kid themselves and / or don't have kids of their own.
The app still hasn’t launched. There’s only so long you can run on hype before you lose the readers you were trying to win over.
Obviously that won't stop motivated teens from taking their parents ID cards or similar mechanisms. Thst means any system that likes to prevent that needs to additionally ensure the identity of the card holder. And then you create a privacy nightmare.
So my proposal would be to accept that nothing is ever perfect and just use the card and ensure that system works as well as it could.
Of course "card " is a standin for all manner of hardware that can do it, including phones.
This is the same as "What's the card holders age" by simply binary searching for it. A better way would be:
1. Have the card define the countries age access levels. (Example in Germany: >=16 [Beer/Wine], >=18 everything else)
2. The app can only ask: "Is [BEER] allowed for the card holder y/n?
This makes it immediately cross-legislative and protects the exposed data from meta analysis.
Edit: This would allow for self exclusion too. Make it possible for individuals to give up access to gambling/alcohol/tabacco/porn nationally.
* Website asks for age verification * User is redirected to their bank * Bank asks the user to log in - username/password, 2fa, bank app (whose login is behind the device's security and a secondary verification like PIN code or biometrics) * Bank tells the requester that the user is 18+, no more
This leverages a trusted party (your bank, which is subject to heavy IT security regulation and audits) and you need to show ID to open an account anyway), secrets only you know (and your kids can't easily take), phone security systems, etc. Does not require uploading ID to a 3rd party, does not require changing how IDs work, etc.