Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (Cyborg)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

CIRCLE WITH A DOT

  1. Home
  2. Uncategorized
  3. Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve.

Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve.

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Uncategorized
masssurveillancageverificationprivacydemocracyhumanrights
37 Posts 27 Posters 25 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

    Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

    It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

    It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

    It must not be accommodated.
    It must be stopped.

    #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

    serfdeweb@mastodon.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
    serfdeweb@mastodon.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
    serfdeweb@mastodon.world
    wrote last edited by
    #6

    @Em0nM4stodon
    I agree. Besides using a VPN, are there ways to bollix up such a system?

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

      Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

      It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

      It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

      It must not be accommodated.
      It must be stopped.

      #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

      g1n@infosec.exchangeG This user is from outside of this forum
      g1n@infosec.exchangeG This user is from outside of this forum
      g1n@infosec.exchange
      wrote last edited by
      #7

      @Em0nM4stodon And it's also a workaround for governments that are too coward to face platform owners and demand them not to use addictive and exploitative algorithms as their main business model.

      1 Reply Last reply
      1
      0
      • R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
      • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

        Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

        It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

        It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

        It must not be accommodated.
        It must be stopped.

        #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

        avadoll77@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
        avadoll77@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
        avadoll77@mastodon.social
        wrote last edited by
        #8

        @Em0nM4stodon This sounds serious. I don’t get all the big words but it seems like they’re worried about freedom. Scary stuff.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

          Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

          It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

          It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

          It must not be accommodated.
          It must be stopped.

          #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

          sigsegv44@mastodon.socialS This user is from outside of this forum
          sigsegv44@mastodon.socialS This user is from outside of this forum
          sigsegv44@mastodon.social
          wrote last edited by
          #9

          @Em0nM4stodon a trillion times yes, 100%

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

            Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

            It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

            It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

            It must not be accommodated.
            It must be stopped.

            #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

            paulbrzeski@mastodon.socialP This user is from outside of this forum
            paulbrzeski@mastodon.socialP This user is from outside of this forum
            paulbrzeski@mastodon.social
            wrote last edited by
            #10

            @Em0nM4stodon Hear hear!

            I'm so tired of everyone like it's normal to upload official identification to every app and website. Without any proper background checks on those services!

            This is literally how you get your identity stolen. So the exploitation isn't just happening at the panopticon level, these policies leave us all more vulnerable.

            Even people who know better have to comply to function in this society. It's horrendous.

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

              Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

              It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

              It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

              It must not be accommodated.
              It must be stopped.

              #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

              newk@infosec.exchangeN This user is from outside of this forum
              newk@infosec.exchangeN This user is from outside of this forum
              newk@infosec.exchange
              wrote last edited by
              #11

              @Em0nM4stodon ✊

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

                Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

                It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

                It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

                It must not be accommodated.
                It must be stopped.

                #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

                G This user is from outside of this forum
                G This user is from outside of this forum
                gerardthornley@hachyderm.io
                wrote last edited by
                #12

                @Em0nM4stodon
                Hey parents, your kids are in danger! But don't worry about it. We'll take care of it for you.

                All we need to do is just check their ages. It'll be just like getting ID'd in a shop. You remember that don't you? Nothing to worry about.

                [quietly]

                We'll just take a photo of your children and their ID, put them in a database, track their every movement, record who their friends are, what they think, their every hope, dream and aspiration.

                [back to normal volume]

                So don't you worry, your children are safe with us and our billionaire backers, whoops, I mean with us, just us. We'll take care of everything. You can get back to feeding your own dopamine addictions, we'll claim your children are safer now, and big tech will have their giant, totally not sinister databases of real world identities that surely aren't going to come back to bite us later. Anyway that'll be for a different government to deal with.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

                  Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

                  It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

                  It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

                  It must not be accommodated.
                  It must be stopped.

                  #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

                  N This user is from outside of this forum
                  N This user is from outside of this forum
                  n0tsure@mastodon.social
                  wrote last edited by
                  #13

                  @Em0nM4stodon The only technical problem to solve is to find ways to hack and sabotage surveillance systems.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

                    Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

                    It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

                    It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

                    It must not be accommodated.
                    It must be stopped.

                    #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

                    J This user is from outside of this forum
                    J This user is from outside of this forum
                    john_philip_bell@defcon.social
                    wrote last edited by
                    #14

                    @Em0nM4stodon

                    But keep in mind as well, the proposed technical implementations are key to understanding and explaining how far from 'age verification' the goal is; how far down the surveillance road this all goes.

                    Age verification is a 'boolean' message to the relying party (or maybe a number of years old), not identity based at all.

                    If the requirement is 'you have to identify yourself (whispers "for age verification purposes") then the proposal is a requirement to remove privacy, not age verification.

                    dalias@hachyderm.ioD 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • matty@blahaj.zoneM This user is from outside of this forum
                      matty@blahaj.zoneM This user is from outside of this forum
                      matty@blahaj.zone
                      wrote last edited by
                      #15

                      @ben@mastodon.scot UK has Online Safety Act in place and was one the majority reason why there's a massive conversation about Age Verification so I don't where you got it from that the government wasn't responsible for this mess.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

                        Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

                        It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

                        It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

                        It must not be accommodated.
                        It must be stopped.

                        #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

                        xs4me2@mastodon.socialX This user is from outside of this forum
                        xs4me2@mastodon.socialX This user is from outside of this forum
                        xs4me2@mastodon.social
                        wrote last edited by
                        #16

                        @Em0nM4stodon

                        This indeed! 👆

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • divverent@misskey.deD divverent@misskey.de
                          @Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange There are technical solutions without mass surveillance.

                          But I am not optimistic enough to believe those will be demanded.

                          Specifically because of the lack of surveillance, and the lack of monopoly protection for big tech.

                          Pretty sure big tech lobbyists are making sure the worst approaches possible get put into law. Not because they are evil per se, but because it strengthens their monopolies.
                          mercutio@troet.cafeM This user is from outside of this forum
                          mercutio@troet.cafeM This user is from outside of this forum
                          mercutio@troet.cafe
                          wrote last edited by
                          #17

                          @divVerent

                          Any technology is generally insufficient when it comes to resolve social deficits.

                          @Em0nM4stodon

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • G This user is from outside of this forum
                            G This user is from outside of this forum
                            glitzersachen@hachyderm.io
                            wrote last edited by
                            #18

                            @Abdulzefir @Em0nM4stodon

                            Frankly. looking at my fellow citizens, and how they hate each other, I don't want them to police society either. And I don't want crimes go unpoliced.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • divverent@misskey.deD divverent@misskey.de
                              @Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange There are technical solutions without mass surveillance.

                              But I am not optimistic enough to believe those will be demanded.

                              Specifically because of the lack of surveillance, and the lack of monopoly protection for big tech.

                              Pretty sure big tech lobbyists are making sure the worst approaches possible get put into law. Not because they are evil per se, but because it strengthens their monopolies.
                              dalias@hachyderm.ioD This user is from outside of this forum
                              dalias@hachyderm.ioD This user is from outside of this forum
                              dalias@hachyderm.io
                              wrote last edited by
                              #19

                              @divVerent @Em0nM4stodon No there are not. This is a fundamental fact of mathematical logic. Given a proposed age verification system you can prove that it's either trivially bypassed (doesn't actually verify age) or violates key privacy properties.

                              Em's point is spot-on. If you think of this as a problem to be solved, you are going to be wrong and you are going to be a useful fool for fascists.

                              divverent@misskey.deD 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • J john_philip_bell@defcon.social

                                @Em0nM4stodon

                                But keep in mind as well, the proposed technical implementations are key to understanding and explaining how far from 'age verification' the goal is; how far down the surveillance road this all goes.

                                Age verification is a 'boolean' message to the relying party (or maybe a number of years old), not identity based at all.

                                If the requirement is 'you have to identify yourself (whispers "for age verification purposes") then the proposal is a requirement to remove privacy, not age verification.

                                dalias@hachyderm.ioD This user is from outside of this forum
                                dalias@hachyderm.ioD This user is from outside of this forum
                                dalias@hachyderm.io
                                wrote last edited by
                                #20

                                @john_philip_bell @Em0nM4stodon The message being boolean is irrelevant. Fools are acting like revealing yourself to the party that boolean message is sent to is the threat. It's revealing yourself to the *sender* of that message that's the threat.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

                                  Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

                                  It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

                                  It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

                                  It must not be accommodated.
                                  It must be stopped.

                                  #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

                                  zomdir@toot.reZ This user is from outside of this forum
                                  zomdir@toot.reZ This user is from outside of this forum
                                  zomdir@toot.re
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #21

                                  @Em0nM4stodon At least in the Netherlands there is a privacy friendly solution. https://yivi.app/en/

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • dalias@hachyderm.ioD dalias@hachyderm.io

                                    @divVerent @Em0nM4stodon No there are not. This is a fundamental fact of mathematical logic. Given a proposed age verification system you can prove that it's either trivially bypassed (doesn't actually verify age) or violates key privacy properties.

                                    Em's point is spot-on. If you think of this as a problem to be solved, you are going to be wrong and you are going to be a useful fool for fascists.

                                    divverent@misskey.deD This user is from outside of this forum
                                    divverent@misskey.deD This user is from outside of this forum
                                    divverent@misskey.de
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #22
                                    @dalias@hachyderm.io @Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange My approach is actually one of the former category - "trivially" bypassable.

                                    By making the parents responsible. They can set up youth protection software on the device on their children's devices if they feel they need to. Just like now.

                                    The only technical thing I'd ask for is that social networks describe themselves in some form of XML file, and that they respect a Do-Not-Track-like header.

                                    All else is on the client software. Which the parents may or may not install. And if the kids are old enough to have the kind of money to buy their own phone and pay for their own internet connection, they can of course trivially bypass it and I don't care.

                                    And sorry for being a fascist. I don't want platforms like Roblox, TikTok and X to keep harming children. Honestly, I'd rather have them banned entirely (and also every single short video platform or platform feature). But as that's not gonna happen, let's keep at least children out of there. Or else we'll be raising more fascists.
                                    dalias@hachyderm.ioD 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • divverent@misskey.deD divverent@misskey.de
                                      @dalias@hachyderm.io @Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange My approach is actually one of the former category - "trivially" bypassable.

                                      By making the parents responsible. They can set up youth protection software on the device on their children's devices if they feel they need to. Just like now.

                                      The only technical thing I'd ask for is that social networks describe themselves in some form of XML file, and that they respect a Do-Not-Track-like header.

                                      All else is on the client software. Which the parents may or may not install. And if the kids are old enough to have the kind of money to buy their own phone and pay for their own internet connection, they can of course trivially bypass it and I don't care.

                                      And sorry for being a fascist. I don't want platforms like Roblox, TikTok and X to keep harming children. Honestly, I'd rather have them banned entirely (and also every single short video platform or platform feature). But as that's not gonna happen, let's keep at least children out of there. Or else we'll be raising more fascists.
                                      dalias@hachyderm.ioD This user is from outside of this forum
                                      dalias@hachyderm.ioD This user is from outside of this forum
                                      dalias@hachyderm.io
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #23

                                      @divVerent You said the solution to your actual problem right there: ban these abusive platforms entirely. Or at least regulate them into not being able to do the really harmful things they do - to people of all ages. None of that has anything to do with policing children or policing whether users are adults.

                                      divverent@misskey.deD 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchangeE em0nm4stodon@infosec.exchange

                                        Age Verification isn't a technical problem to solve. If you think that, you're missing the point.

                                        It's a social problem used by authoritarian governments as an excuse for population control and censorship.

                                        It's a fundamental attack on free speech and democracy.

                                        It must not be accommodated.
                                        It must be stopped.

                                        #MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

                                        azarilh@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                                        azarilh@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                                        azarilh@mastodon.social
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #24

                                        @Em0nM4stodon What do you think of age verification in bars before they give you the alcohol? Or age verification before they let you in a sex convention. /gen

                                        0x4d6165@transfem.social0 cynaq@beige.partyC 2 Replies Last reply
                                        0
                                        • dalias@hachyderm.ioD dalias@hachyderm.io

                                          @divVerent You said the solution to your actual problem right there: ban these abusive platforms entirely. Or at least regulate them into not being able to do the really harmful things they do - to people of all ages. None of that has anything to do with policing children or policing whether users are adults.

                                          divverent@misskey.deD This user is from outside of this forum
                                          divverent@misskey.deD This user is from outside of this forum
                                          divverent@misskey.de
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #25
                                          @dalias@hachyderm.io But that's not gonna happen.

                                          So next I at least don't want children to be confronted with this abuse.

                                          The absolute minimum demand for technical changes to the internet I have is getting Do-Not-Track back. When set, platforms still must operate to its full extent but not perform any user behavior analysis for purposes such as content recommendation or targeted advertisement (they still should be allowed to track for abuse prevention but they must take and disclosure measures that such data is not used for any other purpose, not even used as training data for future AI models).
                                          dalias@hachyderm.ioD project1enigma@chaos.socialP 2 Replies Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups