The web is a large place filled with confusing sights and sounds that might traumatize children. This is objectively a fact – there are things online that children shouldn’t see. The real question that politicians dance around and stumble over is: what should be done about it? And what can be done about it? Is it feasible to quickly, accurately, and privately sort individual adults from children when it comes to accessing free content online? Is there a way to safety-coat Reddit so that a thirteen-year-old is not exposed to videos of extreme violence? Is that enough, or should it be so they can’t access it, at all?
While many attempts have been made over the years, one definitively incorrect answer to “quickly, accurately, and privately” is the UK’s OSA (Online Safety Act) bill. Right now, in the UK, people are asked to verify their age via a handful of methods, none of which are especially secure and all of which are very inconvenient. Show your face? Who processes that data? And who deals with it if the machine is incorrect, seeing as being underage is a ‘ban without appeal’ offense on tons of services including Instagram and Discord? It’s not accurate enough for that to be a “Devil’s Advocate” question, as a handful of humorous tweets show a Gary’s Mod character being used to bypass the age verification. Connect a credit card, or driver’s license? Again, who processes that? Do you really want websites who vend 18+ content (sites like 4Chan and LiveLeak, among others) to have your address? The sites with blinking ads that sometimes open by themselves needs your credit card?? Are they insane?
This is compounded by the requirement being mandatory, but without the support of the government enacting it. Ideally, nobody knows what you’re looking at online, just that you specifically are over 18, but if the government simply insists this is totally necessary, they’d do something to ease the way, right? Without compromising their people’s trust in them, right? Maybe some sort of anonymized ID given to British adults? Something that won’t result in mass doxxing-scandals and data leaks? This would have delayed the bill’s launch, but it’s been 25 years of active internet access for everyone, right? What’s a little longer? If given the time, it’s possible a service that websites could purchase for this age verification, the way PayPal acts as a payment processor independent of the government, could have been created – but right now sites are scrambling. It looks bad.
As assorted social media users online were quick to point out, the lack of standards means a piecemeal effort where everything looks different on every site, and may continue to be updated week-to-week. Every age verification page is going to look different! Therefore, if a website launches a popup asking for a Brit’s driver’s license or credit card or bank details, has it become more or less likely they’ll just give it over without thinking? Wikipedia and Discord are both on the list to be censored, so this popup wouldn’t be a sign you’ve somehow ventured off of the safe path while Googling information. Effectively, the British government is training its people to be the easiest phishable population alive.
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