Post by @benroyce@mastodon.social
Does anyone have any insights / scoops about the upcoming #EUKidsAct, set to be introduced this Thursday to "age gate" access to social media platforms across the EU? (Thus forcing every citizen to upload their government ID to establish their age)
I'm super worried about the impact on the #OpenSocialWeb and the Fediverse in particular.
🔗 : https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-to-propose-new-legislation-on-minors-protection-on-thursday/
I wish they would share a clear description of the platforms affected by this legislation.
@_elena urgh... Is there any way to do #ageverification privately and securely? It doesn't look like it.
Didn't the EU's solution get hacked on day one?
Valve (Steam) achieved age verification in the UK by requiring a credit card. Because to have a credit card you have to be a certain age
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/292B-3DA3-CFC8-97F6
this doesn't completely answer your question, but it collapses the need for another privacy disclosure. the credit card company knew before, it still knows, but no one else does
but of course, now your credit card is exposed for another potential data breach
@benroyce @patrickleavy @_elena Do you happen to know what they're planning to do in Spain, where credit cards are *really* rare? (& they're much less common in the UK than they are in the US, of course).
@kittylyst @patrickleavy @_elena
well this is all highly speculative. nobody is planning anything, because none of this has come to pass yet
and yes: this path is prejudicial against people who just don't have, or want, a credit card. or people with bad credit who can't get one
maybe they could have another verification channel
but what nobody wants are these awful "scan your passport now look in the camera and rotate your face" extremely intrusive systems
@kittylyst @patrickleavy @_elena
i *think*, even if it comes to pass, it might not be too bad if it's like how bluesky demands proof of age:
just enter your birthdate
you don't have to enter your real birthdate, you just have to enter a date. amazingly, i share the same birthday with donald duck 😆
this may be all that is legally required
at this point, everything is speculation
@benroyce @patrickleavy @_elena One of the reasons that they're rare in Spain is that we don't have credit ratings here. There's a blacklist but to get on it essentially you have to be convicted of criminal fraud (possibly multiple times). Credit cards also auto-payoff at the end of the month / have a "split payment over 3 months" option. It's difficult to ever carry a balance / pay much interest.
I only have one b/c of travelling to places (e.g. the US) which don't deal well with debit cards