Age Verification: Protection Tool or Surveillance in Disguise?
a day ago
- #privacy
- #age_verification
- #surveillance
- Cyberpunk 2077's dystopian world mirrors potential real-life scenarios with increasing surveillance and loss of rights.
- Governments are implementing age verification systems, requiring sensitive personal information or self-reported age data.
- Colorado and California have introduced bills (e.g., Digital Age Assurance Act) mandating OS providers to collect and share user age data via APIs by 2027-2028.
- A Virginia judge blocked a social media age-limit law, citing First Amendment violations and overreach affecting both adults and children.
- Discord faced backlash for its age verification system linked to surveillance checks and watchlists, raising privacy concerns.
- Critics argue age verification could normalize handing over identification and be repurposed for broader surveillance by Big Tech.
- Public resistance is growing, with calls to oppose system-level age verification checks over privacy and security fears.