By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The news and social media aggregation platform Reddit now requires its United Kingdom based users to provide age verification to access “mature content” hosted on its website. Users must prove they are eighteen years or older to read or contribute such content.
UK regulator Ofcom stated “We expect other companies to follow suit, or face enforcement if they fail to act.” Internet content providers who fail to adopt such measures can face fines of up to eighteen million pounds or ten percent of their worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.
For continued violations or serious cases, UK regulators may petition the courts to order “business disruption measures” such as forcing advertisers to end contracts or preventing payment providers to provide revenue for the platforms. Internet service providers can be required to block access to their users.
Reddit announced a partnership with Persona to provide an age verification service. Users will be able to upload a “selfie” image or a photograph of their government issued identification or passport as proof of majority. The company stated the age verification is a one-time process and that it will only retain users’ date of birth and verification status. Persona proffered they would only retain the photos for seven days.
David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the UK’s Online Safety Act a real tragedy: “UK users can no longer use the internet without having to provide their papers, as it were.”
The rules come as no surprise given the regulatory over-reach of many European governments. The canards of Protecting the Children or Online Safety provide indirect tools to deny access or curtail speech, tools too tempting or useful for pro-censorship politicians and officials.
In practice teenagers will easily discover ways to defeat or trick the verification process yet every rule conscious adult in the UK will be forced to self-identify and remove their privacy just to participate in a public forum or read information. I fail to see how an age verification system can distinguish age of majority or minority by an image that was taken of a teenager who is seventeen years, eleven months old or another who is eighteen years and one day. And what would stop a minor from uploading an image of their grandfather, or creating a fake image of a nonexistent person using generative AI? Just because the user logs in as a particular individual does not mean that the person viewing the content IS the actual user.
At some point it will become evident to policy makers in the UK and elsewhere that the present system of identification is too easily defeated and will then mandate that ‘proof beyond doubt’ be the standard for verification of age. Governments could then require everyone to “show papers” as Mr. Greene had feared, mandating that users be forced to be “accountable” for what they write as well as what they read: Thus creating apprehension in the minds of citizens who will be reluctant to engage in sharing of ideas or viewing content governments could later label as objectionable. They will be personally linked and identified with everything they read, and that might be a risk not worth taking.
Imagine if these types of standards were enacted decades ago in libraries. A person wishes to enter a library that contains a few books the state finds objectionable or having adult content. A gatekeeper at the main entrance requires each visitor to show their identification, after which the library looks over their shoulder for every book, every page, and every word they read, making a note of everything the visitor sees. Would you visit such a library?
By Darren Smith
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Author: Darren Smith
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