this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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387
The Age Verification Trap... Verifying user’s ages undermines everyone’s data protection (spectrum.ieee.org)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Hacker News.

Social media is going the way of alcohol, gambling, and other social sins: societies are deciding it’s no longer kids’ stuff. Lawmakers point to compulsive use, exposure to harmful content, and mounting concerns about adolescent mental health. So, many propose to set a minimum age, usually 13 or 16.

In cases when regulators demand real enforcement rather than symbolic rules, platforms run into a basic technical problem. The only way to prove that someone is old enough to use a site is to collect personal data about who they are. And the only way to prove that you checked is to keep the data indefinitely. Age-restriction laws push platforms toward intrusive verification systems that often directly conflict with modern data-privacy law.

This is the age-verification trap. Strong enforcement of age rules undermines data privacy.

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[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Someone needs to come up with a better argument other than "threat to your privacy." People that understand the concept of security/privacy already are in that boat. People that dont, never will.

Weve hit the point of cigarettes. You can report all the studies you want about the risks and damages done by smoking but when 99% of the population knows its bad but still smokes anyways, its time to find thr cyber security version of taxing the evwr living shit out of it to force wveryone who doesnt care into caring.