this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2026
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Welp, this was bound to happen, wasn't it? I'm pretty sure they're referring to this application, which I stumbled upon a while back. If I remember correctly, the app "allows" (or implicitly forces) the user to store a government issued identity: able to attest to an age-restricted website, whether or not the user is of age.
It does this, supposedly by "just" sharing an age-bracket with the website; but here's the kicker: the Union, in its generosity, has granted their citizens an in-app option, to withdraw this signal from the websites it has been provided to. What this means in practice, is the app storing one's government-issued identify, also ties back to every account requiring "age-verification"...
So now, every device containing the app, has the owner's government-issued identify on it, together with connections to every age-restricted service. And considering the apps are maintained by the Union, or member states (through their own implementations), creating a backdoor to the application's contents... I mean to "observe app usage", would be absolutely trivial.
Again, I've read it a while back, so some things might've changed, and my memory might be spotty; but I'm quite sure it's along the lines I've described.
I see how this would be considered a problem in the US.
In Europe we see these things differently. I have a number of apps already, that knows my government id. Honestly I don't know how many, I haven't needed to keep track.
All sorts of apps from drivers license to a social networking app, which all needs to know my exact id to work. Even my kids has their government id on their phones. This includes an app which only purpose is to prove the users identity.
Having one more appwith your id is not a problem. Specially when its purpos is to NOT show your id.
I'm a European, and yet I wrote this; but I would agree many people (regardless of whether or not European) have progressively been accustomed, to having their personal identify tied to their devices (often for the sake of convenience, or out of necessity: the uncalled-for Two Factor Authentication (2FA) applications, for accessing government or work-related services, being an example), and I've not been an exception to that rule.
For me these were limited to applications, typically where a higher degree of security is expected: banking applications, the before mentioned 2FA applications, government mailbox applications, etc. But I've also once sent, a nearly fully redacted copy of my driver's license to YouTube, in order to listen to music with naughty artwork (which I already believed to be ridiculous at the time, but gave into nevertheless).
Currently I would never let such applications near devices for general use, and it wouldn't even cross my mind, to ever send any signal that signifies I'm not, in fact, a child, and shouldn't be treated as such; ultimately so abusive services are green-lit to surveil me as an adult, instead of having to be more conservative (as data collection on children is typically more strict: for whatever reason... instead of people, regardless of age, being treated with dignity).
So no, not everybody has applications on their device, which link to, or directly store one's personal identity. I rarely have to interact with financial or government services, and have zero interest, in being required to do so in order to access "age-restricted" content online. I like my pseudo-anonymity, and do not at all, trust a government application, which links this pseudo-anonymous activity to my personal identity.