this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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Privacy
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My personal opinion, your OS should be able store age in a somewhat standardized fashion, with age settings locked in by the owner/admin.
Content should be able to send a request asking the OS if you're old enough to view with a simple yes/no response. This is only one level more strict than the current "Are you over 18?" landing page. The yes/no response also generally limits age fingerprinting.
Sites should be fined out the wazoo for making age requests that are telemetry fishing. Requests are only allowed for legally mandated age gates.
No response by the OS sends you to the current practice of a yes/no splash page.
This make the only true "age verification" a decision between the device admin (usually a parent) and user (the child). No ID checks or other BS. Nothing mandatory for anybody but giving parents the flexibility to limit their child's exposure to age gated content. The OS can even ask "it looks like you're setting up an account for a minor, want us to also set the DNS to something age filtered"?
...
Granted you could also just talk to your kid about internet safety, but most parents aren't that good at open conversation.
We've tried this before. In 1997. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_for_Internet_Content_Selection
The push for this form of age verification is to "close the loop" of strong identity between a physical person, and online content access. And unfortunately, all the relevant parties are aligned on this one: