In pretty much all jurisdictions in the world you need to be a legal adult to get an Internet access so ALL age verification “for child protection” is legally nonsense because kids are not allowed to access the internet without supervision of an adult.
I am 100% against “age verification” which is really an attempt to ID everyone online.
Where I live, nearly all stores, restaurants, and the libraries have open WiFi that anyone can use.
Even if there’s open WiFi near minors, those minors cannot access the internet without devices. I’d wager if you’re old enough to figure out how to acquire a device and get it online, you’re at least as mature as the most immature adults on the internet.
Real protection of people on the web will come in the form of education.
you’re at least as mature as the most immature adults on the internet.
That is an extremely low bar…
If you can count above 10 without taking off your shoes, you’re more mature than the most immature adults on the internet.
Do we need to verify them?
Age verification is bullshit, but so is your premise that kids can’t get on the internet without supervision.
A) It’s just not true in practice. There verifiably are tons of unsupervised children on the internet every day. In theory their parents should be supervising them, but in practice parents very often are not supervising them.
B) Internet-capable devices are easy to get these days. And so are public wifi hotspots. Any kid with $10 in their pocket could pick up an old phone or obsolete laptop or something at a garage sale, or maybe even find one in a dumpster or something. (My current laptop cost $0.50 at a garage sale, and I’ve found unlocked and working phones in the trash before.) Once they’ve got a device, there are lots of businesses and facilities that offer free wifi and could easily be connected to.
C) This isn’t even a new phenomenon. Back in the fucking 1990s I was a kid, and I managed to get unsupervised internet access by getting AOL free trial disks from the mail and using them in an old computer I’d pulled out of a school dumpster, only logging in the middle of the night or when my parents weren’t at home. Even back in the 90s, an enterprising kid could find a way to get unsupervised internet access.
None of this should be taken as support for age verification, though. Not only is it extremely invasive and a naked attempt to invade the privacy of ALL users, it also won’t be effective. Kids will find a way. Age verification systems (especially current ones) can often be fooled with simple tricks. A kid could buy a used device with accounts already unlocked by an adult previous user. A kid could figure out their parent’s password and log in under their parent’s account. A kid could use an older device with older software that existed before age verification. There is no substitute for parental communication and close supervision.
The beginning has begun a long time ago, with - in my memory at least - geolocation. This is just another nail.
