this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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[Discussion] How do you feel about age verification on Porn sites? (lemmings.world)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by Rustmilian@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Porn sites Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat face stricter requirements to verify the ages of their users after being officially designated as “Very Large Online Platforms” (VLOPs) under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

I personally have mixed feelings, as the information collection could be used to link individuals and profile them. Possibly leading to discrimination if abused.

But I also feel that any random kid shouldn't be able to just go to these sites and see porn freely.
Ofc, there's always going to be those who mange to circumvent any protection put in place but it'd be much harder then just clicking a link or typing in the address.

I also feel that parents should actively monitor their kids online activities and step up a Blocklist to pro-actively prevent kids from reaching these sites to begin with.

What are your thoughts on this?

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[–] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml 31 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Electronic ids can provide the age verification without giving out any personal information. This is a solved problem at least for a lot of ids in the EU.

But no i still find it a stupid idea. It is the parents job to parent them.

[–] harry_balzac@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Exactly - it's the parents' responsibility.

Imagine any government telling car manufacturers that they have to verify that everyone who starts their vehicles has a valid drivers license.

[–] RandoCalrandian@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago

Don’t give them ideas, this is exactly the type of shit they want to enact

[–] ares35@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

give it time. the government (us) wants to put interlock gadgets into every new car to prevent drunks from driving. driving under the influence is illegal and those that do are more likely to kill someone. so is driving without a license, and so are those drivers.

[–] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There are also circumstances where it's legal to drive over the legal bac. If someone is having a medical emergency then it's legal to drive them to a hospital.

[–] PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk 4 points 10 months ago

It's still illegal - however it's a defence to prosecution to say that there was a form of emergency or other mitigating factors.

As always, the wording and mitigations are specific to the jurisdictions.

[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I suspect you haven't worked with governments before.

Just because something is technically possible, it's no guarantee that it will be the chosen mechanism for something. More likely the contract will be awarded to either the lowest possible bidder, or to a friend of a friend. Cronyism is depressingly common at all levels.

[–] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml -1 points 10 months ago

I suspect you haven't worked with governments before.

Just because something is technically possible, it's no guarantee that it will be the chosen mechanism for something. More likely the contract will be awarded to either the lowest possible bidder, or to a friend of a friend. Cronyism is depressingly common at all levels.

Not sure why you are under that impression. I never discussed the potential chosen mechanism.

I stated that it is possible and that it is already implemented into the id card of many eu citizens.

[–] sir_reginald@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

isn't the id unique? which means that sites can trace every visit you make and what videos you watch every time?

[–] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No. Thanks to cryptography it is possible. The Cincept is called Zero-knowledge proof. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-knowledge_proof

Here is a quick write up: https://www.identity.com/zero-knowledge-proofs/

[–] sir_reginald@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

thanks! if implemented correctly, this is a decent way of verifying age. Although I'd rather not have any but it's definitely better than taking a selfie.

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's still worrying: wouldn't some central authority know that "site X requested age verification for this person"?

[–] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No. There is no 3rd party service needed. It all can happen only between the service asking and the id (smart card).

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

... and that's different from the service having a record of your photo ID?

[–] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The service gets no other information other then "Is the holder of the id older then 18" => "Yes"

There is no personal data exchange.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, so it's just some other service knowing you, personally, visited a particular porn site.

And that's completely immune to leaks or government snooping.

[–] ShortN0te@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago

No. Again. There is no other service involved. Pls do some research.

The basic idea is ZKP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-knowledge_proof

This here looks like a good write up: https://www.identity.com/zero-knowledge-proofs/