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Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

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Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#31
post #15
post #5

I think the way discords setup works is reasonable. It’s an on-device model that only submits the outcome of the scan to the platform. I hope they just improve that performance, rather than see this and back out of it entirely and require ID checks.

I think this is the correct way too. Some of the age verification systems that use digital ids (mDLs) do the same thing but people freak out about how they work because I think they misunderstand the tech. They system basically asks the mDL via an api call "is this user above the age of 18/21" and the app only responds with a yes or no. It doesn't pass the users fulls details over or anything like that.

Do these systems prevent linkability or allow the use of pseudonyms?

As in, if I repeatedly ask for age verification to the same service, does it know:

1) the identity of the user making the request, and 2) whether repeated requests comes from the same user (even if they don't know who it is?)

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#32
post #27

[flagged]

The banning guns is easier when you control the sales part.

Preventing children from accessing certain websites is not working at all. It also is a cop out. I have children aged 15 and 17. They received their forest smartphone at age 12. The phones were restricted in a certain way and they didn't get unlimited use. We educated them about proper use and at age 15 restrictions were lifted. They allready know how to use VPN's because they're on my paid account. I see it no different from sexual education.

I don't need a government to make a private company collecting my personal identification. The best guardrail against data loss is not collecting any.

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s intentional to give them wiggle room to define truth as needed case by case. Not saying it’s good or bad. Just that it’s intentional.

My bank has an API endpoint that (basically) returns your name and age (in this use case). It can return more for signing electronic docs etc. and is basically your digital ID. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BankID Need to buy "toys", vape products, alcohol... anything adult online? There's a 3rd party web app (you rightfully don't trust) as an age check in the shopping cart / user account of any of these adult shops,…

As a Brit that relocated to Norway a decade ago, trust me when I say you cannot fathom the lack of organization around identity that the UK (somewhat intentionally) has. (It’s constantly used for political Godwin’s-law fear-mongering)

There is no centralized ID number, the closest is your social security number but this is basically only outbound for PAYE tax and haphazardly correlated to your pension payments in late life.

Everything operates on a “trust system” where you often present paper (!) with whatever address you claim to be living at as proof you are real (e.g. opening bank accounts).

Passport loss is rectified by seeking out “professionals” with government-approved occupations that are not related to you that can vouch you are actually the person you are trying to replace a passport for.

The entire thing is a mess and living in digital-identity-native Europe is a dream come true that you should be extremely thankful for.

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s intentional to give them wiggle room to define truth as needed case by case. Not saying it’s good or bad. Just that it’s intentional.

My bank has an API endpoint that (basically) returns your name and age (in this use case). It can return more for signing electronic docs etc. and is basically your digital ID. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BankID Need to buy "toys", vape products, alcohol... anything adult online? There's a 3rd party web app (you rightfully don't trust) as an age check in the shopping cart / user account of any of these adult shops,…

Identity shouldn’t be tied to a private institution that requires you to have a bank account to login.

Two of the well-used solutions to identity in the U.S. are login.gov (government-managed) and id.me (private, but used by government). Basically to get setup, at some point you have to have physical presence to get an actual government-approved physical ID, which can still be a barrier to some, but it doesn’t require a bank account.

Just don’t implement your own like Discourse and Tea.app.

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#35
post #4

> government passes law that requires companies to age verify users > said government provides no way to actually verify a human's age > hilarity ensues

Actually, they could release a platform quite easily that only delivers age verification, without anything else.

For example, our id's have a qr on it that contains some basic info. Why not provide a platform for age checks with that qr? Anyway, fuck them. Education goes a lot further than trying to force identity verification on private companies when there is no real life threat in play.

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s intentional to give them wiggle room to define truth as needed case by case. Not saying it’s good or bad. Just that it’s intentional.

My bank has an API endpoint that (basically) returns your name and age (in this use case). It can return more for signing electronic docs etc. and is basically your digital ID. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BankID Need to buy "toys", vape products, alcohol... anything adult online? There's a 3rd party web app (you rightfully don't trust) as an age check in the shopping cart / user account of any of these adult shops,…

This is the way. Belgian banks joined forces years ago to create such a platform for identity verification and private companies can get granular acces when needed and after they are vetted. It's all based on the 2014 eIDAS regulation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIDAS

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#37

Age verification should be made on OS or firmware level when buying a device. And not by sending your passport scan to random companies with dubious data collection practices. A law must mandate that an "adult" version of OS (or device) may be sold only to adult users. It is not difficult for Microsoft/Apple to implement this yet they do not want to for some reason. This would allow more reliable age verification, wi…

Denmark does it by sending you to a government-owned website, which then uses two factor authentication and responds back verifying one’s identity. I don’t understand why other countries can’t do the same.

The UK doesn’t have any form of identity that can be used like this. There’s a very very vocal group of people who oppose the idea to the point that it hasn’t gained traction.

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#38
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bank has an API endpoint that (basically) returns your name and age (in this use case). It can return more for signing electronic docs etc. and is basically your digital ID. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BankID Need to buy "toys", vape products, alcohol... anything adult online? There's a 3rd party web app (you rightfully don't trust) as an age check in the shopping cart / user account of any of these adult shops,…

Identity shouldn’t be tied to a private institution that requires you to have a bank account to login. Two of the well-used solutions to identity in the U.S. are login.gov (government-managed) and id.me (private, but used by government). Basically to get setup, at some point you have to have physical presence to get an actual government-approved physical ID, which can still be a barrier to some, but it doesn’t requir…

> Discourse

Another victim of auto-correct!

Re: Users claim Discord's age verification can be tricked with video game characters

#40

Several articles say that Ofcom has said platforms must not host, share, or permit content encouraging the use of VPNs to bypass age checks, adding that parents should be aware of how VPNs can be used to bypass the Act.

All those parents that couldn’t use parental controls to limit what their children see in a browser are not suddenly going to start policing VPNs. This is terrible legislation wrapped in terrible advice.
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