Age-Verification Laws: The Digital Roadblock to Privacy, Equality, and Free Speech
Age-verification laws sound simple, but are anything but. They force us into flawed systems, demanding IDs or biometric scans, all while trampling free speech and privacy. From excluding adults without IDs to blocking LGBTQ+ youth from vital resources, these laws create a digital chaos that harms more than they help.
Hot Take:
Age-verification laws: the ultimate “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. They promise to protect kids, but somehow manage to exclude adults who don’t have the right paperwork, misclassify people who aren’t white, throw people with disabilities under the bus, and risk turning the internet into a surveillance state. All while serving up a data breach buffet for hackers. It’s like trying to swat a fly with a sledgehammer and hitting everything but the fly!
Key Points:
- Age-verification laws often require ID or biometric scans, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities.
- Adults without proper identification, including many minority groups, face exclusion from online spaces.
- AI-based age estimation struggles with racial bias, misclassifying non-white individuals.
- Facial recognition and document-based systems fail people with disabilities, transgender individuals, and those who require anonymity.
- Mandates create significant privacy risks, vulnerable to data breaches and identity theft.