Age verification is just a precursor to automated attribution of speech
Key takeaways
- Lots of US states, European countries, and Australia have introduced "age verification" regulations.
- This is the state's dream; your words, undeniably tied to your real life identity.
- Sometimes there's no probable cause that a crime has been or will be committed.
Lots of US states, European countries, and Australia have introduced "age verification" regulations. They present it as the classic "save the children" talking point, but it's really just a precursor to attribution of speech, particularly attributing your words to your real identity.
This is the state's dream; your words, undeniably tied to your real life identity. Law enforcement generally needs two things to take meaningful action: What happened? and Who did it? so lets go over them, I promise it's relevant.
Doing #2 takes a lot of effort and doesn't scale. Sometimes there's no probable cause that a crime has been or will be committed. Sometimes the target uses a VPN or Tor. Sometimes the platform doesn't have reliable metrics on the target. Whatever the reason, it usually requires humans clicking buttons, sending emails, or deciding things.