(C) Alec Muffett's DropSafe blog. Author Name: Alec Muffett This story was originally published on allecmuffett.com. [1] License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.[2] Porn – dropsafe 2023-05 I was delighted to be invited back to the LockAndCode podcast to speak about American lawmakers discovering “Age Verification,” comparing it to similar experiences in the UK: There are some links in the podcast show notes, but I’ll attach below the extended set of links which I originally built to help David & the team, and which I’ve since augmented. [*] Previously. 2016 – the initial “modern” AV discussions A Sequence of Spankingly Bad Ideas (first article in the series, catalogue of variously-terrible AV methods including aggregation and AI analysis of social media profiles) On the Digital Economy Bill (rewrite & expansion of the above, submitted as evidence to Parliament) Restricting niche porn sites is a disaster for people with marginalised sexualities – Pandora Blake “Why you need to stop telling me you can get round a porn block” – Girl on the Net (The nerd culture of “I know how to use a VPN” allows censorship to creep up on us, unchecked…) PAS1296: Reviewing a draft of a proposed “security standard” for Age Verification (including stored data) and finding it very lacking; long twitter thread, some key points 2018 – the debate continues / “traditional methods” Adults might have to buy GBP 10 ‘porn passes’ to prove their age online (news report) Data which “concerns a person’s sex life or sexual orientation” is cited for special treatment in the Data Protection Act Response to draft Guidance on Age-Verification Arrangements and draft Guidance on Ancillary Service Providers (legislators and purported standards do not appear to care deeply about AV data protection) Age Verification Enthusiasts: “It’s okay when it’s my kids creating a fake account” Age Verification: BBFC Data Protection Proposals 2019 – First attempt at appointing a regulator, regulator proposes data protection standards The BBFC AgeVerification “Certificate Standard” has been published. This is the document which is being proffered to protect the facts & details of YOUR online #Porn viewing. Let’s read it together! (long but fun twitter thread) Age verification won’t block porn. But it will spell the end of ethical porn – Girl on the Net 2021 – companies start to pitch “AI facial analysis” as somehow being “anonymous” Notes on “Can facial analysis technology create a child-safe internet?” (including more on: “Identities are Relationships”) https://alecmuffett.com/article/14828 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/11/proof-of-age-verification-online-facial-analysis-data-protection-act (selectively quotes from the above) Subsequent Twitter discussion with Yoti staffers 2023 – the USA and Age Verification Jess Miers’ entire current timeline, but especially this thread: Minnesota’s Attempt to Copy California’s Constitutionally Defective Age Appropriate Design Code is an Utter Fail | Eric Goldman Nationwide push to require social media age verification raises questions about privacy, industry standards | CyberScoop Why Connecticut’s Age Verification Law Could be the Next Target for Constitutional Challenge | by Jess Miers | Chamber of Progress The Fundamental Problems with Social Media Age Verification Legislation – R Street Institute Futures: AI Facial Age Estimation Using AI Filters to make yourself look older: “One of the funniest sentences in the report is “to mitigate errors in age estimation, users have to identify themselves with a government approved document like a passport or driving license” – i.e., the age estimation is a red herring.” (Official UK Academic analysis of Age Verification and Online Child Protection technologies, the “REPHRAIN Project”) Corporate Backstory YouTube: Access age-restricted content & features – Google Account Help (manual redaction of personal info for YouTube Age Verification) “4 out 5 parents use no content filtering at all on their kids phones!” Pornhub / Cherie DeVille: Utah / We Need Special Phones For Kids (…and of course the parents who don’t install content filters will somehow instead prevent them from buying burner phones?) Age Verification, Credit-Card processing, etc, all leading to centralisation of adult content into corporate spaces Reminder that MindGeek still exist, with 1300+ employees Sample MindGeek Job: Corporate Security Analyst [END] [1] URL: https://alecmuffett.com/article/tag/porn [2] URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ DropSafe Blog via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/alecmuffett/