Open Technology Institute Warns Against ‘Immature’ Age Verification Tech

A new report from the Open Technology Institute expresses concerns about the use of facial recognition and digital IDs for age verification online, asserting that facial age estimation, which uses AI to analyze facial geometry, and digital IDs present significant privacy and security risks.

Titled “Age Verification: The Complicated Effort to Protect Youth Online”, the report argues that these methods have not been proven to effectively balance the need for accurate age verification with the protection of user privacy, particularly at the scale required by social media platforms. It also suggests that these technologies are still too immature to be reliably implemented without compromising user data.

The Open Technology Institute is an initiative of New America, a think tank that focuses on a broad range of public policy issues. OTI focuses on issues at the intersection of technology and policy, aiming to ensure that technology serves the public interest. The institute conducts research, develops policy recommendations, and advocates for policies that promote access to communication technologies, enhance privacy and digital rights, and ensure that technological platforms are open and secure.

New America is generally considered a centrist or center-left think tank, although it strives to maintain a nonpartisan stance in its research and policy proposals. It was founded in 1999 by Ted Halstead, Sherle Schwenninger, Michael Lind, and Walter Russell Mead.

Several states have implemented or are in the process of implementing digital ID and/or facial recognition technology for online age verification. Louisiana was the pioneer in this area, having passed a law that mandates adult websites to use “reasonable age verification methods,” which could include digital IDs. Other states that have followed include Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, each implementing similar standards for age verification on websites hosting adult content.

Utah legislators recently proposed legislation that would require social media platforms in particular to implement age verification practices, though it immediately came under fire from privacy activists including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. A vote on the legislation was postponed from March of this year to October.

Source: StateScoop

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April 24, 2024 – by Cass Kennedy