The ESRB wants to start using facial recognition to check people's ages
www.pcgamer.com
The FTC is now seeking public feedback on the ESRB's proposal.

This seems… wild.

Although, it’s important to keep in mind that this is in the context of COPPA consent, which already required photo ID by the parent for children under the age of 13.

Still, I cannot see this truly going well. It’s smarter than just a picture, sure. But it’s done by a VC-funded private company and by Epic. I’d give it about 12 minutes until archives of thousands of uploaded mini-videos for verification appear on the net, probably public because someone forgot to properly patch the web server.

However to not go all crazy on it: This also opens up the can of “How do we do smarter online age verification, anyways?”. AI-based facial recognition isn’t a sensible one if you ask me, but we need a better way as other countries have already ruled that simply putting in your age or clicking an “i’m 18+”-button is not legally binding and hence cannot be used as verifiable age verification.

  • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    COPPA is about restricting companies though, not parents.

    Though granted, I don’t see how we could do a version that isn’t also a hassle for the parent.

    And it still doesn’t address the fact that kids can still just lie and say they’re +18 on a sign up page. I knew many people that did this growing up.

    Of course, but that’s also partially getting worked through already. In Germany there are calls for a verifiable 18+ check, meaning via a reader app for the ID card or something, something that checks that you’re actually 18+, not just saying it. Sure you could take your parents’ ID card, but … eh that’s not quite as easy as typing in a credit card number, what with having to NFC the card, then type in the PIN, then confirm the login again.

    • Maple@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      In Germany there are calls for a verifiable 18+ check, meaning via a reader app for the ID card or something

      There are so many companies salivating at the thought of having access to that info. Call me a little rude, but I think that parents should just be more aware of what their kids do/see online instead of just offloading the blame onto the website that host sensitive content.

      • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Of course, and it’s difficult to do this well ,which is why it stalled so far. At least some thought is given to privacy over here, so there’d need to be a way to say “This person here, this person is >18”. But not know the person or the actual age. Which is doable, it’s just not easy, especially because the service has to be ~100% reliable.

        • Maple@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          1 year ago

          Agreed, and it’s just me I’m sure, but 18 is such an arbitrary number anyways. People all mature at different speeds and to limit someone who’s fine with that kind of content just because another person dislikes it by imposing a hard limit like a government id feels disingenuous, but I recognize a lot of people are going to disagree with me on that.

          It’s a bit comedic, but I picture a scenario where a dad is trying to watch a movie with his kid and all of a sudden just before a scene where a quarter of a character’s boob is shown it stops and prompts him with a “Are you over 18? Please scan your face to continue.” And also would it even allow them if it also saw the kid there? Better yet take the kid out of the equation, it’s just an adult trying to watch an R rated movie or an M rated game.

          Just some things to consider I guess.