This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
if a phone is tied to a svc acct like a telco provider- age verification should be automatic as THAT provider cannot open an acct for a child.
FUCKING THANK YOU!
I'm not in favour of any of the age restriction stuff UK government is doing.
Good argument, but:
Phones in the UK can be bought without a contract and untied to any network.
Pay as you go SIM cards can be bought without a contract.
Credit cards used to make purchases online require users to be 18 or over. Debit cards on the other hand can be issued to those under 18 (but a bank account will require evidence of ID, address, age). https://www.gohenry.com/uk/blog/financial-education/what-age-can-you-get-a-debit-card-in-the-uk
can a debit card be created by someone under 18? ie does a parent have to do it then give johnny a card? can a bodega owner sell a prepaid to a minor, and can prepaids be used?
just wondering where up the chain the responsibility lies. i’m all for corps being held to task, but also parents. if i handed my kid a phone it was my responsibility.
now he had phones that he acquired. i saw them. so i know it is largely irrelevant my thoughts on chain of concern.
in short: this is a terrible tar pit of gov horseshit sold in the “protect the kids” camp but really is “build a bigger fascist state db…”
A parent can do the age verification captcha for Johnny. All of this is bullshit once they start thinking any of this will stop kids who have the help of an adult (actually, already is imo). Anyone ever hear of kids getting adults to buy alcohol for them in the past?
> can't have apps without an account
> cave have an account without a loicense
Will this finally kill off the "Apple is private enough" mantra I always hear?
unfortunately, that is not how cults work.
Wow, thats fucked. I hope Australia doesn't decide to do this as well. This shit is happening so quickly at the moment
me too but i'm not overly optimistic. i don't think there is a strong enough culture of anti-surveillance
Mixed feelings about this.
However, ethical questions aside, and from a purely legal conformation standpoint, if the phone validates the user is over 18 and passes only that info as a token to whatever application or website requests it, then it's a good implementation. It means elimination of multiple validation requirements, minimal transfer of data to third parties, fewer sources holding personal data, etc. Whether it works that way remains to be seen.
I haven't read this particular law. But one proposed in Colorado still requires service providers to look for other indicators of age and override the one reported by the OS.
purely legal conformation standpoint
It's still stupid even if it's required by law.
Why is there no privacy respecting solution for age verification? Like the government giving you some sort of token that says you’re over 18 and that’s it?
Because its not about age verification, its about tracking and controlling you and making a privacy respecting solution isn't compatible with that.
What if I told you that by regulation, the EU age verification system has to be anonymous and that it’s only the AUKUS countries that are moving forward in a way where anonymity is “a nice to have”.
Denmark’s system, which is a front-runner implementation in the EU, is going to be fully ZKP.
And yes it’s basically built with tokens.
You identify with a government system in an app. The services issues you signed tokens that are anonymous. You hand these anonymous tokens over to the sites that demand proof of age.
That sounds great. I don’t follow the topic closely (probably I should), so wasn’t aware of these developments. This should be brought up in all discussions about age verification, so everyone knows there are better options.
Some people will feel that it’s not ideal, as you still have to trust the government, opposed to full anonymity, but that is a bit of a separate problem.
How are you supposed to abuse the data of people that you can't even identify...?
Another reason sideloading is important.
Sideloading isn’t a real term - there is only loading a better OS than whatever spy-tech google is offering.
You can’t “sideload” hardware you own - you just install whatever software you like and prefer
Jesus Tittyfucking Christ, yes it is. I'm not typing out "installing software from outside the Google Play Store" every time, so you can go away.
Time for more users to adopt GrapheneOS
GrapheneOS is great and all but I refuse to willingly give google a single dollar for their hardware.
When GrapheneOS can be installed on any device is when I’ll gladly make that switch, and hopefully one day Apple iPhones can run other operating systems.
Buy a used one then. Google won't see your money then.
Or wait a little longer. https://piunikaweb.com/2025/11/19/grapheneos-to-release-non-pixel-flagship-phone-in-q4-2026-or-in-2027/
In a revealing discussion with David Bombal, the GrapheneOS team confirmed they are actively working with a “top-tier Android OEM” to bring their hardened operating system to non-Google flagship devices.
If only you didn't have to give google money to be able to install it.
For god's sake can corporations and governments stop trying to ~~control and survey people~~ do the job of parents and society. If parents are not doing their job then you need better awareness and education not to take over.
Pretty sure everyone understand it's not about the age.
When we were young adults and couldn't buy our own booze, we made it. Let's do something like that here.
That is what F-Droid would be, on Android. If it survives…
Of course, we have SailfishOS, postmarketOS, and other small ones, too.
no problem, I'll just use apps from outside of the App Store, right?
You could, if you lived in the EU :)
Teens can travel alone and setup their phone in France or Ireland, or buy their phone from a dealer. All the cool kids will have free phones and be on snapchat, forcing everybody else to follow suit.
Holy. Shit.
What the actual fuck?????????
Disgusting.
