Pornography has become an increasingly prevalent issue in many countries, and the age at which young people are exposed to it is becoming a growing concern. Several countries, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and eight states in the United States, have already implemented age verification systems for accessing this content. Spain is also preparing its own tool, expected to be ready by the end of summer.
The average age of exposure to online porn in Spain is just eight years old. However, there is debate on how best to achieve this goal. Privacy experts are concerned that these age verification systems may compromise user privacy by requiring them to share personal data that could be hacked and used for extortion.
Various techniques are being used to verify the legal age of users attempting to access pornographic content, such as requesting credit card information or using facial recognition systems. The French method tests a digital intermediary that does not access user-identifying data as a way to respect user privacy.
The Spanish government is working on its own age verification system that prioritizes security and anonymity using European digital wallet standards. The EU’s Digital Services Regulation has imposed requirements on large pornographic content platforms to verify the age of users. While some methods present improvements in privacy protection compared to others, they are not without their limitations. For example, the French method still requires users’ IP addresses to be visible to accessed websites.
Overall, protecting minors from early exposure to pornographic content while ensuring the privacy and security of Internet users requires a delicate balance between various stakeholders. Ongoing collaboration between governments, tech companies, and privacy experts will be necessary for responsible and effective implementation of age verification systems.
