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Discord is verifying some users’ age with ID and facial scanswww.theverge.com/news/650493/discord-age-verification-face-id-scan-experiment
169 sats \ 5 comments \ @k00b 18 Apr tech
Discord is likely trialing this process to appease new laws in the UK and Australia that aim to restrict children from accessing sensitive material online. The UK’s Online Safety Act requires online platforms that may host pornographic content to introduce “robust” age-checking techniques, while Australia is requiring that under-16s be prevented from accessing social media platforms entirely. We have asked Discord if it has any plans to roll out its experimental age verification process in other regions.
Discord is placing a surprising amount of trust in the accuracy of the face scanning tool, given some users may be banned if the process decides they look too young to be using the platform. Discord says that users who are verified incorrectly can retry the process or request a manual review, and that users who have been erroneously banned can appeal the decision.
I don't which is worse, face scans or ID checks online.
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33 sats \ 3 replies \ @Aardvark 18 Apr
How did we collectively let the internet get so bad? I don't even understand how I was born before anyone even had internet access, and now I live in a world where everyone's data is harvested to the point where we have almost zero privacy.
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178 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b OP 18 Apr
I thought about it a bit while reading this. Fundamentally the problem is that age restrictions and regulations (or any regulation that says who you can and can't have as a customer), when made the responsibility of businesses, make it so that businesses have to do stuff like this.
This was less of a problem in the analog world. When I enter a bar, I show my ID. When we try to do the same thing online, it's relatively invasive because your ID is now associated with everything you do, is stored for eternity, and is leaked or sold to who knows how many people.
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69 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aardvark 18 Apr
Another issue is that credit card companies are the primary way in which online payments are made. They are now able to exert their influence on online businesses. If you want to sell anything, you have to follow a credit card companies ToS.
Another issue that bitcoin hopefully fixes.
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33 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 18 Apr
Making it the business's responsibility to identify their customers is an inane idea. It comes from a dying and decaying public sector that is out of ideas and has no solutions to addressing anything in today's environment.
If they're concerned about child porn on Discord, why not just enforce it with audit and sting operations?
In economic theory, if there's some bad outcome you want to reduce, it's usually better to directly target the bad outcome rather than enforce specific behavior. Punish the bad outcome and private actors will adopt the most sensible behaviors to avoid these bad outcomes.
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33 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 18 Apr
request a manual review
LOL, good luck.
I don't which is worse, face scans or ID checks online.
Personally, I'm more allergic to face scans, but both are bad.
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