Online Age Verification: The EU's Model and the Debate Between Child Safety and User Privacy
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Science & Technology (Cybersecurity, Zero-Knowledge Proof, Digital Identity), Governance (IT Rules, Data Protection), International Relations (Digital Services Act).
Mains:
GS Paper 2: Government policies and interventions; Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources (child welfare); Right to Privacy.
GS Paper 3: Basics of cyber security; Challenges to internal security through communication networks.
GS Paper 4 (Ethics): Ethical issues in technology; balancing competing values (child safety vs. privacy).
Key Highlights from the News
To prevent children from viewing harmful online content, the European Commission (European Commission) is developing an age verification app (age verification app).
This measure is part of the European Union's Digital Services Act (Digital Services Act - DSA).
The aim is to ensure child safety while protecting the privacy of adult users (user privacy).
This app is based on the same technical specifications as European Digital Identity Wallets (European Digital Identity Wallets - eID).
The European Commission claims it will use the latest technologies like zero-knowledge proof (zero-knowledge proof) to ensure privacy.
However, critics argue that this will harm user privacy and create security threats.
Companies like Pornhub argue that instead of age verification on every website, companies like Apple and Google should implement this system at the device level (device-based age verification).
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