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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/age-verification-coming-internet-we-built-you-resource-hub-fight-back>
"Age verification laws are proliferating fast across the United States and
around the world, creating a dangerous and confusing tangle of rules about what
we’re all allowed to see and do online. Though these mandates claim to protect
children, in practice they create harmful censorship and surveillance regimes
that put everyone—adults and young people alike—at risk.
The term “age verification” is colloquially used to describe a wide range of
age assurance technologies, from age verification systems that force you to
upload government ID, to age estimation tools that scan your face, to systems
that infer your age by making you share personal data. While different laws
call for different methods, one thing remains constant:
every method out
there collects your sensitive, personal information and creates barriers to
accessing the internet. We refer to all of these requirements as age
verification, age assurance, or age-gating.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by this onslaught of laws and the invasive
technologies behind them, you’re not alone. It’s a
lot. But understanding how
these mandates work and who they harm is critical to keeping yourself and your
loved ones safe online. Age verification is lurking around every corner these
days, so we must fight back to protect the internet that we know and love.
That’s why today, we’re launching EFF’s Age Verification Resource Hub
(EFF.org/Age): a one-stop shop to understand what these laws actually do,
what’s at stake, why EFF opposes all forms of age verification, how to protect
yourself, and how to join the fight for a free, open, private, and
yes—safe—internet."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
