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> Of course in principle Discord or any third party should never need any photographic identity themselves to begin with if countries would bother to implement

> Of course in principle Discord or any third party should never need any photographic identity themselves to begin with if countries would bother to implement a proper trusted identity system where the data stays with an authority and they simply sign off on requests. Indeed. But in the UK the only really loud voices against the porn age laws are also the same voices against the latest digital ID proposals. It's logical to say "we don't need either of these two things". But the status quo of ID verification of all kinds (for things like finance agreements, some online purchases, KYC, checking into some hotel chains if you're not the card holder who paid, etc.) is horrifying and involves uploading scans of paper documents. Every time someone says "I don't need a digital ID thanks" I ask them how many times they've let someone take a flatbed or photocopier scan of their passport or driving licence in real life (it's usually not zero) and then I ask them to explain to me how they would do that if it is online, and if they ever asked how long they are retained.

Dylan16807 1y ago
I mostly agree, but your list of situations is places you want your actual identity to be verified. For age checks, a core feature should be not identifying yourself.
- exasperaited 1y ago
  Yes, but a core feature of contemporary digital ID is age-only digital attestation -- that is, yes this unnamed person is old enough. The absence of such means that there are few ways for people to verify their ages without handing over scans of their IDs to far too many organisations. In the UK we do have one means to do this that is not widely used yet: since all mobile phone providers attempt to block adult content by default until the owner proves they are an adult (a pretty long-standing pre-existing child safety/parental control initiative by PAYG providers that has evolved to be standard across all contract types), the question of "can you prove you are 18" can now be delegated to the MNOs. But not all the age verification agencies are doing it.

Dylan16807 1y ago

I mostly agree, but your list of situations is places you want your actual identity to be verified. For age checks, a core feature should be not identifying yourself.

exasperaited 1y ago
Yes, but a core feature of contemporary digital ID is age-only digital attestation -- that is, yes this unnamed person is old enough. The absence of such means that there are few ways for people to verify their ages without handing over scans of their IDs to far too many organisations. In the UK we do have one means to do this that is not widely used yet: since all mobile phone providers attempt to block adult content by default until the owner proves they are an adult (a pretty long-standing pre-existing child safety/parental control initiative by PAYG providers that has evolved to be standard across all contract types), the question of "can you prove you are 18" can now be delegated to the MNOs. But not all the age verification agencies are doing it.