What online age verification tells us about the state of digital identity
Your age is an essential attribute of your identity that opens doors to events, local watering holes, or online age-restricted products or services. In everyday life, you prove your age with a physical ID or driver’s license, but verifying your age online is far less straightforward.
The original sin of the internet is that we never truly devised a comprehensive framework for identity in a digital context.
Instead, we’ve taken the protocols of ID verification from real life — which in itself is prone to abuse and fraud — and applied them to online sites and platforms such as taking photos and scans of our IDs and uploading copies to online sites.
Not only is this method of age verification archaic, it also raises serious security issues around identity and privacy.
An already flawed system
First, let’s examine the current protocols of age verification in the real world. IDs, passports, driver’s licenses and credit cards generally serve as identifiers of age in adulthood. But they can easily be faked or counterfeited.
Is it really necessary to share our exact date of birth? Or our ID number? What about our height or home address? The amount of private information we end up sharing is overkill in the context of the verification required for the vast majority of transactions. More often than not, we’re handing over that data to a complete stranger. Once it’s out there, we’ve pretty much given up all control.
That’s an issue at typical age checkpoints such as liquor stores, bars, and tobacco vendors, where more advanced tools for verifying a document’s authenticity might not be available. As any college freshman knows, it’s not uncommon for teens to borrow IDs from a sibling or acquire fakes in order to access age-restricted products such as cigarettes, alcohol, or pornography.
It’s not ideal for aboveboard patrons either. Physical documents are inconvenient; they can be easily misplaced or forgotten. They’re also inherently insecure when it comes to your privacy.
Is it really necessary to share our exact date of birth? Or our ID number? What about our height or home address? The amount of private information we end up sharing is overkill in the context of the verification required for the vast majority of transactions. More often than not, we’re handing over that data to a complete stranger. Once it’s out there, we’ve pretty much given up all control.
None of that information should be exposed in the first place.
Proper digital identity solutions would not only reduce the friction and inconvenience of age-restricted transactions for vendors and consumers alike, they’d guarantee that our personal data is safe.
For instance, if your age credentials were verified and integrated into the payment system to begin with, you could theoretically buy and pay for age-restricted goods just like anything else while never being required to show or share your ID. If you’re old enough, the payment or transaction goes through. Otherwise, it gets blocked. For vendors, it’s one less step in the process to worry about.
It’s even worse online
Naturally, the risks posed to minors when it comes to age-restricted content, goods, or services is magnified in a digital landscape.
Not only do they have potentially limitless access to age-sensitive products at the tap of a button — dating sites, adult-oriented vendors, gambling platforms, etc. — the online world lacks the additional safeguard of common sense human intervention that exists in real life.
And proper age verification also protects children from predatory adults that lurk on sites designed for young audiences. Back in 2012, social flirting app Skout banned access to minors after child rape cases came to light. More recently, Facebook began proactively locking accounts if profile photos appeared younger than the required minimum of 13 years of age.
Would we really feel comfortable letting the local supermarket cashier keep a copy of our passport? Then why are we doing it online?
But many platforms still rely on the honor system. Input your alleged birthday, and unlimited access is granted.
Stricter services require actual ID verification — a driver’s license, passport, or even a credit card. But rather than having a cashier simply check or scan our ID and give it back, by sending a photo of our documents or sharing relevant ID numbers, we’re essentially permanently giving those private details away.
Would we really feel comfortable letting the local supermarket cashier keep a copy of our passport? Then why are we doing it online?
There are also issues of inclusion. In the U.S., for instance, it’s not a legal requirement or obligation to possess certain identifying documentation such as a driver’s license.
Imagine a better way — one in which we verify our age with a trusted provider once — rather than every time we want to access a new service. We could then point to that proof of identity (versus the underlying data) every time an age verification is required. Think of it like a Twitter verified badge — except for your age and it’s linked to your existing digital identity.
If an online retailer see’s your badge, they can confidently trust that you’re old enough— without ever knowing your actual age, date of birth, or anything else for that matter.
Age verification is just the beginning
It’s clear what we require from our digital identity. First, we need it to be easy and convenient. For businesses, that means a frictionless, cost-effective process that doesn’t turn away legitimate customers. For consumers, it means a private, secure, and trustworthy system that doesn’t needlessly surrender control of our personal data.
What our existing age verification processes show — both physically and digitally — is that we’re woefully short of those straightforward and common sense ideals. Moreover, the current systems in place won’t get us where we need to and want to go.
What’s required is a whole new approach to digital identity.
If we can properly tackle basic challenges such as checking someone’s age, we’ll likewise be better positioned as a society and an economy to start addressing much larger issues — for instance, the billions of people around the world who still lack access to fundamental services such as a bank account.
The good news? It’s already here — and we need to look no further than the burgeoning self-sovereign identity (SSI) movement for countless examples of new and existing companies that are working on exactly that challenge.
As our physical and digital lives continue to rapidly converge, users demand more. And changing times means big opportunities for firms that move and adapt swiftly to these rapidly evolving expectations.
It’s not just about business, either. It’s like the old saying goes — if you can handle the little things, the big things take care of themselves.
That couldn’t be more true when it comes to digital identity.
If we can tackle basic challenges such as checking someone’s age, we’ll likewise be better positioned as a society and an economy to start addressing much larger issues — like the billions of people around the world who still lack access to fundamental services such as a bank account.
Join a growing trusted community and experience how digital age verification and smarter digital identity can work for you.
