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by GuB-42 60 days ago
It is a good exercise, but in practice, what's the big deal?

Even if the app is bulletproof, age verification will get bypassed. Account sharing, file sharing, darknets, etc... It mostly prevents kids from stumbling upon content that isn't meant for them, but it won't resist deliberate attacks for long, especially if the parents are complacent. And for that, the EU Age Verification app looks fine, especially now what the easy bugs are fixed.
2 comments
bigbugbag 60 days ago
one has to understand that the point is not to protect kids, it never is, but to control online activities. also this is not an organic law, this is the result of intense lobbying by transnational corporations such as facebook, pushing hard for this and there are reports from inside the parliament that this is rushed to be release ASAP despite not being ready or properly tested.
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GuB-42 59 days ago
Except that this kind of age verification is not what "transnational corporations such as Facebook" is pushing for. In fact such a system is probably the worst for them: they can't use the token for tracking, and it can make it harder for them to target children because it is likely to come with further restrictions.

What the tech giants want is OS level attestation. They want to control what you can install on your device, to me the thing to avoid at all costs. This is not it, this is an open source app that you can run anywhere.

The proposed solution is the closest you can get to one that is designed to protect kids more than to control online activities. The weakness of the system, where a determined kid can get through is a feature, not a bug! More than that and it becomes more about control and less about kids (who will get through no matter what).

I am not commenting on how necessary age verification is. Personally, I am all for a wide open internet but many people actually want to "protect the children". The argument wouldn't be used as a justification for surveillance laws if they didn't.

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mrsssnake 58 days ago
> This is not it, this is an open source app that you can run anywhere

The service for EU age verification app requires Google Play Integrity API check. So as much as you "can" run the app itself anywhere, you are forced to do it on whitelisted build of an OS on a whitelisted device.

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subscribed 59 days ago
These companies are pushing for it, just as far as humanely possible from them. They're not in the business of protecting kids, but in the business of the plausible deniability.

Start here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47361235

And here's from the larger organisation, from another angle: https://techoversight.org/2025/07/29/bloomberg-meta-google-l...

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raxxorraxor 58 days ago
I would like my kids to be safe and that means no shitty gatekeeper app where they have to identify themselves. If a platform requires it, kid won't get access. Perhaps that is the real benefit here.
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