Europe's Age Verification proposal under flak for Google dependency

[harlan4096]

Age verification continues to be a hot topic in several regions and countries, including the European Union. The main question surrounding various solutions is whether age verification checks should be implemented to block access to certain content for (mainly) minors.

Critics argue that age verification systems have issues, including privacy issues, high implementation costs, that they may be ineffective and that there is potential for overreach and censorship.

The European Union is working on an open-source Android application for age verification that is part of a wider Age Verification Solution Toolbox that members of the EU may use to develop national age verification solutions.

The main purpose of the application is to "obtain, store, and present an age verification attestation" and "share the proof of age attestation with online services to gain access". The current implementation is "developed solely for the purpose of demonstrating the business flow", according to the description on GitHub.

This did not protect it from criticism leveled against the solution. The primary concern of users, at least judging on the GitHub repository, is the project's use of Google Play Integrity API and Apple App Attestation for verification of apps and devices.

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