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Re: Age verification

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On Thu, 2 Apr 2026 18:14:11 -0000 (UTC), Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:

> The worry is how long before it is mandatory and applies to every
> computer and every application, whether that computer or application
> is ever used by a child or not.

The worry is that, while they're verifying your age, they're verifying
dozens of other things and conveying all of it (for a price) to your
content provider.  You may not have anything to hide when it comes to
consuming child sexual-abuse material, but you may have something to
hide about your tropical fish collection.

> Beyond offering simple services to estimate your age, Persona’s
> exposed code compares your selfie to watchlist photos using facial
> recognition, screens you against 14 categories of adverse media from
> mentions of terrorism to espionage, and tags reports with codenames
> from active intelligence programs consisting of public-private
> partnerships to combat online child exploitative material, cannabis
> trafficking, fentanyl trafficking, romance fraud, money laundering,
> and illegal wildlife trade.

> Once a user verifies their identity with Persona, the software
> performs 269 distinct verification checks and scours the internet
> and government sources for potential matches, such as by matching
> your face to politically exposed persons (PEPs), and generating risk
> and similarity scores for each individual. IP addresses, browser
> fingerprints, device fingerprints, government ID numbers, phone
> numbers, names, faces, and even selfie backgrounds are analyzed and
> retained for up to three years.

+ L0la L33tz. "Hackers Expose Age-Verification Software Powering
  Surveillance Web." 19 Feb. 2026. The Rage. 02 Apr 2026
  <https://www.therage.co/persona-age-verification/>.

Many strains of tropical fish maintained in captivity for decades were
once collected illegally in the wild (either overseas or
domestically).  Do you brag about having them?  If so, you're on a
worldwide list of suspicious wildlife trafficers.  It's that list that
will get you in trouble, not the CSAM list, because, like all lists,
the presumption is you belong there and it's up to you to prove you
don't belong if you want off.  That's pretty hard to do with pets
maintained in captivity because they're identical to the wild strains.

People have to get it through their heads that saying, "I have nothing
to hide," is an invitation to a bureaucratic busybody somewhere with
state-level funding to frisk you for anything suspicious.  Under that
standard everybody turns on his neighbor and no one is immune.

> At best, Persona can be used to create comprehensive surveillance
> graphs of users for the companies it serves, the researchers say. At
> worst, the software could file automated reports directly with the
> government.

-- 
Moreover I'm convinced that Reddit must be destroyed.

Worst Case

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Thread

Age verification Anthk <bozo@dev.null> - 2026-04-02 13:44 +0000
  Re: Age verification Marco Moock <mm@dorfdsl.de> - 2026-04-02 17:42 +0200
    Re: Age verification Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2026-04-02 18:14 +0000
      Re: Age verification "Worst Case"@dizum.com - 2026-04-02 23:41 +0200
        Re: Age verification Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-02 23:08 +0000
          Re: Age verification "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-04-03 03:11 +0200
            Re: Age verification The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-03 09:51 +0100
              Re: Age verification "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-04-03 13:21 +0200
    Re: Age verification The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-02 19:38 +0100
  Re: Age verification Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2026-04-02 16:22 +0000
    Re: Age verification gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2026-04-02 16:54 +0000
      Re: Age verification Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2026-04-02 18:10 +0000
        Re: Age verification Robert Riches <spamtrap42@jacob21819.net> - 2026-04-02 19:41 +0000
          Re: Age verification Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-02 20:48 +0000
      Re: Age verification The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-02 19:41 +0100
    Re: Age verification The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-02 19:40 +0100
  Re: Age verification "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-04-02 21:54 +0200
  Re: Age verification kouya <kouyaheika@canithesis.org> - 2026-04-07 00:08 -0500

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