Discord Begins Testing Facial Scans for Age Verification
Some countries have passed strict new laws dictating youth access to digital platforms.
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The app will ask users to scan their face through a computer or smartphone webcam; alternatively, they can scan a driver’s license or other form of ID.
comes in response to laws passed in those countries that place guardrails on youth access to online platforms.
Personally this sounds pretty reasonable. I don't want young children on there. Any expectation of anonymity on Discord, a social network, is not warranted. Ask any number of users who've been prosecuted based on evidence turned over by Discord. It's also US-based
I mean. . . It should be up to the parents to protect and educate their children. It is very easy to set up protections on a computer to either not let them use discord or to not allow them to install it.
That's a false dichotomy. Parents can and should protect children. Social media sites can and should protect children. It's in the social interest. Parents don't have control over every device a child has access to. Firewalls at schools and libraries are often lackluster
Personally I won't use a site that wants to scan my face. My computer doesn't even have a camera.
I am also not going to upload a scan of my ID. We are on Lemmy for goodness sake. Clearly I care at least a little bit about my privacy.
It seems to me that there is no good way to ensure that children are kept away from content they shouldn't have access to without serious privacy concerns.
I feel like we need a less invasive form of age verification or we need actual data privacy laws in the US with some teeth. As it is right now it's basically a guarantee that your ID and facial data will be in a breach eventually. Seems like every site will require this once it starts.
I feel like we need a less invasive form of age verification
Yep. Probably a billion dollar idea if you can execute it properly. These laws are spurring competition
I think most peoples' facial data is already for sale and breachable/leakable
Why shouldn't young children be able to use Discord? I have kids and want them to be able to use it to chat while they play games with friends and with me.
I'll try to keep them to only chatting with people they know until I think they're mature enough.
I have kids too. I'm not singling out Discord here, just pointing out they're trying to follow the law.
Young kids and social media are inherently a bad mix. Primarily because it promotes antisocial behaviors and they cannot effectively comprehend and consent to the privacy polices and TOS. Hence why adults need to be involved in account creation.
the creators of the laws requiring said guardrails should be held personally accountable for every piece of information that gets leaked as a result of their bs "think of the children" arguments.
