Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now on Colorado's Morning News. The UK attempting to protect
kids from inappropriate content online, but the move comes with
even more concerns about personal information and free speech.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And joining us now in the KA comments Spirit to
Health Hotline our Tech Tuesday segment at ABC News Technology
reporter Mike Debuski, Mike, this is an interesting debate or
question all about free speech, but at what level do
we have concerns when it comes to protecting our youth
who aren't of as age yet.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah. This all stems from what's known as the Online
Safety Act guys, which is a piece of legislation that
went into effect in the UK on Friday, And essentially
what this is aimed at doing is protecting younger people
in the UK from accessing inappropriate content online. Ostensibly that
means things like pornography, but the way this law is
(00:48):
written is pretty broad and within inappropriate contents included other
things like content promoting things like anorexia or violent content.
Even things like harsh language could conceivably be thought of
as inappropriate content on the Internet. So to guard against this,
(01:09):
many companies, many Internet platforms have been implementing these special
age verification tools. At the point of entry. So when
you go to a website or you try to log
into a website, you will be prompted to upload a
photo of one your identification, so meaning your driver's license,
a bank statement, or you know, even a passport if
(01:30):
you will, and then having a system sort of identify
what your age is from that government document, or alternatively,
in some cases, you can upload a selfie and then
ostensibly the company will use age verification technology or age
estimation technology to see if you look essentially older than
eighteen or sixteen or whatever the cutoff point for that
(01:52):
particular website is. This comes in light of potentially very
steep fines for these companies, so it's perhaps no surprise
that they're taking a pretty aggressive approach to this. Ten
percent of their global revenue could be could come in
the form of a fine if they are found to
be in violation of the law. In addition to that,
other companies on the Internet have essentially thrown up their
(02:15):
hands and said, hey, this is one a violation of
our civil liberties. You know, this is obviously we are
concerned about kids accessing in appropriate content online, but this
law goes too far, and they've all together just closed
up shop on the Internet. Others have done that just
for fear that they might be perceived as violating this
law and then be hit with that hefty fine. So
(02:37):
it's become a very very bitter fight in the UK,
and a lot of companies that you would not expect
necessarily to be caught up in this are indeed caught
up in this, with Spotify, Reddit, Blue Sky and others
now requiring age verification for everyone. Even a subrate reddit
dedicated to hard cider in the UK our Sighter as
(02:57):
it's known, has locked access for fear of being perceived
as putting out inappropriate content that promotes, you know, drinking,
potentially among younger people.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Well, Mike, how does this work when we're talking about
the UK's Online Safety Act and some of these sites
like Facebook, Instagram, x are all based in the US,
and we don't have this type of really strict posting
of personal information in order to confirm that you are
of age. How does that work when you're dealing with
out of country companies.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
So there are ways for companies like this to essentially
geo fence different areas, right they know through IP addresses
where computers are located. This is commonplaces I've always been in,
you know, practice where essentially a company like Facebook can say, hey,
I have X number of users in the UK, I
have X number of users in Canada and the US
(03:46):
and so on, and they're able to sort of make
changes based on local laws, local regulations to suit that
and even see that here to a degree in the
state level in the United States, we don't have any
federal legislation obviously to this effect, but on the state level,
specifically around pornography websites, there are occasionally some sort of
(04:09):
age verification technologies that crop up, in particular in Texas
there is one. However, there are ways to circumvent this policy,
particularly in the UK VPN use that is, virtual private networks.
Those are technologies that make it appear as if your
computer is somewhere else. Really spiked in interest over the weekend,
(04:30):
we think by about one thousand percent, And for what
it's worth, guys, it seems like some of these age
verification tools are kind of easy to fool with people
using video game characters to make it appear through the
selfie technology that they're a little bit older than they are.
One person on Reddit even posted a David Lynch doll
that they took a picture of and uploaded and were
(04:52):
able to access a website through. So obviously it's a
very hot button issue. It's something that is being fiercely
debated in the UK. It seems like there are some
things left to be figured out.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I'm going to go on a tangent here, Mike. Since
we're concerned about content and youth consuming it, is there
anything like this protections thought about? And am I way
out of bounds with this when it comes to AI
and accessing with youth and using it that way.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It's a good question. At this point, it has not
really been discussed at length. I think in large part
because this you know, generative AI technology specifically that is
sort of sparking so many conversations around the world is
just so new. Chat GPT only launched in twenty twenty two,
let's remember. So in terms of restricting access based on age,
there you know are certain limitations, but they're pretty easy
(05:37):
to circumvent from the AI company's perspective. You know, it's
essentially the checkbox saying hey, yes, I am eighteen or older.
That's pretty easy for a sixteen year old or a
seventeen year old to figure out and get around, so
you know, it's a very thorny issue. The other part
of this, guys, is that you know, it might sound
like a pretty easy way to identify, you know, how
(05:58):
old a person is, by getting them to a load
like their driver's license, for instance, But many civil liberties
experts in the UK have raised concerns about what the
government's going to do with that information after we get
rid of it, right or what a company, third party
company that they've hired, is going to do with it.
Many of these companies say that these photos, these selfies,
these these government ID pictures are deleted after they are used. However,
(06:23):
that does, you know, kind of sit a little differently
after we've seen high profile data breaches like the t
APP in recent weeks exposed the driver's license information of
really thousands of people.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
ABC News Tech Reporter, it's Mike Debuski.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Thanks Mike, of course, guys, take care
Now on Colorado's Morning News. The UK attempting to protect
kids from inappropriate content online, but the move comes with
even more concerns about personal information and free speech.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And joining us now in the KA comments Spirit to
Health Hotline our Tech Tuesday segment at ABC News Technology
reporter Mike Debuski, Mike, this is an interesting debate or
question all about free speech, but at what level do
we have concerns when it comes to protecting our youth
who aren't of as age yet.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah. This all stems from what's known as the Online
Safety Act guys, which is a piece of legislation that
went into effect in the UK on Friday, And essentially
what this is aimed at doing is protecting younger people
in the UK from accessing inappropriate content online. Ostensibly that
means things like pornography, but the way this law is
(00:48):
written is pretty broad and within inappropriate contents included other
things like content promoting things like anorexia or violent content.
Even things like harsh language could conceivably be thought of
as inappropriate content on the Internet. So to guard against this,
(01:09):
many companies, many Internet platforms have been implementing these special
age verification tools. At the point of entry. So when
you go to a website or you try to log
into a website, you will be prompted to upload a
photo of one your identification, so meaning your driver's license,
a bank statement, or you know, even a passport if
(01:30):
you will, and then having a system sort of identify
what your age is from that government document, or alternatively,
in some cases, you can upload a selfie and then
ostensibly the company will use age verification technology or age
estimation technology to see if you look essentially older than
eighteen or sixteen or whatever the cutoff point for that
(01:52):
particular website is. This comes in light of potentially very
steep fines for these companies, so it's perhaps no surprise
that they're taking a pretty aggressive approach to this. Ten
percent of their global revenue could be could come in
the form of a fine if they are found to
be in violation of the law. In addition to that,
other companies on the Internet have essentially thrown up their
(02:15):
hands and said, hey, this is one a violation of
our civil liberties. You know, this is obviously we are
concerned about kids accessing in appropriate content online, but this
law goes too far, and they've all together just closed
up shop on the Internet. Others have done that just
for fear that they might be perceived as violating this
law and then be hit with that hefty fine. So
(02:37):
it's become a very very bitter fight in the UK,
and a lot of companies that you would not expect
necessarily to be caught up in this are indeed caught
up in this, with Spotify, Reddit, Blue Sky and others
now requiring age verification for everyone. Even a subrate reddit
dedicated to hard cider in the UK our Sighter as
(02:57):
it's known, has locked access for fear of being perceived
as putting out inappropriate content that promotes, you know, drinking,
potentially among younger people.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Well, Mike, how does this work when we're talking about
the UK's Online Safety Act and some of these sites
like Facebook, Instagram, x are all based in the US,
and we don't have this type of really strict posting
of personal information in order to confirm that you are
of age. How does that work when you're dealing with
out of country companies.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
So there are ways for companies like this to essentially
geo fence different areas, right they know through IP addresses
where computers are located. This is commonplaces I've always been in,
you know, practice where essentially a company like Facebook can say, hey,
I have X number of users in the UK, I
have X number of users in Canada and the US
(03:46):
and so on, and they're able to sort of make
changes based on local laws, local regulations to suit that
and even see that here to a degree in the
state level in the United States, we don't have any
federal legislation obviously to this effect, but on the state level,
specifically around pornography websites, there are occasionally some sort of
(04:09):
age verification technologies that crop up, in particular in Texas
there is one. However, there are ways to circumvent this policy,
particularly in the UK VPN use that is, virtual private networks.
Those are technologies that make it appear as if your
computer is somewhere else. Really spiked in interest over the weekend,
(04:30):
we think by about one thousand percent, And for what
it's worth, guys, it seems like some of these age
verification tools are kind of easy to fool with people
using video game characters to make it appear through the
selfie technology that they're a little bit older than they are.
One person on Reddit even posted a David Lynch doll
that they took a picture of and uploaded and were
(04:52):
able to access a website through. So obviously it's a
very hot button issue. It's something that is being fiercely
debated in the UK. It seems like there are some
things left to be figured out.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I'm going to go on a tangent here, Mike. Since
we're concerned about content and youth consuming it, is there
anything like this protections thought about? And am I way
out of bounds with this when it comes to AI
and accessing with youth and using it that way.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It's a good question. At this point, it has not
really been discussed at length. I think in large part
because this you know, generative AI technology specifically that is
sort of sparking so many conversations around the world is
just so new. Chat GPT only launched in twenty twenty two,
let's remember. So in terms of restricting access based on age,
there you know are certain limitations, but they're pretty easy
(05:37):
to circumvent from the AI company's perspective. You know, it's
essentially the checkbox saying hey, yes, I am eighteen or older.
That's pretty easy for a sixteen year old or a
seventeen year old to figure out and get around, so
you know, it's a very thorny issue. The other part
of this, guys, is that you know, it might sound
like a pretty easy way to identify, you know, how
(05:58):
old a person is, by getting them to a load
like their driver's license, for instance, But many civil liberties
experts in the UK have raised concerns about what the
government's going to do with that information after we get
rid of it, right or what a company, third party
company that they've hired, is going to do with it.
Many of these companies say that these photos, these selfies,
these these government ID pictures are deleted after they are used. However,
(06:23):
that does, you know, kind of sit a little differently
after we've seen high profile data breaches like the t
APP in recent weeks exposed the driver's license information of
really thousands of people.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
ABC News Tech Reporter, it's Mike Debuski.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Thanks Mike, of course, guys, take care
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