Age Verification Online

Age verification and estimation by companies to protect the privacy and safety online for young people

Stewart Dresner talks to Iain Corby, Executive Director, The Age Verification Providers’ Association (AVPA) and Project Manager, euCONSENT. 

There is consensus that young people should be safe online. But how should organisations behave in an ethical way? How to reconcile the commercial objectives of data acquisition and retention, and the legal objective of data minimisation and data protection by design?

There are many international and national initiatives on online safety for young people. All are trying to protect “the best interests of the child”. How are companies engaging with them?

There is a continuum as children mature into teenagers and then into adults but regulations impose specific ages when content should be restricted. This is the issue at the core of attempts at regulation to better protect young people from online content of a violent or sexual nature, or increasing the risk that they will be led to the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, gambling and other dangerous and inappropriate content.

Iain Corby discusses with Stewart Dresner how companies are working together to achieve a credible method of age estimation and verification.

Privacy Laws & Business will cover this subject in more depth in our free webinar on the afternoon of Wednesday 16 March:  Helping young people to better protect their privacy and safety online. 

In addition to Iain Corby, participants will include the Acting Head of Children’s Policy at Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, a representative of the games industry, academics, and a Privacy Policy Manager for Meta.