Missouri residents will be required to verify they are older than 18 before accessing adult-only content online by the end of November. Websites and apps in which more than one-third of the material is considered "harmful to minors" would fall under the new law.
Missouri is the latest state to enact age verification, as more states adopt the growing national trend to keep children safe online.
Privacy Risks and Data Security Concerns
Though the new law requires online services to use reasonable measures to protect user data and forbids retaining personal information unless it is required by law enforcement, experts warn that these protections may not be enough.
Websites and apps must verify the age of a user before allowing access. The acceptable methods of verification include government-issued identification, digital identification, or other transactional data. Providers that do not comply could face fines of up to $10,000 per day, as violations are considered unlawful under Missouri law.
Molly Buckley, an associate director of activism at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, denounced the bill, saying that the law endangers the people by building a "dangerous" surveillance infrastructure. With that, it appears to be forcing the users to hand over their sensitive and personal identity data.
As TechRadar recalls, past incidents, including Discord's third-party service hack in the UK, which exposed over 70,000 government ID photos, serve as reminders of the risks. The age verification systems can also be prone to data leaks that put the personal information of millions of users at risk.
Big Tech's Role in Missouri's Age Verification
The Missouri law also requires that mobile operating systems, with at least 10 million devices in the U.S., implement a digital age verification system for websites and apps. This poses a major problem for tech giants, such as Google and Apple, whose Digital ID functions are so far intended only for government use, such as driver's licenses or passports.
John Perrino, Senior Policy and Advocacy Expert at the Internet Society, noted that Missouri's bill is similar to legislation passed across various states. These actions, while aiming to make the internet a much safer place, could raise issues related to increased surveillance, censorship, and privacy risks.
Even if the Digital ID is technically secure, users may feel uncomfortable storing and sharing sensitive documents such as driver's licenses or passports simply for accessing restricted websites and apps.
Originally published on Tech Times
