Youth online privacy has changed over the decades. It used to be pretty simple, such as don’t talk to strangers on AOL. It’s harder now.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a guide entitled “Online Privacy for Parents and Youth.” As the name notes, it educates parents also on threats that probably didn’t exist when they were young. Such as “engaging with video games, social media, web search, and everything else.”
“EFF’s guide is about helping parents explore their concerns and identify the threats their children face – like trusting AI chatbots or sharing personal information with strangers – and then determine steps they and their children can take to mitigate those risks while still using the games, educational materials, and communication platforms that help them grow.”
Meanwhile, EFF is battling a foe other than the predators: the reactionary uneducated politicians.
“EFF launches this crucial resource as state and local governments consider enacting well-meaning but ill-advised laws that cut young people off from essential information and experiences, particularly harming vulnerable youth and marginalized groups who often find safety in supportive online communities they can’t access offline. Such laws also entail age gating, which compromises the privacy of all internet users and stifles young users’ ability to learn, grow, and express themselves.”
For the EFF, age gating (note its use of this term) is evil, whether performed via age verification or age estimation. Why? Because in the EFF’s view, these tools are either draconian (“invasive tools like ID checks [and] biometric scans”) or unproven (“dubious ‘age estimation’ methods”). NIST AEV testing? Who cares?
So add the EFF to the list of people (the age verification/estimation vendors, the social media platforms, the privacy advocates, the porn crusaders, the porn purveyors, and others) who are all weighing in on age estimation.
