THE UK Government should not be asking adults to give up their identification online in the name of children’s safety, an online age verification expert has said.
Chelsea Jarvie, who is finishing up a PhD in online age verification, said the technology brought in to support the implementation of the Online Safety Act needs to be “urgently” looked at as she accused ministers of failing to “read the room”.
She added that the legislation in isolation will not be enough to protect children online, and the Government had "work to do" to balance children's safety with public trust in the technology available.
The legislation has sparked a huge backlash since it came into force on July 25. It mandates that websites verify users’ age – often using facial recognition or photo ID – before granting access to adult content such as pornography, violence, or material on self-harm and eating disorders.
But while the sentiment may seem well-intentioned, major websites such as Reddit, Instagram and Wikipedia have been caught up in the storm, with the latter launching a court case against the UK Government as it argues the legislation will hurt collaborators.
Nearly 470,000 people have signed a petition calling for the act to be repealed.
Jarvie, who has been doing her research at the University of Strathclyde, said the UK is attempting to take ID-checking methods from the physical world and expecting them to work in the digital one, when trust in both the Government and cybersecurity is at an all-time low.
“The public don’t want to be giving up their ID because they’re concerned about security, privacy, surveillance, and there is a general lack of trust in the Government,” she told the Sunday National.
“So I think the Government has come at this from the perspective of ‘we all want to keep children safe and so people will give up their ID in order to meet that goal', and they’ve just not read the room at all on what adults actually want from their own internet experiences.
“I think people do want online safety for children, but do they have to give up their ID or their face or their privacy for that? No, I don’t think that they should.
“We need to be more innovative and thinking out of the box of how the internet works – the fact it’s dynamic, we’re served algorithmic content and have a much slicker and more effective way of telling whether someone is an adult or a child and guiding them through their internet journey that way.”
While she said facial age verification has its place, there should be more options for people to anonymously confirm their age.
"We should have more options people can choose if they want an anonymous method," she went on.
"I don’t think the technology options are available to meet everyone’s needs and wants right now."
The legislation has come into force in the wake of major brands such as M&S and Harrods being victims of cyberattacks, putting the public on edge about giving sensitive information away online.
Not only are there privacy concerns, but the public have also been angered at being blocked from accessing legal content and many have turned to downloading virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to appear to be browsing from countries with looser rules.
While Jarvie believes the UK Government’s goal of trying to ensure children do not stumble across harmful content will largely have been achieved, the legislation alone will not make the internet safer for children.
Asked if she felt age verification was being used in the right way, she said: “I think the Government has brought something in and put a stake in the ground to say ‘this is what we’re going to do with online age verification to make the internet a safer place’, but the legislation itself is not going to make the internet a safer place for children.
“There’s so much more needed.
“It’s one of the things I’m writing about in my thesis, is that on the internet we need layers of care around a minor. Age verification has come in as one control but you have so many other things you’d need to put in place to really make the internet a safer place, and that includes education for everybody.
“Have they [the UK Government] done the right thing? I think prioritising online safety from a legislative perspective, yes, but in practice, the technology that is there, the sentiment of the public, the collaboration between Government and public, I think is not right.”
Jarvie added she felt engagement between the public and Government on the legislation had been “seriously lacking”.
“I think the technology to support the regulation needs to evolve and we need to look at what people are saying, how they’re now using VPNs, and looking at what it is they want and need and how we meet those requirements,” she went on.
“I also think there’s a huge amount of trust and engagement needed between the public and the Government on this, you cannot just force it out on the basis everyone is going to do it because they care about online safety for kids because that’s clearly not enough.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “This self-proclaimed expert is wrong. The Online Safety Act protects children without sacrificing people’s privacy.
“Under the law, platforms are required to verify users’ ages using secure, privacy-preserving methods that avoid collecting or storing personal data.
“The Information Commissioner's Office has significant enforcement powers to hold platforms accountable, including the ability to impose severe fines on services that misuse personal information. All online services – regardless of where they are based – must adhere to UK data protection laws.”
