Regulation
Articles
Apr 09, 2024
US age verification laws for online platforms
From buying goods online to accessing crucial services, there are countless advantages to an increasingly digital world. But with this development comes the serious challenge of ensuring that users can safely navigate online environments. As young people are able to access the internet more easily than ever, it’s important to make sure that their online journeys are age-appropriate. According to a national survey, the average age at which children in the US first see pornography is 12, with 15% first seeing online pornography at age 10 or younger. In response to the evolving digital landscape, regulation is making strides to
Articles
Apr 04, 2024
Understanding the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)
From the UK’s Online Safety Act to Europe’s Digital Services Act, we’re in an era of increasing online safety regulation. In the US, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is a significant piece of legislation, currently making its way through Congress. This blog looks at some of the requirements of KOSA and what this would mean for companies. What is the purpose of KOSA? First introduced in February 2022 by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), KOSA aims to protect children from harm online. It would require platforms to limit addictive features, allow young people to opt out
Articles
Mar 28, 2024
Our Fifth Regulatory Roundtable: exploring age assurance methods
As regulators and companies consider new laws to protect children and give them age-appropriate experiences online, they are faced with the challenge of how to determine someone’s age. We explored this topic at our latest regulatory roundtable; a lively and healthy discussion, chaired by our Guardian Gavin Starks. We discussed different age assurance methods, and the progress and widespread adoption of facial age estimation. We shared key updates on our technology, how facial age estimation can be configured to work with safety buffers, and demonstrated some live use cases. The roundtable also looked at why there needs to be international
Articles
Mar 22, 2024
ENISA report on Remote ID Proofing Good Practices
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, ENISA, is the Union’s agency dedicated to achieving a common level of cybersecurity across Europe. The Agency works together with stakeholders, through knowledge sharing, to strengthen trust in the digital economy and infrastructure. We were very happy to contribute, alongside colleagues from other stakeholders, to ENISA’s report on Remote ID Proofing – Good practices. The report is in response to recent developments in attacks, particularly deepfakes, causing concern about identity proofing, with the goal of increasing awareness and assisting in risk analysis practices. The report identified two areas of attacks: Biometric and injection attacks
Articles
Mar 20, 2024
Understanding the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI) is the UK’s first piece of legislation to introduce provisions for a national digital identity framework. This will be called the Digital Verification Service (DVS). It has the ambition to revolutionise how individuals prove themselves and make admin processes easier, quicker and smoother. This blog provides an overview of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. This is a two-part Bill, but we will focus more on the digital identity verification provisions, exploring what this means for digital identities in the UK. What is the DPDI Bill? This long-awaited Bill formally
Articles
Mar 13, 2024
DSIT report on public views of digital identities
Last year, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) commissioned a public dialogue to seek views from the public on digital identities. They wanted to explore the benefits and concerns associated with digital identity services. We take a look at some of the key findings and themes from the public dialogue, and what this means for the future of digital identities in the UK. UK digital identity and attributes trust framework Digital identities give us a way to prove who we are, without needing to use physical documents. They can offer us greater privacy, security and convenience over