Yoti blog
Stories and insights from the world of digital identity
Articles
Apr 17, 2024
Catching up with Yoti Guardian: Gavin Starks
At Yoti, one of the ways we’re held accountable is by our external Guardian Council. Our Guardians are an independent board of advisors who ensure that our products, services and partnerships stay true to our core principles. As his time on the Council comes to an end, we caught up with Gavin Starks, Entrepreneur and CEO of Icebreaker One, about his experience as a Yoti Guardian. Why did you want to be a Yoti Guardian? Yoti is working at the forefront of digital identity and tackles many of the big challenges of privacy, protection, innovation and data rights head-on.
Articles
Apr 15, 2024
Thoughts from our CEO
In this blog series, our CEO Robin Tombs will be sharing his experience, whilst focusing on major themes, news and issues in the world of identity verification and age assurance. This month, Robin chats about why facial age estimation is not easy to spoof, the recently passed age verification law in Texas, and the importance of human fallback for identity verification. Texas age verification law The US state of Texas can continue with their new law requiring platforms with adult content to verify the age of all users. The government said this is part of their legitimate interest in
Articles
Apr 11, 2024
Yoti assessed in the NIST Face Analysis Technology Evaluation program
An increasing amount of legislation is being introduced globally demanding that organisations effectively check the age of their users. It’s important that these age checks are inclusive; people should have a choice in how they prove their age. Regulators are recognising that not everyone will feel comfortable or be able to use a method based on identity documents. Facial age estimation gives people a way to prove their age without sharing their name, date of birth and other personal information from identity documents. It can improve online safety and help companies to comply with legislation, without having to process or
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
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Get up to speed on what kind of company we are
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Mar 20, 2024
Say hello to our 2024 B Corp Impact Report
We’re delighted to reach our ninth year of being a B Corp. When Yoti was founded 10 years ago, we knew that we wanted to do business the right way. Because that’s the only way we can truly make the digital world safer for everyone. Our founders knew that in this industry, we were going to come up against some complex ethical questions. Working with identity, personal data and biometrics is a delicate matter. And that’s one of the reasons we became a B Corp – to hold us accountable to all our stakeholders including our people, clients, suppliers, the
Articles
Feb 22, 2024
Addressing social challenges: How eSignatures can help solve everyday problems
Our purpose is at the core of everything we do. Our principles are integrated throughout our business, whether that’s how we go about our day-to-day operations, interact with one another or design and build our solutions. This series looks beyond just how our products can benefit businesses. It also explores how they are helpful to the people using them. This article focuses on eSignatures. Tackling fraud People are becoming more aware and better informed of the different types of scams out there. So fraudsters have had to respond with new and increasingly complex techniques. In turn, people and businesses need
Articles
Jan 18, 2024
Addressing social challenges: How identity verification can help solve everyday problems
At Yoti, we consider our social purpose alongside everything we do. Through every step of the design process, we think about the everyday challenges that our solutions can solve. This series looks at how our products can benefit individual users and wider society. This article focuses on how identity verification could help with some common issues. Why do we need to verify our identity online? As technology evolves, more services are moving online. Companies need to ensure that the right people can access the right services for them. This has resulted in a growing need for people to prove