Starting in March, the government will test a “double anonymity” age verification solution to block minors’ access to pornographic sites, Jean-Noël Barrot, delegate minister in charge of Digital, announced Tuesday before deputies.
During a hearing before the delegation for the rights of the child, the minister reaffirmed the government’s willingness to require pornographic sites to effectively verify the age of Internet users, in order to block access to minors. A file about to lead to the result of a legal battle with the sites.
“We are working to come up with an age verification solution that respects a principle of double anonymity,” he explained on Tuesday. “Whoever delivers the certificate of majority does not know what it will be for.
It can be a telecommunications operator, a digital identity provider or any other organization that can attest to the majority of a person. And the site where the certificate is used does not know the identity of the person. This is the principle of double anonymity.
“The most robust system”
“What we are preparing is a system that will be robust enough to be impregnable,” he said.
This announcement occurs when the CNIL and Arcom must publish their opinion on the technical solution they recommend. Age verification systems must not only respect privacy, but also resist circumvention tools like VPNs.
Currently, pornographic sites ask the Internet user for a simple statement of confidence about his age.
Source: BFM TV
