On the issue of controlling access to online pornography, the CNIL wants to be “pragmatic”. Asked by him figaro, its president Marie-Laure Denis evokes short-term solutions to end the consultation of pornographic sites by minors. Among them, the implementation of a control by bank card, but also a control by facial analysis.
short term solution
“The Cnil is not opposed to the use of bank cards, with a zero-euro transaction, or age estimation solutions by analyzing facial features. They are not perfect systems, but they can be used now. Let’s not deprive ourselves of these short solutions! term!” explains the head of the gendarme of personal data.
Specifically, an Internet user who accesses a pornographic site would be invited to activate the selfie camera on their smartphone or the webcam on their computer, to film themselves for a few seconds, while artificial intelligence would be in charge of estimating their age. A device that already exists for certain platforms, such as Facebook.
intrusive aspect
In its opinion issued in July 2022, the Cnil was quite reserved regarding this type of practice.
“The use of such systems, due to their intrusive aspect […] as well as due to the margin of error inherent in any statistical evaluation, it must imperatively be conditioned on compliance with operating, reliability and performance standards. These requirements must be independently verified,” the Commission noted.
Among the main risks mentioned, the collection of video recordings linked to the smartphone or computer camera, which could lead to blackmail on the webcam. Risks that would be reduced if this system were managed by a third party, added the Cnil, which ruled against its deployment if it were operated directly by pornographic sites.
No facial recognition
As Marie-Laure Denis reminds us, a facial analysis system in no way implies facial recognition: the software is responsible for determining an approximate age of the Internet user, but not for identifying him.
Always near the figaroThe president of the Cnil specifies that these solutions, if implemented, should be replaced later by a more permanent system, which will have to be tested in the coming weeks at the initiative of the Government: age verification through the transmission of an anonymous document. published by your bank, your mobile phone operator or any other provider that can credit your majority.
For both the facial analysis solution and the verification by means of a digital certificate, the authorities will however face a big problem: convincing a sufficient number of platforms to comply, among the thousands of sites accessible online, in a few clicks. .
Source: BFM TV
