"Discord users had reason for suspicion after a data breach last fall in which a former age-check partner leaked the government IDs of 70,000 users. Though Discord claimed that, in the future, most users could verify their age without any data leaving their devices, trust had eroded."
"Discord's initial announcement also left questions unanswered, such as 'What companies will actually be handling the age check process?' Users had to dig to learn that the technology was built by Privately SA, which isn't listed as a partner on Discord's site but does work with a Discord partner named k-ID."
"But the bigger concern was that IDs would still be collected whenever facial age estimation-an approach that can be unreliable-failed. Most IDs would be deleted immediately, Discord claimed, but skeptical users had heard that line before. Many worried that collecting more IDs could make the company's partners a more attractive target for hackers."
Discord's announcement of a global age-verification system triggered significant user backlash, forcing the platform to reverse course. The controversy exposed vulnerabilities in age-assurance technology and its vendors. A previous data breach by an age-check partner had leaked government IDs of 70,000 users, eroding trust despite Discord's claims that future verification would occur on-device. Transparency issues emerged regarding which companies handled age checks, with Privately SA and k-ID involved but not clearly disclosed. While facial age estimation offers privacy benefits by avoiding ID collection in most cases, failures trigger ID collection, raising concerns about creating attractive targets for hackers. Users questioned whether promised immediate deletion of IDs would actually occur.
#age-verification-technology #privacy-and-data-security #user-trust-and-transparency #facial-recognition #data-breach-risks
Read at Ars Technica
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