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How could digitial age verification be possibly implemented with privacy in mind? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Many might've seen the Australian ban of social media for <16 y.o with no idea of how to implement it. There have been mentions of "double blind age verification", but I can't find any information on it.

Out of curiosity, how would you implement this with privacy in mind if you really had to?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

in blockchain tech, there's the concept of "zero knowledge proofs", where you can prove having certain information without revealing the info itself

[–] sinceasdf 5 points 1 week ago

Would be interesting to see a govt tackle setting up a trustless system like it required for cybersecurity best practices. I think it's a thorny issue without a trusted authority though.

What stops an ID for being posted publicly or shared en masse? So one ID can be used unlimited times - just share the key with minors for $1 at no risk to oneself since there's no knowledge of the 'transaction' being sent around. Better for individual privacy but that undermines the political impetus for wanting the verification. Usage would probably have to be monitored or capped, kind of defeating the advantage of the anonymous protocol (or accept that abuse is unenforceable).

[–] IphtashuFitz 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So how would you use it to solve this problem? There still needs to be some sort of foolproof way of saying “person X is only 14 years old”.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

You would prove something like "I possess a private key that matches a public key that is in this list of public keys belonging to people at least X years old". But without revealing which item in the list is the specific one for you. Which is the zero knowledge proofs' cool trick.