The internet – and the digital environment – has become a fundamental part in everyone’s lives, including a significant role in how children play, study and socialise. Indeed, compared to how the educational system functioned just a decade ago, nowadays, the way children learn has been completely transformed – and the internet has opened new channels for education, as well as for creativity and social interaction. 

Yet the internet is the proverbial double-edged sword – because while it does offer tremendous benefits to children, it also poses risks such as cyberbullying, predators, identity theft, risks to privacy and harmful content such as violence and pornography. 

This is why parents and guardians are at the forefront of protecting children from risks – by establishing an open conversation with their children about their online activity; monitoring their children’s screen time; establishing parental controls; knowing who their children’s online friends are; and keeping control of their family’s children in order to prevent their children from sharing sensitive content online. 

Governments and legislators also play an important role in protecting children online, by introducing laws and regulations that allow children access to the benefits of the internet, while protecting them against online threats. 

One of the more recent legal developments is the introduction, in a number of jurisdictions, of online ID verification. Various legislations are introducing this mechanism – with the latest one being Louisiana, US, where residents must provide their government-issued IDs in order to access websites that have more than one-third pornographic material. 

Inspired by this development, another 11 US states have proposed similar bills, and in states such as Arkansas, Utah and Virginia, such bills have already passed the First Chamber. 

While the intention is clearly correct, there are privacy concerns regarding online ID verification. 

Some of the concerns focus on how pornographic content percentage is determined. According to the Louisiana legal requirement, websites with at least a third of their content being pornographic, require online ID verification. Commentators are asking how this porn percentage is determined, and why, for instance, websites with 33.2 per cent or less of porn content are fine. 

Another concern is how age verification systems work. The main concern is that these systems could be collecting a lot of data about users – such as name, date of birth, address as well as every authentication. So a system could know when users have watched porn or accessed adult-only content. Of course, lobbyists who are in favour of such online ID verification would argue that such systems do not trace online activity outside their scope – yet technically, it would be possible for a user’s browsing history to be accurately outlined.

Then there is the issue of data breaches, which are not an uncommon occurrence. Age verification systems need to be safe enough to protect user data – yet breaches and leaks do happen, with significant aftereffects on individuals as well as businesses. 

As such arguments show, age verification is not a straightforward matter – rather, it is a complex matter which poses two sides: on one, there is protection of minors against potentially harmful content; and on the other side, there are issues such as invasion of privacy, intrusion and online freedom. A middle ground should be determined – as ultimately, the scope to protect children against harmful online content is a primary concern.