LOS ANGELES—An age verification software provider is reportedly putting at risk sensitive personally identifying information (PII) and data of the users of pornography websites logging on to a variety of platforms in the French and shared European Union digital spaces, AVN has learned.
Nonprofit group AI Forensics released a technical report on Tuesday, highlighting that age verification software provider AgeGo is collecting data that is prohibited by the French government and runs counter to how it markets its solutions to potential clients.
Based in Spain, AgeGo markets age verification solutions that comply with regulations laid out by the French government's digital regulator, Arcom. Arcom requires all age verification providers to ensure so-called "double anonymity," ensuring that no data is retained after a user is verified to view NSFW content. In fact, AI Forensics found that AgeGo's "selfie" scan solution for verification on tube platforms like XVideos.com, XNXX.com and TNAFlix.com leaves key data exposed.
"We observed that, despite claiming to offer 'double anonymity' options (intended to hide user traffic), AgeGo collects the URL of the video the user attempts to watch," AI Forensics notes. "In addition, when users select the 'Selfie' verification method, their webcam stream is transmitted directly to Amazon Web Services.
"Finally, through an unskippable page, AgeGo forces users to disclose an email address after completing the age verification process," adds the nonprofit. The findings of the technical report reveal that AgeGo, despite its presentation as a compliant vendor, is putting people's private data, including porn viewing habits, at risk.
This technical report also comes into the debate as the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), a trade group representing similar companies, responds to yet another series of reports and research studies that find their "privacy-preserving" tools for age verification and age assurance potentially suspect and ineffective.
AVPA responded to research conducted by the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) that found perceptions shared among teenagers and adults about the safety and effectiveness of age verification software are skeptical.
The CDT report notes, "When presented with a scenario in which AV is done through a third-party app or service, parents and teens expressed hesitation due to potential threats a new actor presented to their data, as it potentially exposed them to more data security risks.
"Further, the added task of using and familiarising themselves with a new service felt burdensome in comparison to the benefits that verification may provide, even when integrated in a well-known app," the report adds.
AVPA found this an unsatisfactory finding, despite the shortcomings and unintended consequences of age verification laws becoming more apparent.
"Many laws now bar retention of identifying information after an age check is complete," reads an AVPA response to the CDT report.
"These rules sit alongside vendor designs that default to sharing only a pass or fail with the platform, and in some jurisdictions, doing so with zero-knowledge proof to make it technically impossible to track or trace a user," the AVPA said.
Zero-knowledge proofs can fail if not deployed properly in a verification system. These errors could include invalid proofs or approvals, as is the case with facial scans. Artificial intelligence-assisted facial scans remain inaccurate, despite the growing accuracy of the technology.
For example, the Australian government sponsored a national age assurance test to justify its ban on social media for users under the age of 16 years. The study found age verification to be effective, but the limitations and failures of false proof positives in facial scans are noted by the researchers and external observers.
Lisa M. Given, a professor of information sciences at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), found that the national age verification test results on skin pigmentation were still problematic, to say the least.
"The technologies can also be more error-prone for young women, compared to young men, and for those with darker skin tones," Given argued in a column she wrote for The Conversation. Dr. Given also notes that users may find themselves relying on a "false sense of security" utilizing age verification as a sweeping tool.
