WASHINGTON—The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) earlier this week announced its support for the OpenAge Initiative and its flagship technology, AgeKey, as a privacy-preserving and low-friction approach to meeting age-assurance requirements without compromising user anonymity or security.
FSC is the non-profit organization advocating on behalf of the adult entertainment industry, a segment that represents hundreds of billions of online visits annually.
"We believe that device-based solutions are more effective than fragmented platform or site-specific approaches," said Alison Boden, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition. "OpenAge and AgeKey offer a practical bridge between these models, allowing users to store a verified age result locally on the device and reuse it across multiple platforms without repeated verification or resubmission of sensitive data."
She added, "This approach holds the promise of reduced friction and privacy risks that have undermined compliance with age-verification mandates, and provides a path that is affordable for large platforms, independent creators, and small businesses alike."
AgeKey is a reusable, FIDO2 passkey-based age credential that allows users to save an obtained age signal and subsequently prove that they meet a required age threshold without ever revealing their identity.
Natively supported by all major devices, operating systems and browsers, AgeKey requires no registration, app download or account creation. It enables verifications to be done up to 95 percent faster than traditional age checks. AgeKeys preserve user privacy through a double-blind architecture, meaning neither the service provider nor the AgeKey issuer can identify the user or the sites or services they access.
The OpenAge Initiative is dedicated to creating an interoperable, cross-industry and cross-platform framework for age assurance. Any platform or certified verification provider can adopt AgeKey and join the OpenAge Initiative. Relying parties retain control over the methods, providers and recency requirements they accept, while AgeKeys always remain optional and free for users.
Julian Corbett, head of OpenAge said, "OpenAge believes deeply in interoperability and reusability when it comes to age assurance and users' own data. Our mandate is to think first and foremost about what users' needs and rights should be. This includes the right of children to receive age-appropriate experiences and protections from harmful content, and the right of adults to privacy and frictionless access online."
Visit openageinitiative.org to learn more.
