@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchangeEm

I’m not opposed to the principle of age verification itself – protecting children online is a sensible aim.
What concerns me, however, is the way it is being implemented and the role the authorities (who, frankly, no longer behave like a genuine government) are playing. By forcing companies to hand over the deepest, most personal data about users, the EU is creating a surveillance apparatus that is turned against the very foundations of democracy.

In effect, the scheme mirrors the intrusive data‑harvesting practices we see elsewhere, and it threatens the privacy rights that should be guaranteed to every citizen of the internet. The solution should be a privacy‑respecting, transparent system – not a blanket collection of personal identifiers that will be abused.