Porn sites: what is double anonymity to control the age of Internet users?

This is not yet the general rollout of the age control system, but it will be an important step. From March 2023, an experiment will take place in France on a solution to verify the age of Internet users, when they try to connect to a pornographic site. It is only at the start of the 2023 school year that the mechanism must be generalized.

In mid-February, Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate in charge of Digital, noted before the deputies that this system, which operates according to a logic of “ double anonymity “, will be tested by companies, without specifying their number or their identity. This experimentation phase must make it possible, in particular, to test the solidity of the device, its reliability and its safety.

The principle of double anonymity

With a view to controlling the age of the Internet user reliably, the strategy is to go through a trusted intermediary, who acts as an interface between the site X and the service provider who is able to certify the age of the user reliably. Via this trusted third party, the service provider is asked to produce a certificate of majority, which will then be sent to the porn site.

With double anonymity, the idea is that the service provider does not know what this certificate is used for, while preventing site X from knowing who issued the said document (this could be a mobile operator, an electricity supplier or an official body), as well as the real identity of the person who has just requested it.

So much for the theory. But today, the contours of the system are still rather vague. Just like the TousAntiCovid mobile application in its time, which had been widely commented on issues of anonymity and private vacuum, the mechanism will most certainly be criticized and questioned on many aspects, in particular on its technical choices and its general architecture.

However, the Minister showed great confidence, believing that the system ” will have proven itself “in a few months and that he” will be strong enough to be unassailable “. Statements to qualify: if this double anonymity approach is the one that wins the most votes, compared to others, none is considered perfect, in the opinion of the Cnil.

The National Commission for Computing and Liberties nevertheless declared itself satisfied to see that it is this option of double anonymity which is retained and that, moreover, an experiment on this mechanism is planned. This solution is ” compliant » to its recommendations and the preliminary test will make it possible to identify points for improvement.

Critics have noted that, since the certificate of majority concerns porn, the service provider capable of validating the age will necessarily know why this document is requested. In this regard, the Minister said that this mechanism will then be extended to other services for adults: gambling, sale of alcohol, etc., which will have the effect of “muddying the waters”.

The Cnil works with the government and the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (Arcom) “ to ensure GDPR compliance of future solutions “. ” The GDPR is not incompatible with an age control for access to pornographic sites “, she underlined in passing, to deny assertions to the contrary.

On the technical level, the solution mobilizes the State’s Digital Regulation Expertise Center, but also Olivier Blazy, professor at the École Polytechnique. Afterwards ? ” If the experimentation carried out from March on the age control solution is conclusive “, the Cnil recommends its generalization. If all the lights are green, the next stage will take place in September.

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