Publication details
Licence to Verify: Governance and the Risk of Function Creep in Age Verification Ecosystems
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Paper in proceedings |
| Conference | 49th MIPRO ICT and Electronics Convention, MIPRO 2026 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11591562 |
| Keywords | Age verification; governance; digital identity; protection of minors; Digital Services Act; EUDIW |
| Description | The year 2025 marked a major progress in the systemic approach to child-protection on the online platforms in the EU and beyond. The cornerstones are the Commission guidelines for Article 28 DSA (C/2025/6826) and the blueprint for an age verification solution. This "mini-wallet" pilot foreshadows the future use-case for the EU Digital Identity Wallet, which may be transformative for the interaction of minors with the digital ecosystem. The ambition in protecting the minors from harmful content while preserving their privacy is bound to reliable solutions employing selective disclosure and double blind issuance of a cryptographic proof that a user meets an age threshold, without revealing unnecessary data about their identity. Yet on the flip side of the coin, it is unclear, if the personal data processing limits are applicable to the use of such proof by the verifiers once received, such as for targeted advertising, recommender system tuning, group profiling, or cross service user tracking. Our contribution explores if there is a governance gap in the regulatory framework and what would be suitable step to ensure that age proofs are used solely for child protection purposes. |
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