Definitions

Age Verification

A UK government official describes Age Verification as “the gold standard of Age Assurance.”

The British Standards Institution (BSI) defined it in 2018 as:

2.1.8 age verification
determination of an individual’s age involving a full identity verification process

(Source: ISO 27566, see below)

This definition, however, has been overtaken by technology, with methods of age verification now available that do not require full identity verification processes to be repeated.

Typically, Age Verification is confirming age or age-range to a sufficient standard to comply with laws and regulations that specify a particular minimum age which must be checked exactly e.g. 21, 18 or 13.

Age Estimation

Age Estimation methods will typically only indicate a likely age range with a lower level of statistical certainty than Age Verification.

Examples of lower level age estimation techniques given by the UK Government so far typically include the use of artificial intelligence.

But…

High levels of confidence in age-ranges are still possible using Age Estimation. For example, facial analysis can provide a very high level of confidence that a user is over 18, if the software tests for an age above that e.g. 23. Systems can be audited to demonstrate they would correctly confirm a user was over 18 99.99% of the time, if they only confirmed this when the software’s estimate indicated the user appeared to be over 23. (This is a far higher standard of accuracy than a human estimating the age of a customer in person, so satisfies regulators in most situations.)

What is NOT Age Assurance?

Age Assurance does not include very simple methods such as ticking / checking a box to confirm age (“Click to confirm you are over 18“) or entering a date of birth. These data points could, however, be used in conjunction with other methods that would provide additional evidence to confirm age to a required level of confidence.

Who defines these terms?

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) have defined age assurance as a “set of processes and methods used to verify, estimate or infer the age or age range of an individual, enabling organizations to make age-related eligibility decisions with varying degrees of
certainty”. 

In additon, the IEEE has published a standard for Best Practice in Age Verification, 2089.1

For  more information on our work developing standards, see here.