Publications
AVPA responds to UK Home Office consultation on digital age verification
The AVPA has submitted its response to the UK Home Office consultation on the use of digital methods of age assurance for the purposes of the sale of alcohol. The UK leads the world in digital age assurance technology. A change to the law to permit certified forms of...
AVPA advises NIST on testing facial age estimation
The Association submitted feedback to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the USA on their plans to offer testing for facial age estimation. We welcomed the decision to provide test protocols for Age Estimation Technologies, and made the...
US Federal Court dismisses constitutional challenge to Utah’s Law requiring AV for adult websites
Round One in the constitutional fight in the USA on age verification has been won in Utah by those who wish to prevent children being exposed to adult content online. The Judge dismissed the case because the state plays no part in the enforcement of S.B. 287. The...
AVPA speaks to Times Radio
We were pleased to speak to Times Radio about this article by Mark Sellman, their Technology Correspondent. Listen to the 7 minute discussion here. [video width="1920" height="1080"...
A response to Professor Jeff Kosseff Opinion on Daily Beast
An OpEd on Daily Beast by Professor Jeff Kosseff argues "Social Media Age Requirements Are Anti-Free Speech." First, we'd encourage him to look at how data-minimised, privacy-preserving Age Verification (AV) has been developed in Europe, with no need to retain...
US State Age Verification Compliance Calendar
With some 144 bills in across 43 US States introduced in 2023 which specifically attempt to protect children from various harms on the Internet, keeping track of what is required where is already a huge challenge for many online services. Even where Bills are copied...
Texas will require Age Verification for Pornography from September 2023
The Texas state legislature has now passed House Bill No. 1181 “relating to restricting access to sexual material harmful to minors”. The Bill requires that a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes such material on a website,...
Age Verification Providers already enable compliance with the US ‘‘Protecting Kids on Social Media Act’’
As a wave of new laws requiring social media companies to verify the age of children continue to pass, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii and his bi-partisan colleagues Senators Tom Cotton, Chris Murphy, and Katie Britt have introduced a Federal version, the...
Louisiana Age Verification requirements
In Louisiana, it is clear that the “LA Wallet” app is not the only method of proving age to comply with Act No. 440. Adult publishers should carefully consider this app and the range of alternative methods of age verification before relying on it to provide a robust...
A response to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Jason Kelley and Adam Schwarz of the Electronic Frontier Foundation recently published an article arguing that "Age Verification Mandates Would Undermine Anonymity Online." We must start by thanking them for this contribution to a debate that will only grow in...
Design Age Assurance for Accessibility and Inclusivity
Mark Roberts, our California-based Chief Technical Strategist, considers concerns about how to ensure age assurance is accessible and inclusive. One of the concerns raised frequently in the debate about age assurance is that it...