Age verification protecting children online is OK, but too little for most in UK

An app, called Report Remove, has been launched in the UK that enables children to report nude photographs of themselves found online. Submitted images will be viewed for their legality, and if found to be abusive, the images will be removed.

The app was created by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Internet Watch Foundation and police.

Beyond limited the damage of pornographic images on children, the group wanted to make reporting more efficient while preserving confidentiality and anonymity, according to ComputerWeekly.com.

For one thing, making it an online process saves victims from uncomfortable and highly visible police visits. And content can be sent rather than URLs, which should make the process faster.

If deemed illegal, images will be transformed into an identifying hash, which should make it impossible for them to be published further. It does not address postings before the report.

Before the images are submitted, the age of the user is confirmed through face biometrics with Yoti’s identity verification app. Yoti detailed its approach to tracking and analytics in a recent blog post, stating that it cannot see user’s data, and describing how it uses Adjust mobile attribution to gain insights about its users without eroding their privacy.

Children will still face some hurdles. They must have specific UK identification that verifies their age. Some minors without ID and who do not want to bring the matter to their guardian’s attention will be able to get a CitizenCard within the Yoti app at a discounted price.

A Savanta poll cited in an article in The Scotsman indicates the public has little patience for what is perceived to be slow government action on protecting children from being the victim of pornographers.

Eighty-one percent of respondents said the government should be creating age-verification programs to protect all children from illegal images whether they are in the images or not. Just 13 percent disagreed.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  children  |  data protection  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  law enforcement  |  privacy  |  Yoti