Server operators just add one header, done. App and device developers would have to dig up some old code that can look for a header and check parental controls. Most kids are on phones and tablets. Complete mobile in two years as phase one. Desktops four years out as phase two. That may seem like a long time but this discussion has been ongoing since 2001 at least.
All the big tech companies have lobbyists. Have your lobbyists push for this and this could become a non issue in very little time.
[1] - https://www.rtalabel.org/index.php?content=howtofaq#response...
[2] - https://www.shodan.io/search?query=RTA-5042-1996-1400-1577-R...
This places a majority of the cost of implementation on the people who actually want to use it, avoids a creepy Orwellian surveillance system, and enforcement is moved into a physical immediate reality that the average parents can see and monitor.
It also means you don't need to worry about visitors who are unmarried under the age of 16 years and three full moons who may not see unclad ankles in Elbonia.
Is it just the lack of an organized constituency? Resistance from device manufacturers/store operators? Too much control situated with individual families, so the absolutist political voices feel like it’s not pure enough? Or do they figure it’s too easy for a clever kid to bypass?
Until big porn companies, social media companies or any companies use lobbyists to implement RTA it just won't happen. I bring it up when this topic comes up quarterly year over year. I've beaten the dead horse so many times the dust has evaporated. It's rather silly now since the original RTA header was the ICRA PICS header much more complex to implement. Adding a single simple header and looking for a header is trivial which means the obstacles are entirely human made and artificial. Perhaps when governments start creating more expensive laws and penalties around user contributed content things may change.
I suspect the issue is that the user-side voluntary disabling of access means that--like with the V-Chip--almost no one will go about doing it, and that for many of the people trying to push for porn site restrictions, the side effect of forcing porn sites to close down is actually a desirable effect.
The internet on the other than has let website operators have more freedom to govern themselves with some exceptions. I think in this case implementing RTA headers while it would have some cost it is leveraging existing code, web and load balancing platforms and just bringing back header checks in applications which many apps already know how to do and then calling the parental checks that also already exist in many devices and in some cases the UI is just hidden.
But it was bashed as a "censoring system", and now we have nothing.
It's kind of like how in physical systems, if you kill all the predators in a few square km it leaves a void where any predator capable of evading your traps is able to prosper far more than you could have imagined, requiring intense efforts to actually secure whatever it is you were protecting.
If you create an environment that's attractive to predators (giant pools of interconnected, personal data and a system designed around access to that data being equivalent to being the person in question), so long as there are predators you can expect them to infiltrate that system unless you apply extremely costly countermeasures.
Rather than in-housing the identity verification (and allowing DOGE et all to slurp that up), I'd rather ban that sort of thing altogether and take out the private sector alternatives at the same time.
If we really think that's not possible, a centralized implementation is usually preferable (e.g., why do I need to provide more information and photos to id.me than I ever did to the IRS when all I'm trying to do is access my tax data, and why do the new terms of service strongly suggest that my personal information is being used for reasons far beyond identity verification). I don't think that's required for most of the identity-related concerns I've seen the last few years though.
The free market solves it by not doing it.
It'd be such a boon for any age verification legislature in the future.
And in countries where you need to be 17 to get a driving licence and where adulthood for many things is 16
Fine sites that allow minors to view porn and the free market will figure out age verification real quick.
Also, what is porn and who gets to define what porn is?
It ain't a magic wand that fixes all problems, buddy. Some problems just aren't possible to fix without making changes that sacrifice values core to the economy and of our culture.
What tech discipline are you in? Policy? Because I have serious doubts you have any technical experience.
A website is mediated by computers. Computers make copies of information that is sent to them because that is how computers work.
Tech companies also like to collect and sell personal information.
What do you think will happen with records of people's fetishes in the hands of companies that like to sell personal information?
> What do you think will happen with records of people's fetishes in the hands of companies that like to sell personal information?
Not my problem and tangential to age verification.
I have no reason to believe a physical strip club would sell info of which ladies I look at to anyone with a couple of bucks.
I can't say the same about websites.
> Not my problem and tangential to age verification.
You can't demand a solution while ignoring the cost and expect to be taken seriously.
This idea that online is somehow special doesn't fly with me. We can agree to disagree.
The free market isn't magic.
The free market hasn't solved cybersecurity.
The free market hasn't solved world hunger.
The free market sure as hell hasn't solved Healthcare or even promote good health.
You have magical thinking at best. This isn't an "agree to disagree" issue any more than it would be for me disagreeing with someone who believes the moon is made of cheese.