Paper: Standards-based approaches to help keep kids away from adult content online
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Nick Doty & Aliya Bhatia

In an effort to block kids from online content intended for adults, some have argued that age- verification or age-assurance tools offer the possibility of simple, effective guardrails. In our brief to the Supreme Court last year, CDT laid out serious concerns these tools raise regarding privacy and free expression – in addition to questions about their efficacy. But that doesn’t mean technical work can’t address some valid concerns about minors’ access to adult content online. In particular, two categories of work related to internet standards (labeling and signaling) are worth pursuing right now, and a third may be worth evaluating in the future (anonymous attestations). We propose principles to evaluate those and any other technical mechanisms, including their efficacy, accessibility and impacts on user privacy, safety and free expression.