How the Kids Online Safety Act puts us all at risk
by Casey Newton from The Verge - All Posts on (#6DJ2K)
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge This is Platformer, a newsletter on the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy from Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer. Sign up here.
Today let's talk about a right we currently take for granted that may soon disappear: the ability to browse and post to most websites anonymously.
In May, Utah became the second state to enact a law requiring adult websites to verify the identities of their users. The law requires websites that host porn to use one of several methods to ensure visitors are 18 years or older, including state-issued digital IDs and third-party age verification services. Those services use a range of verification tools, including age estimation based on the user's face and uploading a government ID.
The law originated from...