discord’s new age verification is about to spy on every message

About this episode

The episode discusses Discord's controversial age verification measures and their implications for privacy and online safety.

Discord announced it would start scanning users' account data to guess their age and if it couldn't figure out how old you were, it would ask for your government ID or a face scan. Gamers lost it, and within weeks, Discord backed down. But the fight isn't over. Dexter talks with Rin Alajaji of the Electronic Frontier Foundation about why age verification doesn't actually protect kids, how California's new Digital Age Assurance Act means your next laptop might card you before you can turn it on, and why a policy that started with gamers is quietly becoming everyone's problem. Hit us up: killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc , or @killswitchpod and @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Links:  EFF’s Age Verification and Age Gating: Resource Hub: https://www.eff.org/issues/age-verification See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Dexter

Guest: Rin Alajaji

Topics covered

• age verification
• privacy
• technology policy
• online safety
• government regulation

Keywords

• Discord
• age verification
• privacy
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Digital Age Assurance Act
• government ID
• face scan
• online safety

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Discord, California

Books & works: Digital Age Assurance Act

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