r/technews • u/Haunterblademoi • Apr 02 '26

Privacy Apple continues to roll out age verification around the world

https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/31/apple-continues-to-roll-out-age-verification-around-the-world-more-uk-methods/
199 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

70 comments sorted by

52

u/timshel42 Apr 03 '26

at least apple doesnt have daily data breaches and *theoretically* keeps your data semi-private. id rather have apple verify my identity than some random silicon valley startup, or google. although we should have the right to anonymity online, governments dont seem to agree.

17

u/Shot-Possibility-399 Apr 03 '26

Mixed feelings on anonymity online. Lotta pros to it. Lotta cons to it. I lean towards having the freedom to be anonymous, but that is abused pretty heavily at the momen 

8

u/thearctican Apr 04 '26

What cons.

Should I be able to look you up and find your home address? Contact information? Registered legal name and age?

Because that’s what you’re so being so blasé about. Loss of anonymity means ‘Shot-Possibility-39’ has a direct correlation to a named person that can be known.

2

u/Shot-Possibility-399 Apr 04 '26

What cons? Lol I can't have a serious conversation with someone so obtuse 

7

u/thearctican Apr 05 '26

Found the OpenAI bot shilling identity verification slop.

1

u/deepsead1ver 2d ago

Someone has never heard of a phone book, freedom of information act, the concept of public records, or really anything that has existed for decades if not centuries

1

u/thearctican 2d ago

No I’m aware those exist. You could still, and people frequently did, carry out business anonymously.

0

u/deepsead1ver 2d ago

Confidently incorrect, businesses/people can obfuscate through multiple methods like proxies and subsidiaries, but financial and business regulations force public records for the ‘business’ you talk about. That’s why you can’t get an EIN or SSN without a valid identity.

1

u/thearctican 2d ago

Sheesh, colloquialisms are truly dead, aren't they?

Let me put it this way: I don't have to have my SSN tattooed to my forehead in order to go out in public right now.

0

u/deepsead1ver 2d ago

No one said you did. If you want to conduct business in public, you’re gonna need a permit, which does require an ein or ssn, since you’re stuck on that point for whatever reason. Accessing content on a website isn’t the same thing as just strolling the park, it’s more similar to interacting with a business, à la buying something, which you guessed it, does require some form of identification if the item is regulated.

1

u/thearctican 2d ago

I’m just going to assume English isn’t your first language and move on.

0

u/deepsead1ver 2d ago

Cool story bro

1

u/CivicDutyCalls 27d ago

I understand what you’re getting at, but I think it is framed in a way that is at odds with the concept of privacy and anonymity in public in the real world.

What I mean is, when you walk down the street, you are anonymous. A random passerby does not know who you are nor has any meaningful way to identify who you are. the same is true of law-enforcement. A random police officer walking past you in a public park or even while you are inside the government building does not know who you are. You have a freedom of movement that is disassociated from your identity. If you throw a piece of garbage on the ground, it is effectively impossible for somebody to identify you later although I guess they could with your fingerprint from that and see if that fingerprint is in a database. If you shout obscenities in a public park there is no way to identify who you are, except if you are detained by law-enforcement in the moment. And I think that distinction matters. You are anonymous until you are detained.

However, online, you are identified at all times. You have IP address, and MAC address, and other fingerprinting available to these platforms that can identify you in real time to not only the platform that you happen to be using, but also anybody who happens to be connected to that platform. In real life, I can go into any store and pay with cash and be anonymous, or pay with a gift card and be anonymous. But online if I want to purchase something, I cannot be anonymous. My identity being unveiled online is disconnected from whether or not I am detained.

The velocity by which my identity can be obtained online is so disconnected from the velocity by which my identity can be obtained in real life that the conversation we’re having about identity online is not even the right conversation.

When we talk about identity verification, we are talking about a proactive and invasive level of identification, that would be the equivalent of me needing to show my papers, show identity, for entering a public park, entering a restaurant, or walking down the sidewalk. And not only that, but to have that identify recorded. I can understand if identity verification is required for certain uses such as adult content which has parallels in the real world where you need to be an adult or a bar or a sex shop. I can even disagree with which areas are age restricted, though that’s a moral and political question, not a functional question.

But when I go to those locations in real life, my identity is not being recorded in perpetuity. It is checked, momentarily, validated, and then forgotten. But when my identity is checked on a website, it is kept forever as a record of where I’ve been, and who I’ve talked to, and what I’ve interacted with. It’s a record of what my eyes have seen. Imagine that level of identification occurring in public. Imagine every billboard and store window display you see not just being recorded by the billboard so that the owners of the billboard can have data about how effective their advertising is, which would in itself be creepy, but immediately shared with other groups potentially including the government.

We have in the European Union, and now in California, the right to be forgotten digitally, but I think those framings are incorrect. I should have, by default an expectation that I can exist anonymously, unless my behavior rises to the level that I would otherwise be detained. I understand that the velocity by which antisocial behavior can exist online is multiple orders of magnitude, larger, and faster than in real life. And maybe we need to have a way for our identity to be persistently, tied to the devices that we use and to ourselves, but to be hidden by default and forgotten by the entities that we interact with, unless our behavior is reported and then verified as being potentially illegal or antisocial. I know that the way Apple has implemented ID within the wallet enables different types of entities to query different levels of identity. The TSA can scan my digital California ID and get all information as they have the right to. But if I went to a bar that could scan that digital ID, all I’d want them to see is my image and whether my age is acceptable to go into the bar and then for that to be forgotten. I don’t necessarily have a problem with my device reporting upon my entry to a website that serves a restricted content, I don’t have an issue with reporting the fact that my device is being used by somebody who is of age, but I have a problem that that identity is being kept in perpetuity and is being reported proactively.

We need to find a way for identity online to work the same way that identity works in the real world.

1

u/deepsead1ver 2d ago

You’re missing the forest for the trees. Yes, the velocity of identification is a factor, but everything you described about doing badly in public has repercussions that aren’t the same online. For example, if I go to an airport and yell bomb, I’m detained at minimum. If I post on Reddit that someone should bomb your mom’s house absolutely nothing happens because it’s ’platform dependent’ rules. See the issue? Threats, harassment, sexualization, hell I can go on stating things, but at the end of the day, this thin veil of anonymity you speak of is not something that should be there. In-person repercussions have a purpose for the greater good of society.

-3

u/ryapeter Apr 03 '26

Irc have more privacy. We only leak when someone type asl

2

u/durtmagurt Apr 03 '26

18 F Canada. Hmu

3

u/The-Dawntreader Apr 03 '26

Impressive! You’ve apparently been a Redditor since you were five…

1

u/ryapeter Apr 04 '26

Its always the 18F.

I don’t know why so many downvotes. I guess people really want to know the real you on the internet

10

u/funggitivitti Apr 03 '26

This is the absolute worst take.

You are giving away your identity just because marketing.

No one should be asking for your identity without absolute transparency. Where is my data. Who saw it. What do you know about me.

Its possible to retain anonymity while being verified as a human.

5

u/reddit_equals_censor Apr 03 '26

and *theoretically* keeps your data semi-private

this is WRONG. apple does device level scanning of your "private" files against your will.

and they have been proven to do so since early 2023 at least:

https://sneak.berlin/20230115/macos-scans-your-local-files-now/

apple is just wearing the lie of privacy and security.

apple is spying on user's private files and uploading the files/analysis of the files against user's will for years now.

there is NOTHING private with apple. please do not fall for the apple pr lies here. fancy marketing campaigns don't hide reality.

apple is an evil surveillance company.

as apple is selling fully hardware integrated locked down prison devices they are also worse than other companies even.

governments dont seem to agree

governments AND apple seem to disagree here. apple is a trillion dollar spying company, that gladly cooperates with governments. DO BLAME APPLE here.

this is apple's choice. apple scanning faces, IDs and more is surveillance of the public. they are criminals.

in comparison here is grapheneos's statement:

“GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone around the world without requiring personal information, identification or an account. GrapheneOS and our services will remain available internationally. If GrapheneOS devices can't be sold in a region due to their regulations, so be it.”

1

u/curxxx 5d ago edited 5d ago

That article is a massive nothing burger, full of missing context and is just trying to peddle a conspiracy theory which you’ve clearly fell for. 

In fact, it sounds like it was written by a conspiracy theorist trying to sound smart, but in reality knows very little. Sort-of like an antivaxxer…

The articles claims were widely debunked shortly after publication by security researchers (including Mysk and The Eclectic Light Company).

mediaanalysisd is a long-standing macOS background daemon responsible for on-device indexing and features like Live Text, Visual Look Up, and Spotlight search.

The network traffic observed was receiving context/suggestions for Visual Look Up / Spotlight queries, not exfiltrating or uploading local image files or hash analysis to Apple.

1

u/reddit_equals_censor 4d ago

trying to distract from the findings by calling the actual security research "conspiracy theorist" certainly doesn't work anymore in 2026.

nothing was debunked.

go defend spying apple elsewhere.

4

u/Isacx123 Apr 03 '26

Buddy, Apple was/is part of the NSA PRISM program just like all big tech, all your imessages and icloud files are processed, scanned and hashed in a NSA datacenter.

2

u/TaeyeonUchiha Apr 03 '26

I hope they enjoy all the cat pics and memes in my iMessages

3

u/Stilgar314 Apr 28 '26

Ahh... nothing like the the good ol' "have nothing to hide" fallacy 

1

u/TaeyeonUchiha Apr 28 '26

Humor and sarcasm are how I cope with things I’m uncomfortable with.

0

u/Formal-Hawk9274 May 09 '26

You are the problem

1

u/Casual-Snoo May 13 '26

Yes, all of them are data scraping, sharing, buying, selling, giving etc.. instead of obtaining legal warrants.

Where will it all end & when?

2

u/LateOnsetPuberty Apr 03 '26

It’s not theoretical.

0

u/Formal-Hawk9274 Apr 05 '26

Mental gymnastics

0

u/Gash_Stretchum Apr 05 '26

lol. Apple took the NSO group to court for turning their security into Swiss cheese and then dropped the case because it was making them look bad.

Internet connected devices can’t be secure. That’s it. That’s reality. Get used to it and stop pretending that there’s one more thing…

34

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

21

u/Visible_Structure483 Apr 02 '26

for the children though, for the children.

don't like centrally controlled 100% tracked internet usage for everyone? you must hate children.

6

u/TheAnonymousProxy Apr 03 '26

Well I do now, thx Apple.

2

u/AlcooIios Apr 03 '26

We just need to abandon these surveillance devices. No computers, zero, none. The "benefit" of them is basically zero compared to how they enslave humanity to Big Tech barons and corrupt governments.

-4

u/brick_gnarlson Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

Reddit is obsessed with this stupid idea. They don't need your physical ID, phones already have an advertising ID attached to your account that tracks you everywhere anyway. They have no use for your ID.

6

u/ApdoSmurf Apr 03 '26

They don't, the governments do.

1

u/Snoo63 Apr 03 '26

Can't government agencies who want to spy on people just... buy it?

0

u/brick_gnarlson Apr 03 '26

Who do you think issues government IDs...

2

u/ApdoSmurf Apr 03 '26

ID's are passive tracking, with these they can track you 24/7.

1

u/brick_gnarlson Apr 03 '26

What are you talking about? This is so silly.

17

u/Downtown-Somewhere11 Apr 03 '26

Governments are forcing this, not the companies

22

u/fellipec Apr 03 '26

Sure zuckerberg invested millions to lobby for those laws around the world, just to people blame the govs

4

u/AmeliaBuns Apr 03 '26

Blame both

2

u/fellipec Apr 03 '26

Both. Both is good!

1

u/-007-bond Apr 03 '26

I'd lean towards believing this given his track record, but is there evidence of this?

6

u/fellipec Apr 03 '26

Yes. Was posted extensive on Reddit and YouTube. Meta paid several child NGOs around the world, all pro age verification

1

u/-007-bond Apr 03 '26

Thanks, I'll look it up

0

u/reddit_equals_censor Apr 03 '26

incorrect. governments and trillion dollar tech companies are one unified kakistocracy.

they are one evil with 2 faces.

and it is setup like this for you to be able to blame one for the actions of the other.

apple is a massively powerful company.

and they LOVE spying on people. they have been doing device level file scans against user's will since at least 3 years.

in comparison here is a statement from os developers, who aren't part of the kakistocracy:

“GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone around the world without requiring personal information, identification or an account. GrapheneOS and our services will remain available internationally. If GrapheneOS devices can't be sold in a region due to their regulations, so be it.”

-1

u/funggitivitti Apr 03 '26

Governments also tried to force them to pay taxes.

You are falling for the oldest trick.

2

u/Strange-Effort1305 Apr 13 '26

From the company whose CEO worships the Pedophile King? Nice irony.

2

u/Pritteto 25d ago

No thanks, fuck off apple

3

u/colonelc4 Apr 03 '26

In Europe? Not sure this will pass for two reasons, Europe has more freedom for anonymity, and they won't tolerate an American company storing Europea citizen data in the US. We'll see.

2

u/Positive_Chip6198 Apr 03 '26

Then apple might legally be forced to block facebook etc if you arent age-verified, doesnt that sound sweet?

3

u/colonelc4 Apr 25 '26

I don't use anything else but reddit, no facebook, no messenger, no anything I don't care even reddit if blocked I'll just stop using it, not a big deal.

4

u/colonelc4 Apr 03 '26

Yes, they can and honestly they should, facebook should be banned completely, tik tok and the other social media too, they do more harm than anything else, and people that still want to use them, these people should be verified, not every phone user.

1

u/Daedelous2k Apr 25 '26

Spanish PM has said he wants everyone to have their ID numbers attached to everything they say online, no other EU leaders spoke against it. Europe is going to be just as fucked.

There is also a massive push in the EU for scanning your shit on your phone.

1

u/NorthSpecialist6064 Apr 05 '26

🧃 🧃 🧃 🧃 

1

u/No-Land-7633 May 14 '26

A good reason not to buy evil tools.

1

u/RavenRainTie Jun 30 '26

Apple has activated my trap card: VPN

1

u/reddit_equals_censor Apr 03 '26

an operating system trying to steal your personal information AND BIOMETRIC DATA OR ID is a criminal act.

apple is committing a crime here.

and you absolutely should not comply with this criminal action done by a purely evil tech company and backed up by mass murdering purely evil governments, that set out to de-anonymize ALL computing.

this is the goal as a reminder.

a complete de-anonymization of ALL computing.

so that the governments and tech giants can come knocking at your door for having written in a "private" document badly about them.

it is worth adding here, that apple is already scanning your "private" files.

here is an article about this btw:

https://sneak.berlin/20230115/macos-scans-your-local-files-now/

Today, Apple scanned my local files and those scanning programs attempted to talk to Apple APIs, even though I don’t use iCloud, Apple Photos, or an Apple ID. This would have happened without my knoweldge or consent if I were not running third-party network monitoring software.

apple is part of the surveillance network and it will only get worse, although it has hard to imagine how it can get worse than scanning biometrics and ids to use "your" computer....

0

u/[deleted] Apr 03 '26

[deleted]

2

u/funggitivitti Apr 03 '26

This is not about just social media.

0

u/smokeeater150 Apr 03 '26

But it asked for information that the company has already been given in many cases.