petermc
This a complex issue, and one which if the industry does not sort out itself is going to be legislated for us. We actually already have the first mandatory age verification laws in place, Louisiana has passed a law authored by a politician who happened to be very close to the company who developed the LA Wallet digital driving license, to mandate verification using a government approved ID. Of which the only one so far is the LA Wallet digital driving license. This is obviously just a coincidence... So far the biggest tube site has complied, the next two biggest have not, and everyone else is just watching to see what happens. Texas politicians have introduced an almost identical bill which will be must more meaningful if passed, purely because of the size of the Texan market.
Over in the UK the Online Safety Bill trundles on trying to solve everything that is wrong with the internet, from cyberflashing to underage access to hardcore content. This law would also introduce mandatory age verification, but doesn't prescribe a specific method.
France and Germany are both taking varying actions against tube sites which don't age verify, and Spain has levied fines against smaller operators. So there is a lot going on around the world, and no real agreement on what should be done.
There are some cool technologies like age estimation. Some mobile operators are using this process to remove adult filters on sim cards. It takes a few seconds, involves taking a selfie, and no details are stored. But right now the cost per check is still around 20-30 US cents. Those costs mount up quickly!
The laws being mooted don't differentiate between paywalled content and otherwise though. We are monitoring the situation globally. Privacy and security for our customers are not incompatible with keeping adult content away from minors. We will argue against bad laws and continue doing things the right way.
