The real answer is that there is no solution to the problem other than what basically amounts to better parental controls.

That way should be paired with "adult by default". So that No age data means adult.

Zero-knowledge proofs are only anonymous in theory if you ignore the issue of requiring a third party, and the issue of implementations.

And according to the EU Identity Wallet's documentation, the EU's planned system requires highly invasive age verification to obtain 30 single use, easily trackable tokens that expire after 3 months. It also bans jailbreaking/rooting your device, and requires GooglePlay Services/IOS equivalent be installed to "prevent tampering". You have to blindly trust that the tokens will not be tracked, which is a total no-go for privacy.

These massive privacy issues have all been raised on their Github, and the team behind the wallet have been ignoring them.

Their comment is advertising a product that undermines user privacy, so I don't think they care.

> HN seems to defend freedom to contact children without restrictions.

You are intentionally lying about what people are angry about here, which is the exact opposite the "balanced" discussion you want. Age verification violates the privacy of adults, which is why people hate it. To claim otherwise, is incorrect.

According to the EU Identity Wallet's documentation, the EU's planned system requires highly invasive age verification to obtain 30 single use, easily trackable tokens that expire after 3 months. It also bans jailbreaking/rooting your device, and requires GooglePlay Services/IOS equivalent be installed to "prevent tampering". You have to blindly trust that the tokens will not be tracked, which is a total no-go for privacy.

These massive privacy issues have all been raised on their Github, and the team behind the wallet have been ignoring them.

Yikes. I fully expect non-sabotaged computers to become illegal in the coming decades

The PRs should only be allowed if they only create a flag when the user is underage. Otherwise its just another point of data that makes fingerprinting easier.

That additional "fingerprint" makes it easier to track people online. If the system was meant to protect privacy and anonymity, the signal would only be present if the user was underage.

Encryption is "controversial" according to the BBC's "reporters"