"Roblox on Wednesday announced that it will be employing the use of age estimation technology or government ID to estimate the age of all users. Like other online platforms, Roblox has had its problems with minors being harmed in ways ranging from cyberbullying to sexual exploitation. The number of serious cases is very limited, especially when you consider that it has more than 80 million active users."
"Most providers do ask the user to specify their date of birth, but it's kind of an honor system. Children often lie to get access to a service or features restricted for older teens or adults. There are various signals that systems use to try to weed out those who lie, but none are all that effective. I've seen reliable estimates about millions of young people getting into services or access to age-gated experiences by lying about their age."
"Age estimation tech Although there have always been ways to determine or at least estimate the age of people online, most companies have been reluctant to adopt them. In 2009, I was a member of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, which spent a year studying age verification and concluded that, while practical to determine if someone is an adult, it was not practical to estimate the age of children for a variety of technical, legal and ethical reasons."
Roblox will estimate every user's age using facial age-estimation technology and government ID by the end of the year. The platform has faced harms to minors, including cyberbullying and sexual exploitation, though serious cases are rare relative to over 80 million active users. Knowing user age enables age-appropriate experiences and blocking for unsuitable services. Current self-reported birthdates function as an honor system that many children circumvent. Past 2009 research found adult verification practical but child age estimation impractical for technical, legal, and ethical reasons. Advances by 2025 have made previously nascent age-estimation technologies far more practicable.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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