The PC Pro Podcast Episode 753: We’re over 18 and we can prove it
Jul 31, 2025
Olivia Whitcroft, a lawyer specializing in online safety and data protection, discusses the legal ramifications of age-assurance rules under the Online Safety Act. She highlights the challenges between protecting children and risks like privacy loss and fraud. The conversation dives into real-world implementation, including the strengths and weaknesses of verification methods like Yoti and AllPass. Olivia also clarifies the difference between age estimation and verification, and discusses the regulation of AI tools to combat online threats.
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Transcript
Episode notes
Multiple Verification Methods And Subcontracting
- Another verifier (All Pass Trust) offered credit card, email, mobile or Open Banking checks and subcontracted those checks to other providers.
- Jon felt Open Banking checks for porn access were awkward and emphasised the fragmented supplier chain.
Deletion Promises Hurt Reuse Detection
- All verification methods are potentially breakable: fake IDs, photos, or reused ticks can defeat systems.
- Providers claim to delete verification data, but deletion prevents cross-checks and may enable reuse across accounts.
Design Age Checks To Refresh And Minimise Risk
- Build age systems that balance estimation and verification and refresh checks periodically to maintain accuracy.
- Expect different privacy impacts: official-ID checks carry higher privacy risk than facial age estimation.