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Dear
How
children can get around new rules that require personal ID for
internet use
Will
Australia’s new social media ID rules stop children under the age
of 18 from being able to access inappropriate internet content as
intended?
Not
at all.
The
rules, which will come into force on 27 December, will require all
users
of Microsoft and Google to provide personal identification to verity
their ages. This could include photo ID, face scanning, credit cards
and digital ID.
The
theory is that this will allow these tech giants to identify the ages
of all their users
so
they can filter inappropriate content for teens.
Even
children know it won’t work.
This
is how 14-year-old AJ explained he would avoid the ban.
‘It’ll
be so easy to get around. Everyone’ll get a VPN [a virtual private
network, which masks your IP address] and get a secure tunnel to the
internet. I’ll just change my name, my age, my location, my
country. I’ll literally become Polish and avoid the ban entirely.’
1
Furthermore,
trials have shown that some of the age-assurance technology planned
for use is not reliable.2
There
is a much more simple and reliable solution for protecting our kids
from online content: don’t allow smart phones to be sold to
children under the age of 16 – or 18, if you prefer – just as
it’s not legal to sell alcohol or cigarettes to children under 18.
-
‘Generation
Regret’, Ros Thomas, The Australian Weekend Magazine, 16-17
August, 2025
-
‘Australia
is quietly introducing 'unprecedented' age checks for search engines
like Google’, Ange Lavoipierre, ABC News,
To
reproduce this article
for your network,
please include the following text: Article reproduced with permission
from EMR Australia, www.emraustralia.com.au
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