Italian regulator outlines technical methods for EC white label age assurance app

Italy’s Communications Regulatory Authority, AGCOM, is among the Digital Services Coordinators chosen by the European Commission to participate in the testing activities of the EU’s white label app for age verification, which is currently in beta stage and is set to go public this summer.

A release in Italian says AGCOM was chosen based partly on its expertise in child online protection.

In April, AGCOM identified and approved the technical methods that video sharing platforms and websites available in Italy must use for age assurance. These include the so-called “double-blind” age verification scenario, in which the user is anonymous to the sites they visit, and the sites they visit are unknowable by the third party identity verification provider.

(Or, in the words of the Italian regulator, “the ‘double anonymity’ mechanism does not allow age verification providers to know for which service the proof of age is issued. At the same time, the proof provided to the website or platform does not contain user identification data.”)

AGCOM’s website says that “the technical methods outlined by the Authority, having acquired the favorable opinion of the Guarantor for the protection of personal data, were submitted to a public consultation that saw the participation of 13 entities, including institutions, trade and consumer associations, and video sharing platforms.”

The regulator’s approach is “technologically neutral,” rooted not in a particular age assurance tech but rather in broad principles: proportionality, protection of personal data; IT security; accuracy and effectiveness; accessibility and ease of use; inclusiveness and non-discrimination; training and information of users; and effective management of user complaints.

The EU age assurance app is based on the same technology as the EUDI Wallet for which it is a stopgap. The intention is to have an “EU-wide harmonized and privacy-friendly age verification solution, including a white-label open source application,” available this summer.

Deutsche Telekom and Swedish biometrics firm Scytáles are reported to be developing the beta version of the app.

Iain Corby, director of the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), has said that the white label app “addresses some of the concerns that the Architecture and Reference Framework cannot support truly anonymous, authenticated online age checks.”

However, there have also been questions raised about whether or not public tax money should be used to pay for a service that mainly (for now) revolves around access to pornography.

Article Topics

age verification  |  data privacy  |  digital ID  |  double-blind age assurance  |  EU  |  European Commission  |  Italy  |  mobile app  |  regulation