commit 8ca905c3a25f5f5996bb1fa4a5d2fcd6e646b997 parent fd883855acf43fc659b35985d263627d4efd2dfd Author: Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org> Date: Tue, 4 May 2021 18:22:35 +0200 age verification notes Diffstat:
| A | ecb/age.txt | | | 94 | +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
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diff --git a/ecb/age.txt b/ecb/age.txt @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ + Age-Restrictions for Taler + +Age-restrictions are part of the agenda of Taler Systems SA to make +digital cash more programmable. We propose to extend Taler with an +innovative age verification tied into the payment process. For this, +the GNU Taler protocol is to be extended with a mechanism that adds +age restrictions to digital coins when they are withdrawn. This will +then allow merchants to perform age verification while preserving the +anonymity of the buyer, providing an alternative to contemporary +identity-based age verfication while also streamlining the checkout +process by integrating payment with age verification. + +Existing solutions +================== + +Contemporary solutions to the problem are primarily special special +debit or credit cards for teenagers. Major players on the US market +are Greenlight (www.greenlightcard.com), Step (step.com) and Current +(current.com). The provider Greenlight, for example offers credit +cards for children and allows parents a fine-grained selection of +businesses that they can be released for payment with the card --- but +not on individual products. One App allows children to manage income +``that they receive from doing household chores'', and set savings +goals. Classic credit card companies like American Express, Visa and +Mastercard issue additional cards to the credit card of the +responsible owner, which young people from 14 years of age can use. +All of these procedures require children to be registered and use +traceable ones Identities (credit card numbers etc.) and therefore +cannot protect the anonymity and privacy of children. Furthermore, +the use of credit cards in particular creates the financial risk of +children going into debt. Also, none of these systems offer an easy +way for merchants to set age restrictions to be attached to individual +products. + + +Properties of the envisioned solution +===================================== + +The introduction of an anonymous age verification coupled to payments +as envisioned by Taler Systems SA is thus new. The planned procedure +will have the following properties: + +1. The age information remains privately under the control of the + account holder who authorized the withdrawl of the age-restricted coins. +2. The protection of children's privacy is guaranteed when buying: + A zero-knowledge proof with the age check during the purchase process + only confirms the required minimum age to the seller. +3. When change is issued, the age limit is carried over to the coins returned + as changed. +4. The labeling and verification of age restrictions of individual products + is possible. +5. The introduction of an age check does not lead to compromises in terms + of data protection. +6. The age verification as part of the payment process simplifies the work + for merchants and enables an efficient implementation in terms of + bandwidth, storage space and computing time. + + +Political relevance +=================== + +According to Eurostat, around ten percent of the European population +in 2020 were children between the ages of 10 and 18 years. It is of +general social interest to enable them economic participation and +allow them to learn how to manage their finances. Existing payment +systems for children, in particular those based on credit cards, keep +getting into trouble due to unauthorized purchases by children. For +example, Apple was approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in +2014 United States required to pay at least $ 32.5 million in +compensation to parents for failing authorized purchases by their +children. This is one of many examples illustrating the in financial +damage done by credit cards to families. In 2012, the United States +introduced new rules for protection Children's Privacy on the Internet +(COPPA), exposting the lack of protection of children's privacy +in the current technical state of the Internet and its services. + + +Conclusion +========== + +The envisioned extension of GNU TALER will allow parents to give their +children pocket money with age restrictions as determined by the legal +guardian. Parents will have the certainty that the children are only +able to buy goods and services that meet the age restriction, and +merchants will be able to easily specify and enforce the age +restrictions without additional cost to the merchant, avoiding the +need for expensive registration processes and the risks of storing +sensitive personal data of their customers. + + +Contact +======= + +grothoff@taler-systems.com