Battle for Libraries
ONLINE ID CHECKS
WILL RUIN
THE INTERNET
Tell your lawmakers: we need common-sense, privacy forward solutions, NOT ID checks for the internet!
Across the country, lawmakers are passing bills that require everyone to submit to age checks to access websites. Already, people in Louisiana, Indiana, and Virginia must provide government ID to access certain apps and websites. Imagine opening up your social media of choice for a casual scroll and the app demands to scan your face. Or being asked to upload your government ID just to access an article or recipe. This censorship movement won’t rest until online ID checks wall off huge sections of the Internet, with the government as the sole gatekeeper. Information freedom no more.
Lawmakers are using kids as pawns to push these age-gating bills. But limiting access to information and mandating intrusive data collection doesn’t help kids—it makes them even less safe.
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
We all want the internet to be a safer place. But ID checks won’t make us safer, no matter who you are, how old you are, or what you’re doing online. In order to verify someone’s identity or age, websites collect and store your data, often through third party companies that are hackable and expose people to identity and data theft. Some companies are selling ID verification tools that use facial recognition or other biometric scans, which are inaccurate, discriminate against women and people of color, and can be abused by law enforcement.
Big Tech has already made the internet worse: it’s hard to find information or see what your friends are posting online amidst the sea of advertisements and promoted content. Now, proliferation of age-gating practices could make it even harder to access resources that are increasingly under political attack, like sex education, abortion healthcare information, and LGBTQ online communities . The data shows that when presented with age verification mechanisms, people are more likely to just give up instead of entering sensitive information, which they are rightfully mistrustful of.
On top of these risks, age checks create obstacles for marginalized people looking for vital resources and community online. A journalist should be able to do research without leaving a paper trail. A queer person or parent of a trans kid should be able to look up information about sexuality or gender affirming healthcare without fear of a search being tied to their identity. A pregnant person in a state with an abortion ban should be able to look up abortion funds without being surveilled. Age checks interrupt the free flow of information and our right to free speech online. You should be able to interact with your online communities, fandom, friends, the news, and more without putting your sensitive information into a database where you have no control over your data and how it can be used against you.
No matter what you care about, ID checks cause more harm than good.
SO HOW DO WE MAKE THE INTERNET SAFER?
Make no mistake: the current state of things is harmful, to everyone, not just kids. Tech companies are collecting our data to power their exploitative and oppressive algorithms and making the internet worse with surveillance, censorship, and endless targeted advertising. But the solution is cracking down on their greedy surveillance capitalist business model, not restricting speech and kicking kids offline. We should be working on comprehensive privacy legislation that prioritizes people at the margins, antitrust legislation to actually regulate these giant corporations, and the algorithmic justice legislation that digital rights experts have been calling for.
Tell your lawmakers to reject any legislation that requires websites to use government ID or AI biometric technology to limit users or access.
STATES WITH ID CHECK LAWS:
am i gay?
States across the country are passing or considering laws that would require everyone to submit to ID checks to access websites. These laws would require websites that already collect our data to collect even more. Lawmakers shouldn’t be giving exploitative tech companies even more intrusive access to our data, and they shouldn’t be limiting people’s ability to access information and community online.
am i pregnant?
States across the country are passing or considering laws that would require everyone to submit to ID checks to access websites. These laws would require websites that already collect our data to collect even more. Lawmakers shouldn’t be giving exploitative tech companies even more intrusive access to our data, and they shouldn’t be limiting people’s ability to access information and community online.