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Verisign Develops Token for Age Verification
FirstTimeCaller writes "A Reuters article is reporting that Verisign in conjunction with an unnamed children's safety group, will release a USB token that can be plugged into a PC to verify the age and gender of a person participating in online chat rooms. According to the article, the token will be available free to students in a handful of schools this fall. School administrators will provide a list of students, with their ages and genders, and VeriSign will encode that information onto the tokens."
In most countries, credit card authentication was used to ensure one had reached the legal age...
In which situations wasn't it enough, besides the goatse ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
. . . why is there a "list of students" involved? And seriously, do they not know these tokens are lent? Either this is an insidious attempt at a pilot of some sort of "internet ID" or a completely dumb idea.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
Now instead of just faking up my ID, I can steal someone elses. All it takes is enough drink and the right students.
Still this security thing is jsut a laugh really isn`t it?
sigh.....
CJC
Who's going to run the betting pool on how many minutes it takes someone to crack the keys and modify the information?
Better yet, how many kids will lose their tokens?
Not to mention the possibility of the breaching of the privacy of minors.
On paper this sounds like a good way to protect children, but somehow I think the execution of the idea is not going to be as easy as Verisign and Co. think it might be.
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Just check the online ID before persuing the child??
That's gonna cut into the FBI's stake-outs, isn't it?
And what is stopping a dubious individual from borrowing one of these tokens?
Excellent! I figure by about noon tomorrow I'll download a patch that "officially" makes me a 16 year old girl.
Selling his or her token to some freak on ebay!
terpmotors.com
A personal x509.3 certificate and a crypto key.
So when he's 21 he won't complain when the barcode on his forearm will be used to 'strenghten e-vote security'.
Train them while they are still young, the older they get, the harder for you to teach them new tricks...
Oh, wait, this only works with pkcs#11-enabled chat applications? I guess IRC will have to be outlawed then. You don't want untagged pedophile commies subverting little Tommy on IRC now, do you?
~~~
This is the dumbest idea in the history of mankind: verifyably identifying children as such on the Internet. Unless, of course, they are trying to help pedophiles find targets that they *know* are too young to be FBI agents.
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So, not only are students going to be forced to carry yet another form of ID, but they'll also have to give a third-party company (Verisign in this case) detailed personal information.
What about student's rights - they have the right to enter chat rooms, etc.
I can envision the next step - restricting web sites based upon age, then it will be restricting web pages based upon being a student, finally, just restricting overall.
Luckily, we won't have to worry about this being a wide-spread problem - the system is too flawed to go very far; however, I feel for those that WILL be made to use it.
Bottom line is that NOBODY should HAVE to use this system - somehow it should infringe upon their right to freedom of assembly. Albeit, a *virtual* assembly, it's an assembly!
Unless the article is leaving out some, dare I say key piece of information... in about a week, students will have figured out that the computer doesn't know whether the USB token belongs to the person who inserts it or not.
In about two weeks, they will be borrowing them from older siblings.
In about three weeks, there will be a brisk trade in USB tokens issued to older students who have no interest in the school-approved content that is actually linked to the key, but great interest in money.
In about three months, forged adult-ID USB token will be for sale on eBay.
Even a plain old ID card has a signature and a photo on it, so someone can see whether it matches the holder of the card or not. But these anonymous bits of colored plastic are just an invitation to abuse.
In a corporate setting, I suppose you've signed something that says you're responsible for all use made of the token, and you would be suspiciously unable to do your job if you loaned it to someone else... and subject to dismissal if someone finds out. I don't see how that can be applied in a school context.
Unless they were planning to Superglue the token to the kid?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
But "She had a token proving she was 18" is very probably a valid defence....
see their site... they are the makers of the device
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
some type of law? I would want that information to be authenticated that way. If I remember right, parents will have to consent to it first if it is a public school.
What are the students doing in chat rooms during school anyway? Seems that Verisign just wants another way to make money.
... it's all encrypted on a Lexar JumpDrive
Clearly in some cases it might be necessary or desirable to prove your age, but unless the chatroom is supposed to be an online matchmaking service I fail to see what the presence of a Y chromosome has to do with anything.
Gosh. If I was a student, I would be snatching these things up like gold, then pawning them on ebay to teh pedofiles.
This only adds a false sence of security, without biometric identification on these usb things, anyone can become a 16 year old male. Lets go chat up NAMBLA and ask them what they think!
In nature, there are neither rewards or punishments, there are only consequences.
Once someone figures out how to crack it, he or she would be able to fool everyone who believes that the system is reliable.
Today most people are sceptical to people online, with this system it could actually get really easy for the scumbags to convince someone of their (fake) age.
Now ur saying studnt dating is the good ol days? ur not 16! Gross!
So every chatroom in existence has to be rewritten in order to use the token scheme? Why would anyone go to the trouble of doing this? If schools want safe chatrooms, why don't they just set up their own network and do the authentication themselves? Expecting the whole world to change to support your authentication scheme seems a little farfetched.
Visit the
is to adults. You can't prove you are an adult and thus entitled to something more by NOT having one of these.
The goal to Verisign is obvious -- once they are widespread, you try to get first libraries and then other places to require the use of the "KEY" to use the system to prove your age. As an adult, you'd "need" one, and thus have to pay for it.
Also, its a good first step toward a "universal" (as if) public key. Ideally, imagine something like the Post Office being able to assign a public/private key to you. That's what everyone wanted with these keychain java keyring things talked about in the 90's.
Personally, I hate seeing verisign being given this contract, but I'm not sure someone shouldn't have it.
I'd like to see a U.N. sponsored standard, with countries and or businesses able to register as registrars. The SSL key distribution system we have now works pretty well (if overly expensive).
At a minimum, that same system applied to people as apposed to web server names would go a long way.
Yes, I know all the usual issues apply -- how do you prove its YOU with the key, etc. Lots of discussion on that (which is off topic) and other things. Privacy? What about additional private certificate keys? Well, why not all those things.
Personal ID should have a data component for public key.
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Thank you for verifying your age. You are indeed a teenager as you claim.
-Verisign
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
We're not looking for flawless. It just seems that this system is completely broken.
It's really not better than nothing at all. The illusion of safety can be more dangerous than being wary of threat.
This is NOT a step in protecting anything.
1) For a child to be protected, they MUST have the fob.
2) They must use it on presribed machines with the right software.
3) Some big brother is watching out for them.
What this really is a step to personally "brand" everyone. Just like RFID in clothes or under the skin or the tatoos of Germany.
Further you can only be "safe", if you are willing to "pay" for it, including tracking every one of your habits on net.
It's not the school administrators information to give away. This information must go through the parent.
I think they're called "Parents."
Time and time again, we've seen that having no security and knowing it is better than having bad security and not knowing its bad (Maginot Line, anyone?) Most parents who will have their kids participate in this will think "Johnny's got the token, he's completely safe on the Internet" and ignore their kids behavior even more.
Off the top of my head, a better solution would be to use the BMW-type car keys (the ones with the chips in them) and have the computer hardware require the presence of the key to be on (or have internet access, or whatever). That way, at least one parent must have approved of the usage and be physically present for the kids to use the Internet.
A large portion of the problem with protecting children is the parent's responsibility, not the government's, not the school's, and certainly not Verisign's. If the parent's aren't going to monitor their kids and do their due dilligence to make sure the kids are in safe places, then all the tokens/bar codes/subdermal chips in the world won't make a difference.
So now I know the girl I'm talking to is genuinely 16. Now all I need is a token that proves she's genuinely hot.
Linux is not Windows
Verisign announced today that it would begin a program to create the youngest group of hackers ever.
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy
... the one made out of shiny flexible metal.
This is just another example of conditioning the younger generation. Get them used to big brotherism and total surveillence/command & control. Goes along with acceptance of constant TV camera monitoring, using a thumb scanner to get a school lunch (how pavlovian can you get?) and other sorts of brainwashed response mechanisms.
We've already got the adult population conditioned to accept things that would have caused lynch mobs 100 years ago, like "random courtesy checkpoints" on the roads.
To the goons, the elite controllers, it's just part of the system, they want willing sheep, controllable herds, and the younger they get them brainwashed the better, then it's "acceptable and normal".
Hey, here's an idea! Why don't we drug the kids in the schools as well? Then we can make them even MORE controllable!
Oh ya, they do that too. Funny how all that stuff ties together.
1. The burden would be on children to get an ID. It suggests the children are to blame, when it's the pedophiles who are at fault and should be prosecuted.
2. In the extreme, isn't this a step in the direction of corporate or even government controlled access? It could limit who, when, and where content can be accessed -- if at all.
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
The device drills a hole in the kid's head and counts the rings. TGIF!
stuff |
Yes.
In the same way that non-negative means >0.
Who says Verisign even thinks it's possible?
Verisign doesn't care. They just need to convince people that these USB keys somehow protect their children. It doesn't matter if it ACTUALLY works, just that people BELEIVE that it works. In fact, it's probably better for verisign if it doesn't work, as it's less work for them.
The goal isn't to protect children, the goal is to get $20/year from every kid who accesses the internet. Neat trick.
paintball
Advantage of credit cards is that a) you can exceed your available money (although I don't reccomend this, as the interest rates approach loan shark proportions) b) Because there's an extra buffer between you and your bank accounts, there's a fair amount of theft protection built in. You're only liable for $X of a stolen credit card, usually about $50, assuming you report it promptly. Debit cards, well, you may have a bit more trouble getting the money back from your bank. c) Using a credit card improves your credit rating. This is why I pay for everything by credit card, then pay off my bill in full every billing cycle. As a result, I've built a solid record as someone who makes use of credit and is also reliable. *shrug* It can make a big difference when it comes time for you to purchase your first car or house.
At the end of the day, I tend to carry my Discover card for credit (cash back is miniscule, but better than nothing) and a check card marked with a Visa logo for places that don't take Discover and for ATMs. ^_^ And I carry another credit card, a MasterCard, which I use if I run into places that don't carry Visa or Discover. I used to also keep an American Express card, but it seemed to be overkill. (Plus there's some political issues there, but that's another matter entirely)
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Of course they could provide technology to schools so that schools could program their own tokens, thus eliminating the need to send private, federally protected inforamtion to Verisign. But, that would undermine Verisign's greedy, "let us mint certs which expire more frequently than necessary, so that we can sell you the same thing over and over again" strategy...
Eh, what does gender have to do with anything? Isn't age the relevant part?
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
I'm already working under the assumption that every eleven year old girl I'm chatting up on irc is either a 37 y/o truck driver from Idaho or an FBI agent.
do not read this line twice.
Oh yeah, there was Sitefinder. Never mind.
Good, Because I really hate when I am chatting up a little girl and she turns out to be a cop