X (formerly Twitter)
Paul Walsh (@Paul__Walsh) on X
Legislative Trojan horses
๐ช๐บ Chat Control 1.0 and 2.0
๐ช๐บ Social media ban for children
๐ช๐บ Addictive design ban for adults
๐ช๐...
Legislative Trojan horses
๐ช๐บ Chat Control 1.0 and 2.0
๐ช๐บ Social media ban for children
๐ช๐บ Addictive design ban for adults
๐ช๐บ Combat fraud and serious crime
๐ฆ๐บ Social media ban for children
๐บ๐ธ Social media ban for children
๐บ๐ธ Addictive design restrictions for children
๐ณ๐ฟ Social media ban for children
๐ฎ๐ช Social media ban for children
๐ซ๐ท Social media ban for children
๐จ๐ฆ Social media ban for children
๐ฌ๐ง Social media ban for children
๐ฌ๐ง Addictive design restrictions for children
๐ฌ๐ง Child exploitation & grooming protection
๐ฌ๐ง Force platforms to prioritise "trusted" news
๐ฆ๐ช Social media ban for children
๐ช๐ธ Social media ban for children
๐ฌ๐ท Social media ban for children
๐ฉ๐ฐ Social media ban for children
๐ณ๐ด Social media ban for children
๐ฆ๐น Social media ban for children
๐ต๐ฑ Social media ban for children
๐ธ๐ฎ Social media ban for children
๐น๐ท Social media ban for children
๐ฎ๐ฉ Social media ban for children
๐ฒ๐พ Social media ban for children
๐ง๐ท Social media restrictions for children
๐ต๐น Social media restrictions for children
๐ฎ๐ณ Social media ban for children
๐ธ๐ช Social media ban for children
๐ฉ๐ช Social media restrictions for children
๐ฎ๐น Social media restrictions for children
๐จ๐ณ Social media restrictions for children
Iโm sharing this because more journalists have started following my work, and I want to show what Iโm exposing through technical analysis anyone can understand.
Iโm working on one of my most consequential investigations into legislation and technology built for digital surveillance. Itโs called Chat Control. What follows looks like coordination between governments and a handful of tech companies.
Tech companies get more data to monetise. Governments gain the ability to monitor who says what, to whom, why, where they go and how they spend money.
Technical Trojan horses
๐ช๐บ Compulsory identity verification
๐ช๐บ Scan private communications
๐ช๐บ Weaken end to end encryption
๐ช๐บ Expand lawful access
๐ฌ๐ง Compulsory identity verification
๐ฌ๐ง Compulsory on-device scanning for every app
๐ฌ๐ง Algorithms to prioritize trusted news sources
๐ฆ๐บ Compulsory identity verification
๐ณ๐ฟ Compulsory identity verification
๐ฎ๐ช Compulsory identity verification
๐ซ๐ท Compulsory identity verification
๐ช๐ธ Compulsory identity verification
๐ฌ๐ท Compulsory identity verification
๐ฉ๐ฐ Compulsory identity verification
๐ณ๐ด Compulsory identity verification
๐ฆ๐น Compulsory identity verification
๐ต๐ฑ Compulsory identity verification
๐ธ๐ฎ Compulsory identity verification
๐น๐ท Compulsory identity verification
๐ฆ๐ช Compulsory identity verification
๐ฎ๐ฉ Compulsory identity verification
๐ฒ๐พ Compulsory identity verification
๐ง๐ท Compulsory identity verification
๐ต๐น Compulsory identity verification
๐จ๐ฆ Compulsory identity verification
๐บ๐ธ Compulsory identity verification
Spot the pattern.
๐ Australia set the stage. Other countries are now following with "robust" age assurance language in their TV appearances, including the US, UK and Ireland. The US AGs have added it to the proposed legislation following the Meta lawsuit.
๐ก Australiaโs own standard says age checks must be "technically accurate, robust, and reliable".
"Robust" means fault proof. It brings meaning like "best" endeavours.
Age estimation canโt meet that standard. As Australia defines it, age verification determines age "to a high level of accuracy", while age estimation only provides an approximate age.
Fault proof age checking requires identity verification.
Now look at the tech companies and what they built recently.
Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft built identity verification capabilities before governments started saying existing age assurance wasnโt "robust" enough.
They knew what was coming.
๐ชช Apple has age assurance APIs that can return verified age ranges, including confirmation using government ID, and its Wallet API lets apps verify age or identity from government issued digital ID.
๐ชช Google recently built an Age Signals API so apps can receive age ranges and verification status. Android already lets parents block apps by age across the entire device, so this isnโt technically necessary for child safety.
Google has also added facial verification to Google Account and Gmail recovery through selfie video matching, presented as account security.
๐ชช Meta launched selfie based Facebook verification that checks a video selfie against profile photos and plans to expand it globally.
๐ชช Microsoft has rolled out age assurance across Microsoft Accounts using facial age estimation, identity documents and government systems. Refuse to verify and some content and features are blocked.
๐ญ A handful of tech companies control the operating systems, app stores and identity layers across almost every mobile device. Governments barely need to negotiate outside G7 rooms. If Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft enforce the same rules, billions of people are instantly impacted.
The same technical capability keeps appearing: identify verification.
Identity the person first, then decide what theyโre allowed to do, who they're allowed to speak to, and when they're allowed to move money.
p.s. Anthropic and OpenAI have identity verification services and the US government holds a kill switch that decides who has permission to use AI.
22.09.26
#digitalid
