Calif. Law to Protect Children's Privacy Could Lead to Invasive Age Verification
I&#x27;m surprised how little this issue has come up in the past, given how much many here are focused on privacy. This issue can be seen even today on YouTube. When I browse videos, I usually do so in FF&#x27;s private browsing mode, primarily to prevent the recommendations from spilling over into my main account. However, videos marked as age-restricted <i>cannot be viewed</i> without logging into a Google account. Even yt-dlp couldn&#x27;t download age-restricted videos without credentials when I last attempted it! (I hear there has since been a patch to fix this, but I have not tested it to see if it still works.) And apparently, EU users are sometimes required to upload their government ID to YouTube to prove they are over 18.<p>I get that privacy issues can be most sensitive to those under 18, but it&#x27;s important to recognize that enforcing far stronger privacy restrictions alongside strong age-verification expectations (no more &quot;are you 18+? yes&#x2F;no&quot; or &quot;what is your birthday?&quot; questions) can only come at the expense of anonymous browsing.