Age Gating Service API for Privacy-Preserving User Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Online services face challenges in protecting user privacy while allowing third-party applications to determine if a user is above or below a certain age threshold, as existing methods often reveal sensitive user information.
Innovation Solution
A software-based age gating service integrated with online services provides a Boolean value indicating a user's age status through an API, allowing third-party applications to tailor experiences without exposing the user's actual age, with customizable age thresholds per application and region.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If third-party applications access end-user profile data to determine age, then age-dependent functionality is enabled, but user privacy is compromised by exposing sensitive personal information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary age information from the end-user profile and provides it to third-party applications in a processed form (Boolean value indicating above or below threshold). This allows the application to get the needed age verification without exposing the actual age or other sensitive profile data, thus resolving the contradiction between enabling functionality and protecting privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The online service acts as an intermediary between the end-user profile data and the third-party application. Instead of allowing direct access to profile data, the online service processes the age information and returns only the necessary Boolean result. This intermediary role enables age-gating functionality while protecting user privacy by filtering and controlling what information is exposed.
2Ease of operation
If the online service provides detailed user information to third-party applications, then application personalization is improved, but data security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and provides only the specific age verification information needed for personalization, rather than exposing the entire user profile. The third-party application receives a simple Boolean value indicating whether the user meets the age threshold, which is sufficient for personalization purposes while minimizing data exposure and security risks.
3Reliability
If the online service implements comprehensive age verification, then content protection is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential age verification logic from the third-party application and centralizes it in the online service. The online service maintains the age thresholds and verification logic, returning only Boolean results to applications. This reduces the complexity burden on individual applications while ensuring consistent and reliable age verification across all content.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein is an online service having an integral age gating service. The age gating service is accessible to third-party applications via an application programming interface (API). Consistent with some embodiments, the API includes a method or function call that allows a third-party application developer to establish for a third-party application, age gating logic, for use by the third-party application. The age gating logic may specify a global age threshold, or more than one regional age threshold. The age gating service relies on an access token of an open standards authentication protocol, to provide the third-party application with a Boolean value indicating whether an end-user is above or below an age threshold, without revealing to the third-party application the stated age of an end-user.