Email-Based Age Assurance for Private Third-Party Verification
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing age verification systems lack efficient and secure methods for determining a user's age online with high accuracy without disclosing personal identity, particularly in third-party workflows, and there is a need for enhanced techniques to protect children from online harms.
Innovation Solution
An automated age assurance system that queries multiple data sources through a third-party workflow, using email addresses to derive an age estimate based on frequency of occurrence and associated age attributes, returning a response with confidence levels or age brackets, implemented in a scalable and secure manner.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional age verification methods are used, then age determination can be achieved, but personal identity information must be disclosed which compromises privacy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a third-party age assurance provider as an intermediary between the user and the target website. This mediator performs age verification on behalf of the user without requiring the user to directly disclose personal identity information to the target website. The intermediary obtains age verification results and communicates only the verification outcome (verified or not verified) to the target website, thus resolving the contradiction between achieving accurate age determination and protecting personal identity privacy.
2Measurement precision
If multiple data sources are queried to improve age estimation accuracy, then measurement precision improves, but system complexity and query time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the age verification process into distinct components: email validation, querying multiple different types of data sources (social media, email registration databases, public records), and aggregating results from each source. By dividing the complex task of age estimation into these manageable segments, the system can query multiple data sources to improve accuracy while maintaining organized complexity and efficient processing through modular architecture.
3Ease of operation
If real-time age verification is performed during interactive workflow, then user experience is maintained, but processing time and system load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by performing age verification checks proactively during the interactive workflow process. The system integrates age assurance verification at appropriate stages of user interaction with the target website, rather than requiring separate verification steps. This allows the verification process to occur in parallel with normal user activities, maintaining user experience continuity while distributing the processing load over time rather than concentrating it at a single point.
Data Source
AI summary
A solution for efficient and secure automated age assurance checking in association with a third party workflow involving an interaction between a user having an associated email address, and a target service. A request to estimate an age of the user is received and includes the email address. In response, the system issues a query to one or more data sources, each data source being of a different type and having an age attribute associated therewith. The data source(s) return responses to the queries. The system then associates an age attribute (typically, a minimum age) to each indication received from each data source queried. Based on a frequency of occurrence of the indications and the associated age attributes, a digital footprint that includes an estimate of the individual's minimum age is derived. A response (e.g., the estimated minimum age) to the request is then returned to the third party workflow.