overview
issues
mechanisms
industry
related
Guides:
Censorship
Identity
& Identity
Crime
Privacy
related
Profiles:
Law
Social
Network
Services
Forgery
& Fraud
Australia
Card
|
overview
This note considers 'age verification' issues and mechanisms,
including questions about age-based restrictions in access
to social network services (eg MySpace) and adult content
sites and questions about physical access to entertainment
or other venues.
It covers -
introduction
As highlighted in the more detailed discussion
of identity and identity crime, age directly affects participation
by adults and minors in Australian society. We regulate
access to (and consumption of) goods and services on the
basis of age cohorts - adults versus minors, young children
versus their older peers.
That affects things such as -
- purchasing
of alcohol and tobacco, eg under the Liquor Act
1975 (ACT) and Tobacco Act 1927 (ACT)
- purchasing
of spraycans
(in the 'war on graffiti')
- purchasing
of printed 'adult content' (including material that
is not of an erotic nature), videos and computer games
- concessional
fares or other age-based pricing
- entry
to entertainment venues
such as pubs, bars and clubs
- employment
of minors
- entry
to cinemas showing films deemed
unsuitable for minors
Overseas
there have been proposals for age-based restrictions on
online access to Social
Network Services (eg so that children do not interact
with unauthorised adults), online purchasing from retailers
(eg to prevent minors buying guns or alcohol) and access
to adult content sites.
Some of those restrictions involve a generic identification,
eg admit/exclude all people above/below a particular age
unless there is a specicial validation. Others involve
individual identification, ie identifying a specific person.
next page
(age verification issues)
|
|
