The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is expected to recommend Know Your Customer (KYC) as the method for age verification under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act, 2023) to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The DPDP Act says that online platforms need to seek verifiable parental consent before processing the data of anyone under the age of 18. NCPCR says that the IT Ministry should consider using KYC for this verification process, according to a report by Hindustan Times.
Various sectors such as telecom and finance currently use KYC to verify customer identity. During the verification process, organizations typically require users to furnish a government ID such as their passport, voter’s identity card, driving license, and Aadhaar card.
As per the report, NCPCR met with social media companies on August 13 where it suggested that platforms need to use KYC to verify children’s age. The organization also plans to recommend that the IT Ministry require the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to report child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online in real-time to Indian authorities.
The challenge of age verification:
It is important to understand that to find out who is a child and who isn’t, everyone would need to verify their age. The key concern here is that it leads to unnecessary public surveillance. Many, like Evan Greer from Fight for the Future, have previously raised concerns about age verification requirements. Speaking in the context of California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, Greer argued that such measures severely limit anonymous internet usage, potentially endangering the free speech of various groups including human rights advocates, whistleblowers, and members of the press.
Big Tech platforms like Google have also argued against age verification. In a blog post released last year, Google argued that regulators should limit data intrusive verification methods (such as verification with “hard identifiers” like government IDs) to high-risk services (e.g., alcohol, gambling, or pornography) or for age correction. It also suggested that where legislation requires age assurance, it should mandate a standard that allows for anonymous or pseudonymous experiences.
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Besides this, KYC is not always an effective method for verification. For instance, the telecom industry which relies on this verification method is fraught with scammers. These scammers complete the process by forging government IDs or procuring them on loan from other people, Anand Venkatnarayan, a cybersecurity researcher and DeepStrat Co-Founder explained during a MediaNama event last year.
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