Learning About Internet Security
Age Verification Services
The typical reason for an Age Verification
Service (AVS) is to discourage underage access to web sites containing
pornographic material. However they can also be used to discourage underage
access to web sites containing many other types of objectionable content. For
instance, web sites containing violent content.
If you will be allowing minors to use your
computer, you should probably not allow the web browser to save your age
verification passwords for you. Your children would then be able to still have
access to the information by simply double-clicking on the ID field of the
online form, and the saved information would be inserted for them automatically.
Do AVSs truly prevent children from obtaining
pornography? No. But at least they keep them out of the majority of the web
site's content. The solution is also the problem in that most age verification
services protect a large number of web sites. This means that if minors get one
password, they suddenly have access to hundreds and thousands of adult web
sites.
Don't allow other adults to use your
identification and password. First, it's illegal to do so. Second, age
verification services monitor your usage and can discontinue your access if they
think that their security has been compromised. If your password ends up on a
newsgroup or similar list of stolen access ID information, you could wind up
facing a lawsuit. And third, it is possible that you may even be facing criminal
charges for making it possible for children to access objectionable material.
AVSs do not protect you from all web sites. An
AVS works like this.
- The AVS sets up a subscription service for
both web site owners and potential visitors.
- A visitor will prove their age to the AVS and
then, for a fee, will have access to all web sites that subscribe to the
AVS. The subscription term varies from AVS to AVS, with one year being the
average length.
- A web site owner will put an online AVS form
on their web site and then move all of the protected content to a
sub-web.
- When a visitor is ready to access the
protected content, they fill out the online AVS form by entering in their
AVS ID and password.
- The AVS verifies the information and, if
approved, permits the visitor access to the protected sub-web. Because the
AVS protection only extends to paid subscribers and web sites that also
subscribe to the same AVS, it is not uncommon to see a web site that offers
access to the protected content by permitting the use of any of several
different adult verification services. You may need to subscribe to more
than one AVS to access protected content on various web sites.
To further clarify this point, the only way to
access a web site's protected content is by going through one or more of the
AVSs that the web site's owner subscribes to. For example, if you subscribed to
the AdultCheck AVS, you would have access to all web sites protected by
AdultCheck. If you encountered a web site that used the AgeCheck AVS, your
AdultCheck AVS ID would not grant you access even though you have already proven
yourself to be of legal age. Web site owners can allow subscribers of either
service, or even more services, to permit access to protected content.
The more subscribing web sites that an AVS has,
the more powerful and cost-effective it becomes for its customers. Some adult
verification services deal only with web sites with a commonality, usually
containing sexually oriented material. However, many web sites that offer online
gaming with a violent theme are beginning to use an AVS.
In conclusion, adult verification services
are the Internet's first serious attempt to offer protection from web site
content. In their present form, most AVSs offer no protection from web sites
located outside of the United States. Most other countries do not have laws to
force web site owners to use an AVS or similar protection from their web site's
content. Choosing an AVS should rely heavily on its ability to grant you access
to web sites that you wish to enter.
Next Month's Topic: Hidden
Text in Web Pages
By Steve
Duell
ASIS SFBA Webmaster
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