The US Federal Trade Commission has blocked plans to introduce “privacy-preserving facial age estimation'' technology that analyzes the shape of a user's face to determine their age.
The application for use of the technology was filed last July by the Entertainment Software Review Board (ESRB), UK-based identity software company Yoti, and youth marketing company SuperAwesome, which was previously part of Fortnite maker Epic Games. It had been submitted.
This technology is designed to enforce the Children's Online Privacy Protection Regulation (COPPA), which requires parental consent for online services that may involve users under the age of 13.
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The FTC's decision to deny the application to add facial age estimation technology as a new COPPA parental consent method was unanimous, albeit without prejudice, and may prevent future applications to use this technology from being resubmitted. The FTC itself has not ruled on the application. It's beneficial in some way.
In a statement shared with Eurogamer last year, the ESRB said the technology was designed to be used by adults seeking parental permission, rather than by children themselves.
“First and foremost, this application does not allow children to use this technology. It is completely discouraged. Also, this software does not allow children to take and save 'selfies' or hide your identity. We do not seek to confirm this,” an ESRB spokesperson told Eurogamer.
“Furthermore, this application does not mention, nor does it intend to encourage, the use of age estimation to prevent children from purchasing and/or downloading video games with restricted ratings.” there is no.”
The ESRB said no photographic images will be taken or stored, and no attempts will be made to identify individuals using facial recognition algorithms.
It's unclear whether or when the ESRB and others will resubmit the technology for review in the future.
