This idea of a law requiring age verification for internet use is one of the worst ideas governments have had in the last 20 years (if not longer).
It's probably best idea for them, since they can silence any opposition voices much quicker.
I don't think all countries will adopt this now, but when one countries start domino's will start to fall.
Exactly. It all started with that "data protection" law, the GDPR.
It is only with the existence of the GDPR that all these KYC laws have become possible.
Because this law conveys the idea of: "I can collect any data, as long as the citizen can request that it be deleted."
So basically, companies are free to collect any data, because it has already been proven that very few people will question it.
Ultimately, they have complete freedom to collect whatever information they want, since the law allows them to; for them, all it takes is a "delete record" button, and everything is within the law.
This reminds me of what happened in my country a few years ago. To subscribe to any service (TV, Internet, Electricity, etc.), a photocopy of the citizen ID card was required. The only way to subscribe to the service was by providing a copy, so everyone did it without much question.
But the problem wasn't actually asking for a copy; it was the citizen "lending" the card to the employee so that he could make a photocopy of it.
The law has always been clear that you could never take someone else's card to make photocopies (or anything else). Then, in 2017, a public figure, when confronted with this request, filed a complaint and publicized this illegality, which had been committed for many years, as much as possible.
As a result, the law was clarified, and today it's almost unnecessary to provide a photocopy of your citizen card to contract almost any service, something that was previously "mandatory".
Unfortunately, it will only be in a few years, when people see the real impact these new laws will have on their lives and everything involved, that they will take steps to make changes.
It's often said that you don't need to bang your head against a wall to know it hurts. But, unfortunately, some people need to bang their head against a wall very hard to realize that.