Statement: A ‘papers, please’ approach to the internet at odds with free speech

This week, the Federal Trade Commission released a policy statement incentivizing additional data collection of American citizens when using the internet.

The following statement can be attributed to Ari Cohn, FIRE lead counsel for tech policy:

Age verification is identity verification, plain and simple. 

By announcing that it won’t enforce the prohibition against collecting children’s personal data online when it is done for age verification purposes, the government admits what we’ve been saying all along: Age-gating the internet means forcing you to hand over your ID, sacrifice your anonymity, and put your sensitive data at risk.

We’re routinely told to be worried about data collection — and for good reason. Data leaks are rampant and the privacy of information, once collected, cannot be guaranteed. Not by platforms. Not by the government. 

Recent government fishing expeditions into the online data of its critics put the danger of making it easier to track down dissenting voices in stark relief. This “papers, please” approach to going online is fundamentally at odds with the free speech rights, privacy, and security of all Americans.