Now Europe wants you to prove how old you are online

Is the age of online anonymity coming to an end? If you live in the European Union, that might soon be the case.

New information came out regarding an EU project called the pan-European framework for electronic identification, authentication and signature (PEFIAS) is out — and it’s had some interesting tweaks. We heard about this plan for the first time late last year, when it was proposed as a good way of making online transactions more secure. But now it seems the scheme will also be used to prove people’s age online. Why? For the kids, of course. The one-size-fits-all nature of the internet is increasingly a headache for regulators who are trying to protect children, and here the EU wants to provide a possible cure. This new mission for PEFIAS was revealed in the European Commission’s Strategy for a better internet for children. It’s a weighty document that’s full of suggestions for keeping kids safe online — not just on the desktop, but also on tablets, mobile phones and game consoles, where the EC wants parental control tech to be built in.