> We note that, by 4 August 2025, AVS Group had implemented what is described on its sites as an ‘age verification’ check ... This check requests that the users upload a photo. However, the process does not include ‘liveness detection’ to verify a live image of the user or any mechanism to ensure that the person submitting the image, or the person in the image, is the actual user attempting to access the service. As such, the method can be straightforwardly circumvented by children – for example, by submitting a photo of an adult to bypass the check. As a result, the ‘age verification’ check implemented by AVS Group does not meet
the criteria set out Section 4 of our Guidance"
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This is in the context of Ofcom issuing a £1,000,000 fine against a provider in *checks notes* Belize, which
> has not responded to any of our correspondence in relation to the investigation and has not co-perated with Ofcom throughout the investigation process
I'm sure that they'll be transferring the £1m asap.
@neil Probably in cryptocurrency; the Belizean finance minister is a big fan and has invited many crypto bros to set up operations there. I'm sure that won't lead to any problems.
I also found it interesting that a third party has "algorithmically generated" the traffic volumes used to assess whether or not the sites had a significant number of UK users.
@neil who was this third party? Can we FOIA that I wonder? Ofcom must have paid them?
@neil Yes, in true Online Safety Act nerd fashion I turned immediately to the 'UK links' section to see how they had assessed it!
@cyberleagle Intriguing, isn't it!
@neil Interesting. I would really like to understand how this worked and who did it. Because the only way I can think of, it’s surveillance at ISP level..
@neil Does this mean they asked ChatGPT? 😬😬😬
@neil that's a very fancy way of saying "guessed"
@neil I wonder if they have had any fines paid yet?
