Show HN: NextDNS Adds "Bypass Age Verification"

Article summary

NextDNS has introduced a new feature called 'Bypass Age Verification' that allows users to circumvent age verification checks on websites without uploading IDs or selfies. This feature uses DNS tricks to work around these verification flows and is available to all users, including those with free accounts. The company believes that uploading government documents to random sites is a huge privacy risk. The feature's effectiveness and potential impact on regulators are being discussed.

Main themes

• Age verification
• Online privacy
• DNS tricks
• Regulatory impact
• Internet freedom
• Child safety

What commenters say

• The new feature is a necessary measure to protect users' privacy from invasive age verification methods.
• The feature may provoke regulators to push harder for stricter online age verification laws.
• Using a fake or borrowed ID to prove age could be a form of rational protest against invasive age verification methods.
• Guaranteeing anonymous internet access is not a viable political goal, and the focus should be on protecting children through other means.
• The UK's Online Safety Act may already allow products like NextDNS to bypass age verification, but the law's language is unclear.
• Outsourcing ID verification to private parties is not a good idea, and governments should provide this service themselves.
• The feature's effectiveness in bypassing age verification checks may be limited, and it may not be a long-term solution.
• The discussion around age verification is a slippery slope, and the real goal of such laws is to censor everyone's access to online content, not just children's.