Germany

[DE] KJM approves new Internet age verification measures

IRIS 2015-3:1/9

Cristina Bachmeier

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

At its meeting on 10 December 2014, the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the Protection of Young People in the Media - KJM) gave a positive assessment of three new age verification measures (AVS partial modules) for closed user groups in telemedia. They are Aristotle Inc.'s "Aristotle Integrity/Instant Global ID and Age Verification (Integrity)" system, edentiX GmbH's "Online Ausweischeck" and Web Shield Limited's "KYC Shield".

According to the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on the Protection of Young People in the Media - JMStV), certain content that is harmful to minors may only be distributed via telemedia within a closed user group. As a result, telemedia providers must ensure that access data for such content is only given to people who have proved that they are over 18.

According to the KJM, reliable age verification should be a two-step process. Firstly, the person's age should be checked through personal face-to-face contact and secondly, authentication should take place each time the service is used.

All three of the systems checked by the KJM represent modules (partial solutions) of a multi-stage identification procedure that enables face-to-face checks to be carried out via webcam.

Under these systems, simple identification via webcam, as the initial age check for repeated usage, is combined with additional security measures. Users can only obtain permission to access the required content after entering their personal details along with a PIN number on the website of the content provider, providing information from their identity card and holding a video-conference with qualified employees of the provider, during which the information they have provided is verified.

There are currently 32 KJM-approved age verification system concepts or modules, as well as six general youth protection concepts of which age verification systems form a component.

According to the KJM, however, all modules must form part of an overall concept in order to ensure a closed user group.

In this context, the KJM is offering to check whether the concepts devised by interested companies for technical measures to protect young people in the media meet the relevant legislative provisions.