Germany

[DE] KJM gives positive assessment of additional Internet age verification system

IRIS 2015-4:1/6

Cristina Bachmeier

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

At its meeting on 28 January 2015, the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Committee for the Protection of Young People in the Media - KJM) gave a positive assessment of the “[verify‐U] face‐to‐face” module, an additional age verification system devised by Cybits AG for closed user groups in telemedia.

According to the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on the Protection of Young People in the Media - JMStV), certain telemedia services that are harmful to minors may only be distributed within a closed user group. As a result, telemedia providers are required to ensure that access data for such content is only given to people who have been identified as being over the age of majority.

According to KJM rules, reliable age verification systems must comprise two stages. Firstly, it must be verified through personal contact (a face-to-face check) that the person is over the age of majority, and secondly, an authentication procedure must be completed every time the service is used.

The system examined by the KJM uses a “face-to-face check” via webcam as part of the multi-stage identification procedure.

In this system, simple identification via webcam as the initial age check each time the service is used is supplemented with additional security measures. Users are only given access to the service they require after entering their details on the content provider’s website, proving their identity through an existence check and an electronic ID card check, submitting their ID card details and participating in a video-conference with qualified Cybits AG staff, who check that all the information that they have provided is consistent.

At present, a total of 33 age verification concepts or modules have been positively assessed by the KJM. In addition, age verification systems currently form part of six general youth protection concepts.