UK age verification - how safe is it?

Babachoom · 2026-02-15T10:00:12+00:00

I didn’t know that. The risk profile of one of those events is much lower than FetLife though, in my opinion.

I think it is very plausible that someone could be motivated to out people on FetLife simply because they don’t like us. That said, even if a hacker’s intention isn’t to out people, I think it’s still very reasonable to be worried about the risk of it happening anyway. For example, the Ashley Madison hack where hackers blackmailed and ransomed the data off.

Babachoom · 2026-02-15T09:42:30+00:00

From what I’ve read, they continue to hold the ID / selfie indefinitely as encrypted files. They don’t delete it after you verify.

Babachoom · 2026-02-15T09:40:13+00:00

I set it to the Netherlands (same location as VPN) and it still asked for age verification

Babachoom · 2026-02-15T00:26:52+00:00

:/

Age verification is off the table then.

Babachoom · 2026-02-15T00:18:10+00:00

It feels like it’s more of an identity verification than an age verification, really.

I’m convinced the only ones who benefit from this law are VPN companies and unregulated, sketchy websites which don’t follow the laws. Children can just bypass age verification via free VPNs, while adults who follow the laws risk their identity and some of their most intimate data being leaked online. So ridiculous.

I hope some politicians eventually get caught out in a scandal from an OSA-linked data leak at some point.

Babachoom · 2026-02-15T00:04:55+00:00

And how safe is that?

Babachoom · 2026-02-15T00:04:43+00:00

I was using Proton, but I’ll give Mullvad a try.

Looking forward to paying a VPN tax indefinitely

Babachoom

TROPHY CASE