[7bit]

> You can't verify age without verifying identity, and once the infrastructure exists, scope creep is a matter of when, not if.

That's not true. But it's also not simple.

The German digital ID card system is able to anonymously do age verification.

Unfortunately, Germany fucked it up so badly, as a verifier, you need to register and connect yourself to their network, to be able to do so. I don't exactly remember how it worked, but the bottom line is: they made that so beaurocrstic and EXPENSIVE that it's typically only used by state authorities.

But. It's possible and the people should demand that their countries offer it, as it can have a lot of advantages, if this would be implemented so every company could do age verification without requiring any PII.

That would certainly stop governments from eroding privacy through the backdoor with things like: "but think of the children"