Online Age Verification Rules Are Popping Up Everywhere. Here's What You Need to Know

The internet is full of perils -- this we know.

Among the rich trove of content we have at our fingertips is a combination of legal material, illegal material and material that falls into a gray area -- often referred to in vague terms as "harmful." This is the kind of content that might be appropriate for anyone with a fully developed prefrontal cortex to view but that you wouldn't necessarily want your kids stumbling across.

In the past, accessing such content has been easy, regardless of age. You've been able to tick a box declaring yourself older than 18 or 21, or input a false birth date with no hassle. But that's beginning to change.

Last month the UK became one of the first countries to mandate that tech companies verify the age of people using online services where they might be