Pornhub is back, but only for people Apple says are adults.
An adult in Australia sits on her couch and opens a legal website. Her phone asks her to prove she's eighteen. That's Australia age verification. Pornhub left the country in March rather than collect that proof itself.
Pornhub is back, but only for people Apple says are adults.
According to the Australian Computer Society, Android users are still locked out. So are people with no smartphone. Apple checks a card, a passport or a license. The website just gets a yes or no. For security teams, the lesson is simple. The I.D. didn't vanish. It moved to Apple.
Your age used to be the key. Now your phone brand is too.
Why would Pornhub trust Apple with the risky part? Start with one number.
A fourteen-year-old wants a new app. It asks for a selfie, then a photo of an I.D. Next week, another app asks again. Each upload leaves one more copy of a child's face. Apple age verification flips that.
One check on your phone can replace a dozen uploads.
According to Lawfare Media, reviews found some outside age-check firms tracking users. Some sent personal data to ad networks without consent. Then a breach hit a company Discord used for these checks. Over seventy thousand I.D. photos spilled out.
For security teams, every stored copy is one more target.
The safest copy of your child's I.D. is the one nobody keeps.
Those checks at least ask first. A camera in London never asks.
A commuter rushes through a London station, coffee in hand. She never stops and never shows I.D. But a camera already checked her face. British Transport Police ran this facial recognition trial for six months. The software compares each face to a police watchlist.
The cameras checked half a million faces and led to zero arrests.
According to Liberty Investigates, the trial cost about three hundred twenty thousand pounds.
One false alarm. No arrests from the cameras.
Police still plan to expand it into Underground stations. Lawyers will ask if that's worth the cost to innocent people.
Unlocking your phone with your face is a choice. Walking past this camera isn't.
All three stories ask one question. Who holds your face, and did you agree? Pornhub handed the job to Apple. Apple cuts a dozen copies down to one. London's cameras never asked. Your face is becoming a key. Know who's holding it.
All three articles and today's CaraComp podcast deep-dives are in the description. Read them before your next age check or commute. See you tomorrow.
