ESRB wants to use a Facial Scan to verify your age

ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) has an idea and it’s to verify your age with a Facial Scan. They want to introduce a system that would see customers scan their faces using a mobile device to gain access to content such as mature games.

The ESRB are partnering with digital identity firm Yoti, Epic Games subsidiary and software company, SuperAwesome. They claim the Facial Age Estimation is accurate to determine the age of a person. The idea was proposed to the FTC in a 38 page document . You can view the document here.

Here is how the process works:

The user takes a photo of themselves

The system then checks if there’s a live human face in the frame

The image is then uploaded to Yoti’s backend server for estimation

When it comes to this there are safety concerns for parents and guardians. The group claims the images are permanently deleted and will not be used by Yoti for training purposes.

This is an interesting idea by the ESRB and could be useful for when kids take control of a phone owned by a parent and try to purchase mature games. We’ve all seen kids below the age of the mature requirement purchase games like Grand Theft Auto. Will this idea work in the long run?

Source: gameindustry.biz via Insider Gaming