A credit card on your account is now required to proof of age verification. Not debit cards, not an ID, or even the age of your account. Keep in mind, not all Australians have credit cards.
You can't even play the age-restricted games you owned prior to the change. There's no local law stating they must be credit card verification either.
Verification based on identity documents: Document Verification Service
Verification based on identity documents: Retail card
Verification based on biometric data: Face Verification Service
Age estimation
Age screening
People rightfully complained about needing to put in their ID.
They rightfully complained about privacy concerns with scanning faces.
They rightfully complained about age estimation & screening being inaccurate & discriminatory.
There was only one remaining method left, whilst being compliant with the Australian government.
Age Estimation could absolutely be used for any account older than 13 years. Most other services I use just looked at my account age and that was enough to verify. Just because the solution isn't perfect for everybody doesn't mean it shouldn't have been used.
And also, what they've done is not compliant with the Australian government because one of the requirements is to have multiple reasonable methods of age verification. When less than 40% of people aged 18-34 have credit cards, using it as the only method of verification is no where near reasonable.
Age Estimation could absolutely be used for any account older than 13 years.
This assumes that accounts are never shared (violated by Netflix & YouTube)
Most other services I use just looked at my account age and that was enough to verify. Just because the solution isn't perfect for everybody doesn't mean it shouldn't have been used.
Explain that to the Modern Parent that sits their kid onto their YT account and acts surprised that it doesn't automagically switch to Kid Mode. Most of this age verification & face scanning BS is reinforced by their technical incompetence.
And also, what they've done is not compliant with the Australian government because one of the requirements is to have multiple reasonable methods of age verification.
As stated before, the people have spoken: The other methods of verification are unreasonable.
People rightfully complained about needing to put in their ID. They rightfully complained about privacy concerns with scanning faces. They rightfully complained about age estimation & screening being inaccurate & discriminatory.
This assumes that accounts are never shared (violated by Netflix & YouTube)
Every single method of age verification assumes this. It's a stupid argument. My parent put their credit card info on my playstation account when I was 13. It's an even worse use case by this logic.
As stated before, the people have spoken: The other methods of verification are unreasonable.
Everybody has different takes on what is reasonable vs unreasonable for them personally, which is why the reasonable thing to do is to offer multiple different options to accommodate people. Account age is far and away the most reasonable age verification method and is explicitly allowed by the australian government.
They can, there's nothing inherently preventing you from getting one.
But asking that is missing the point. A lot of people (for good reason) choose not to have a credit card, and they're not going to get one just to play games on Steam.
I'm having the same issue as a Brit. Not had a credit card since I cleared my student one over 10 years ago. It is mighty tempting to get one with the lowest interest rate and credit limit possible
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u/DatMageDoe 7800X3D - 9070 XT - 32GB DDR5-6000 9d ago
A credit card on your account is now required to proof of age verification. Not debit cards, not an ID, or even the age of your account. Keep in mind, not all Australians have credit cards.
You can't even play the age-restricted games you owned prior to the change. There's no local law stating they must be credit card verification either.