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US firm joins Australia’s Age Assurance Technology Trial to help build “trust and security in the digital world”.
San Francisco-based Incode Technologies has said it will take part in the Australian federal government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial ahead of a legislated ban on Australian children under the age of 16 accessing social media.
Incode’s technology can estimate a user’s age in seconds via a “biometric selfie” and has a true positive rate of 99.87 per cent.
No personal information is stored in the process, which was recently validated by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
In particular, Incode hopes to demonstrate its expertise in two areas:
“We don’t just meet requirements – we innovate alongside our clients to solve the industry’s toughest age-related challenges, with privacy and safety at the core of everything we build,” Yoon Kim, product lead at Incode Technologies, said in a statement.
Milo Flores, Incode’s GTM lead for age verification, said the company’s experience in age estimation helps “businesses across sectors combat fraud while ensuring seamless user experiences”.
“This depth of experience makes us a natural fit for this ground-breaking trial, which aligns with our mission to build trust and security in the digital world,” Flores said.
The Age Assurance Technology Trial is being conducted by the UK’s Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS), which won the tender to lead the trial in November 2024.
Andrew Irwin – assistant secretary, online safety branch, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts – said in November that the department was “working closely with industry and communities to deliver the age assurance trial, which will play an important role in determining the most effective way to protect young people online”.
“As world leaders in their field and with the help of industry experts, ACCS is well placed to lead the trial, which will inform next steps for this vital work,” Irwin said.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.