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Protecting kids in digital spaces is a big topic in legislation and the news.  The concern with it has often been that everyone's privacy and personal information has to be put at risk in order to protect children.

Bandio proves age can be more clear in a way that is convenient, secure, and truly private.

Scroll down for answers to questions we've been asked, and please reach out if you have additional questions!‍

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Bandio is in its proof-of-concept stage.

Now, platforms and legislators need to hear parents loud and clear for this to become available for use in the real world.

Click the button below to tell us which platforms you most want Bandio to support. And please ask other people you know to consider doing the same.

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Bandio Age Band Basics

Why does Bandio exist?


More and more laws are being passed around the world requiring more and more sites to do robust age checks. We created Bandio as a privacy-preserving, parent-friendly option for sites to comply with those laws. 

In the physical world, a lost 10-year-old would get help from other adults. In the digital world, we don’t even know the lost user is a 10-year-old. Bandio helps make it clear how old users are, so they can be treated appropriately.

What IS an age band?

A Bandio age band is a reusable digital token that you (and users of all ages!) can use to communicate your age range anonymously to participating sites and apps.

Bandio’s age bands are an alternative to providing a birthdate.

‍Want a more detailed description?

Where does the age band live?

Your Bandio age band lives on your device in the browser’s storage.

Bandio (the organization) does NOT have a copy of the band or of any information you provided when getting an age band.

I created a band for my kid… now what?

Today, you can use your Bandio age band to advocate for a safer, more age appropriate digital world for your kids and kids everywhere by telling sites they should accept privacy-preserving age tokens like Bandio.

You can tell us your top priority sites here.

Creating a Bandio Age Band

How do I get an age band for a child or teen? 

To create a band for a child or teen, you as the parent or guardian specify the age or age range of your child and provide evidence that you are at least 24 years old.

For Bandio’s Beta version, the primary method to demonstrate you are at least 24 is taking a selfie. The system uses the image to estimate your age and then deletes the image.


See I want more details! below for a more in-depth description of the process.

How do I get an age band for myself?

If you’re 16 or older, you can create your own age band by providing evidence to Bandio that you fit into the selected age range.

If you are 24+, you take a selfie and the system uses the image to estimate your age and then deletes the image.

If you are between 16 and 23, our age estimation technology is not accurate enough, so you need to provide evidence of your age through an additional method in order to create the age band. Currently, that method requires an image of your US Driver’s License. The system deletes the selfie and the ID after attempting to use them to confirm your age range.

Note, Bandio will be adding more methods in the future after the Beta period to enable more people to create age bands.

What happens if I don’t pass the 24+ test? 

If you are 24 or older but the system incorrectly estimates your age as below 24 from your selfie, you might feel a pleasing sense of self-satisfaction at your youthful appearance. You will also be asked to provide evidence of your age through an additional method in order to create the age band.

See the previous question “How do I get an age band for myself” for a description of the secondary method.

Note, we plan to expand methods in the future, since we know most people do not have a US license! We chose these two methods because Bandio was able to implement them without having to rely on any third parties.

Why do we need age bands?

Why should I want an age band for me or my child?

Without age bands or other types of robust age checks, kids are often treated like adults by social media, gaming, pornography, gambling, and other sites. This isn’t safe or positive for kids.

More robust age checks are a necessary step in making the digital world more age appropriate.

Age bands like Bandio’s enable you to do a robust age check once, and then use the anonymous age band with sites and apps.

Why do I need to create an age band for myself? How does that help kids? 

Sometimes, the best way to protect children is to ask the adults to help.

In the physical world, we deter young people from buying alcohol by asking everyone, including adults, to show an ID.

In the digital world, we need to do the same thing to keep kids off of 18+ sites and 18+ areas of sites popular with kids and teens.

What would change for my child if sites knew their actual age? 

Most parents don’t know that many popular sites provide better safety and privacy settings for users who self-declare themselves to be a kid or teen.

These settings vary by site, but can include benefits like making the child’s profile private by default, limiting ability for strangers to see the child’s posts, preventing violent or explicit ads from being shown to the child, restricting features that have harmed children in the past, and limiting access to content intended for older teens or adults.

More and more sites are adding or expanding these types of age-based settings in response to new regulations and public pressure. But your child is not benefitting unless the site knows your kid is a kid or your teen is a teen.

I Want More Details

What are all the steps to get an age band? 

To create an age band for a child or teen under 16, you as their parent or guardian needs to do the following three steps after tapping on the "Create an age band button" on the Bandio home page or on a partner site.

First, choose the appropriate age range for your child.

Second, demonstrate you are at least 24 by taking a selfie and consenting to the Bandio system analyzing your image to estimate your age.

Third, you save the band (on the device in the browser’s storage) optionally with a password to prevent others who use your device from using the age band. Bandio deletes your image after using it to estimate your age.

No, really, what is an age band, technically? 

A Bandio age band consists of the following information: your current age-range (age-range description, minimum age, maximum age), a proxy birthdate (i.e. the latest possible birthdate associated with your chosen age range, calculated based on your band creation date), the method used to determine your age range (e.g, “selfie”), and a zero knowledge proof (an advanced mathematical calculation) that serves as the authenticity seal for the age band. 

How do sites know that an age band is legitimate? 

When you share your Bandio age band with a site, the site checks that the band is authentic and hasn’t been tampered with by verifying the zero knowledge proof through Bandio’s API.

Bandio uses Aleo Foundation’s toolkit for creating and verifying zero knowledge proofs.

As you might notice, an age band does NOT include any contact information nor any name information. It is truly anonymous.

Tactical Questions. We have answers!

How does my age band work on my other device? 

Age bands are specific to a given device and browser.

You need to create a separate age band for each user on each device they use.

Creating a new band typically takes less than a minute, and preventing age bands from moving from device to device is one way Bandio secures age bands.

How do I make sure my younger child doesn’t use my older child’s band? 

If you have people of different ages with access to the same device, it’s good practice to add a password or passcode when prompted by Bandio to all of the “older” age bands. Make sure to choose something that your younger children cannot guess!

And never store the age band password or passcode in the browser, since anyone who can get on your device is likely to be able to access your stored passwords!.

My child was able to create a band for an adult!! What happened?

Bandio’s current beta product is a work in progress. While we are actively working to improve the system’s accuracy in estimating your age from your selfie, the current accuracy is quite low.

That means the system currently will tell some people over 24 that they aren’t old enough to create a band and it will allow some people under 16 to create bands.

The age estimation technology already exists and has been shown to be sufficiently accurate for preventing under 18 year olds from passing as over 24, and will only improve over time.

See the recent report from the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). 

Should I save my band? 

Yes, if you’re on a device you use frequently. (Age bands are specific to a device and browser.)

Once sites support Bandio’s age bands, you will be able to use the age band on multiple sites without having to prove your age again.

If you don’t save the band, you’ll have to create a new age band next time you want to show it to a site/app. If you have younger family members who use your device, make sure to password protect the older age bands for the older teens and adults.

How do I delete a band? 

You can delete a band at any time to prevent its future use by clicking on the Bandio button, choosing “I already have a band” and then “Manage Bands”, selecting the band you want to delete and clicking the Delete button. Please note that deleting your age band at Bandio does NOT change or invalidate the age information you already provided to sites.

How do I cancel my account?

Your Bandio age band is stored on your local device in the browser’s storage. Bandio does not have a copy of your age band and does not have an account for you in our records connected to your age band, so there is no “account” to cancel in the typical sense. Welcome to the new privacy-preserving digital world! (You can delete a band that you no longer want to use, however. See other question.)

(If you signed up for our email list, which is completely separate from any bands you may or may not create, you can opt out of that list by clicking on “Unsubscribe” on any of our emails)

Why so many different age bands?

There are two reasons for having so many different age bands. The first reason is to make sure that when your child uses an age band, it provides the site with enough information to meet their legal obligations for your geographic region. Just as different countries and states have different age requirements for driving, voting and drinking alcohol, so too do different regions have different age requirements for various types of online activity. The second reason is to provide your child with a more developmentally appropriate experience from day 1. The under 13 age ranges were selected based on research on child development done by Common Sense Media.

My child is four years old.

Why is the youngest age band 6-8?

We will be adding more age bands once we are out of our Beta phase.

Bandio & Privacy

We take privacy very seriously.

Does Bandio put any of my private information at risk?

No.

Unlike age assurance tools which keep records of personal details like your driver's license or social security number, Bandio’s process to get an age band does not store any personal information beyond the age information.

We can’t lose what we don’t have.

We avoid storing the information by using zero-knowledge proofs (or, as we like to call it, “fancy math”).

Do I have to share my private, sensitive information with sites to verify my age?

No.

Once you've set up your age band or your child's age band with Bandio, you can provide ONLY the age range to a participating site. Bandio provides the site with the mathematical proof that your Bandio age band was created through the official process.

You do not have to give any other information to the site for age verification.

Is my ID stored in a database that could be compromised?

No.

We don't store your ID, images, or any information you provide during the verification process.

We can't put at risk what we don't have!

For further protection, each age band is individually locked (i.e. encrypted), and you are the only person with a key to unlock yours. Bandio doesn't even have the key!

Have a question we didn't answer?

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for a Nicer Net.

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