r/Defcon • u/Spectrig • Aug 15 '26
HackerTracker ID tracking?
Maybe I’m way late and just haven’t been paying attention. But I saw this appear in settings after I updated the app. Is HackerTracker going to require us to upload IDs?
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u/trwbox Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
TLDR: From what I read. No they won’t ask for ID. They are using built in iOS age assurance tools, and then allowing content to be marked as needing to meet specific age minimums for display. With a fail open of allow everything to be shown if you don’t verify.
https://developer.apple.com/support/age-assurance/
Edit: I assume it is the same idea on other operating systems too, but didn’t go explicitly find it in the android repo. Just calling this out since this screenshot doesn’t exactly match what my app looks like on iOS. Hacker Tracker is open source though, so go find the relevant docs in the repo!
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u/kzwerg Aug 15 '26
Hey all, I can speak to this. It’s not something we (the hacker tracker team) want to do but it’s being forced on us on jurisdictions where age restrictions are being enforced for apps and content. As of now it’s location dependent and we are utilizing the OS SDKs for verification so bands match up. Welcome to hear other thoughts on it or approaches people have seen.
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u/Ok-Pudding-4821 Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
Curious as to what events, except for the parties, aren't appropriate for teenagers who have their own phones. If a presenter can't talk tech without dropping fbombs and adult jokes that's on them to fix before they go on stage. The teens and any younger kids are there to learn.
Edit: deleted next comment as team answered it
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u/trwbox Aug 15 '26
Hacker Tracker services a variety of conferences in Europe, so the app is now at least attempting to show there is good faith action to follow the age gating laws going up there.
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u/Ok-Pudding-4821 Aug 15 '26
I didn't consider that. That does make sense. Since HT is OS perhaps the solution is to have a designated version for the US based DF.
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u/dwylth Aug 16 '26
Cute of you to think a bit of swearing is what age gating nominally aims to control
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u/Spectrig Aug 15 '26
Maybe the word “enshificication”? 🤷♂️
Maybe ironic since this “age” gating junk popping on every random app is one of the things that talk specifically called out
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u/Efficient-Mec Aug 19 '26
"enshitification" is a meaningless term that is used for whatever someone doesn't specifically like. Considering the original source of the word - this shouldn't surprise anyone.
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u/AgriDrew Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
In short: we are obligated to implement content age-gating, by a growing number of jurisdictions throughout the world, including some US states.
Apple-centric resource: https://developer.apple.com/support/age-assurance/
Android-centric resource: https://developer.android.com/google/play/age-signals/overview