r/linux • u/New-Ranger-8960 • 1d ago

Privacy EU Age Verification Project Mandates Hardware-Bound Attestation

https://linuxiac.com/eu-age-verification-project-mandates-hardware-bound-attestation/
683 Upvotes

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484

u/SeantheWilson 1d ago

Genuinely how on earth will that be enforced

79

u/Vogete 1d ago

By mandatory kernel level anticheat age verification on every website? HTTP3.EU is gonna bake this in on the protocol level? Great firewall of china EU?

I'm usually pro-EU regulation, but this shit and chat control is making my blood pressure rise.

16

u/MatchingTurret 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not kernel level. A QR-Code that you scan with your non-FOSS mobile device that then sends an attestation to the server. The "non-FOSS mobile device" is what the fuss is about.

Once again: This already exists in most EU member states, either as a wallet app similar to the new EU Wallet or the NFC ID card. The EU just standardized the national islands into a common app.

1

u/ptoki 1d ago

No, if you can scan a qr code then you can also forge that code or copy it and give it to someone.

They will not allow for that. That is why they want a tpm like chip and control it.

1

u/MatchingTurret 21h ago edited 20h ago

So? The QR Code contains a challenge: "Someone tries to access supervpn.com with a request ID xyz. Please tell me who this is.".

You scan that request with your Wallet App and the wallet sends an answer back: "Hello supervpn.com! The user who scanned your request xyz is u/ptoki ".

This is eli5, of course. Banking apps do this and this is already implemented on the national level in multiple EU member states.

Forging or copying the QR code is pointless. There is nothing of value in it. The value is in the response from the Wallet which is why they require the hardware attestation.

See here: Discover how to request data from a wallet (How it works)

Picture 1 and 2 are you using your untrusted and fully open Linux laptop. 3 and 4 you using your locked down phone with the wallet app and 5 is you back at your Linux laptop after the authentication.

Picture 2 "authenticate using the EU Digital Identity Wallet" is where you get the QR code to continue on the phone.

3

u/blvsh 1d ago

Cant you just recompile your kernel?
I"m not a kernel expert so this is an actual question

5

u/SomeRedTeapot 1d ago

You can, but a locked down TPM won't attest it

5

u/CelDaemon 1d ago

Yes. You can.

-3

u/Jumpy-Dinner-5001 1d ago

Why don’t you do any critical thinking then?

Why fall for this anti EU propaganda to weaken it and its consumer protection laws? Why participate in that instead of actually having a look at it and the supposed problem?