Proton CEO Warns Global Age Checks Will Kill Online Anonymity

Andy Yen, CEO of the encrypted services firm Proton, has issued a stark warning that the global trend toward mandatory online age verification marks "the death of anonymity." Speaking amid a wave of new regulations in the US, UK, and Australia, Yen argues that forcing users to upload government IDs or biometric data creates massive "honeypots" for hackers. He points to recent breaches, such as the leak of 70,000 IDs from a Discord vendor, as proof that centralized databases are inherently insecure. Instead of state or corporate surveillance, Proton advocates for device-level, open-source, and end-to-end encrypted solutions that put control back into the hands of parents without permanent data collection.

Read the full story on TechRadar →