零知识证明如何解决年龄验证的难题

我们目睹了提议的法律提升，限制了未成年人进入社交媒体和互联网，包括澳大利亚，佛罗里达和中国。

The state of Louisiana recently enacted a law meant to block minors from viewing porn. To do so, the legislation required sites to make users upload an ID before viewing content.

路易斯安那州最近制定了一项法律，旨在阻止未成年人观看色情。为此，立法要求站点在查看内容之前先上传用户上传ID。

The Free Speech Coalition, a trade association that represents the adult entertainment industry, challenged the law in a lawsuit, arguing that it was unconstitutional. The lawsuit claimed that the law forced the plaintiffs to engage in conduct that violated the First Amendment in order to avoid an allegedly unlawful restraint on their right to free speech. The lawsuit also stated that the plaintiffs would be forced to choose between two constitutional rights: the right to free speech and the right to privacy.

代表成人娱乐业的贸易协会的言论自由联盟在诉讼中对法律提出了质疑，认为这是违宪的。该诉讼声称，该法律迫使原告从事违反第一修正案的行为，以避免据称对言论自由权的非法限制。该诉讼还指出，原告将被迫在两种宪法权利之间进行选择：言论自由权和隐私权。

The lawsuit was eventually dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on procedural grounds. However, the reaction to the law highlights the dilemma facing policymakers and platforms: how to block minors without violating adults’ rights or creating new privacy risks.

该诉讼最终以程序理由被美国地方法院驳回了路易斯安那州西部地区。但是，对法律的反应突出了政策制定者和平台面临的困境：如何在不侵犯成年人权利或造成新的隐私风险的情况下阻止未成年人。

Currently, age verification tools are either ineffective or invasive. Self-declaration is meaningless as users can simply lie about their age. ID-based verification is overly invasive. No one should be required to upload their most sensitive documents, putting themselves at risk of data breaches and identity theft.

当前，年龄验证工具要么无效或侵入性。自我传播是毫无意义的，因为用户可以简单地说明自己的年龄。基于ID的验证过于侵入性。不应要求任何人上传他们最敏感的文件，从而使自己处于数据泄露和身份盗用的风险。

Biometric solutions like fingerprints and face scans are convenient for users but present important ethical, privacy and security concerns. Such systems are not always accurate and may generate false positives and negatives. The irreversible nature of the data, which can’t be changed like a regular password can, is also less than ideal.

指纹和面部扫描等生物识别解决方案对于用户来说很方便，但提出了重要的道德，隐私和安全问题。这样的系统并不总是准确的，可能会产生误报和负面因素。数据的不可逆转性，不能像常规密码那样更改，也不是理想的。

Other methods, like behavioral tracking and AI-driven verification of browser patterns, are also problematic. For example, some platforms use machine learning to analyze user interactions and identify patterns and anomalies. However, this can create a surveillance culture and may not be effective in all cases.

其他方法，例如行为跟踪和浏览器模式的AI驱动验证，也有问题。例如，某些平台使用机器学习来分析用户交互并识别模式和异常。但是，这可以创造一种监视文化，并且在所有情况下可能并不有效。

A privacy-preserving solution exists in the form of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). Like a government ID provider, a trusted entity verifies the user's age and generates a cryptographic proof confirming they are over the required age.

以零知识证明（ZKP）的形式存在隐私的解决方案。像政府ID提供商一样，受信任的实体验证用户的年龄并产生加密证明，以确认其超过所需的年龄。

Websites would only need to check the proof, not the underlying personal data, ensuring privacy while keeping minors at the gates. No centralized data storage would be required, reducing the burden on platforms such as Google, Meta and WhatsApp and eliminating the risk of data breaches.

网站只需要检查证明，而不是基本的个人数据，从而确保隐私，同时将未成年人留在大门。不需要集中的数据存储，从而减轻了Google，Meta和WhatsApp等平台上的负担，并消除了数据泄露的风险。

Adopting and enforcing ZKPs at scale presents some difficulties. ZKPs can be complex to implement and the notion of “don't trust, verify,” proven by indisputable mathematics, may cause some regulatory skepticism. For example, policymakers might be less likely to trust cryptographic proofs than visible ID verification.

大规模采用和执行ZKP会带来一些困难。 ZKP可以很复杂，并且通过无可争议的数学证明，“不要信任，验证”的概念可能会引起某些监管怀疑主义。例如，与可见的ID验证相比，政策制定者的信任证明可能不太可能信任密码。

There are also occasions when companies may need to disclose personal information to authorities, such as during an investigation into financial crimes or government inquiries. This would challenge ZKPs, whose very intention is for platforms not to hold this data in the first place.

在某些情况下，公司可能需要向当局披露个人信息，例如在对金融犯罪或政府调查的调查中。这将挑战ZKP，其意图是平台首先不持有此数据。

Moreover, ZKPs struggle with scalability and performance, being somewhat computationally expensive and tricky to program. However, efficient implementation techniques are being explored and breakthroughs, such as the Noir programming language, are making ZKPs more accessible to developers, driving the adoption of secure, privacy-first solutions.

此外，ZKP与可扩展性和性能斗争，在计算上有些昂贵且棘手的编程。但是，正在探索有效的实施技术和突破，例如Noir编程语言，使开发人员更容易访问ZKP，并推动采用安全，隐私优先解决方案。

Google's recent move to adopt ZKPs for age verification is a promising signal that mainstream platforms are beginning to embrace privacy-preserving technologies. But to fully realize the potential of ZKPs, we need more than isolated solutions locked into proprietary ecosystems.

Google最近采用ZKP进行年龄验证的举动是一个有前途的信号，即主流平台开始采用隐私保护技术。但是，为了充分意识到ZKP的潜力，我们需要的不仅仅是将孤立的解决方案锁定在专有生态系统中。

Crypto-native wallets can go further. Open-source and permissionless blockchain-based systems offer interoperability, composability and programmable identity. With a single proof, users could access a range of services across the open web — no need to start from scratch every time, or trust a single provider (Google) with their credentials.

加密本地钱包可以走得更远。开源和无许可的基于区块链的系统提供互操作性，合并性和可编程身份。有了单个证明，用户可以在打开的网络上访问一系列服务 - 无需每次从头开始，或者信任单个提供商（Google）及其凭据。

ZKPs flip the script on online identity — proving what matters, without exposing anything else. They protect user privacy, help platforms stay compliant and keep minors off restricted content, all without creating new honeypots of sensitive data.

ZKP在在线身份上翻转脚本 - 证明重要的是，而无需公开其他任何内容。它们保护用户隐私，帮助平台保持合规性，并使未成年人不受限制内容，而无需创建敏感数据的新蜜饯。

Google's adoption of ZKPs shows mainstream momentum is building. But to truly transform digital identity, we must embrace crypto-native, decentralized systems that give users control over what they share and who they are online.

Google对ZKP的采用表明，主流动力正在建立。但是，要真正改变数字身份，我们必须采用加密本地，分散的系统，使用户控制他们共享的内容和在线谁。

In an era defined by surveillance, ZKPs present a better path forward — one that's secure, private and built for the future.

在监视定义的时代，ZKP提出了更好的前进道路，这是安全，私密且为未来而建造的。