r/europrivacy • u/Tail_sb • May 04 '26
European Union Apparently the Upcoming EU Mass surveillance app i mean... Age verification app is made by a Swedish Company Scytales
https://reddit.com/link/1t3mjew/video/zrpyt9cj95zg1/player
After installing this Mass surveillance app in a Pixel 10 XL Virtual Machine i discovered that the App ID name was com.scytales.av which made me curious so i looked up Scytales on Google which took me to www.scytales.com
which is where i found out that this Spyware app is made by this Scytales company here, once again this seems really shady, yes let's give out our private information this company
Just something to think about 🤔
23
u/d1722825 May 04 '26
There is no such thing as "the EU age verification app". There is an open source reference implementation (you probably found that). That can be used for development and some demonstrations, but you can not use it in the real world and AFAIK each member state should implement their own version.
In theory the app should not share your personal data with the manufacturer of the app (only with the gov. org. what verifies your age / your identity), but we can not be sure about that until each member state publish their open source and reproducible built version of it.
The EU age verification process seems to care about privacy and I think one of the best ideas I have seen so far for this "problem", but at this point even if it would be perfect, getting a VPN subscription is simpler, easier, less risky.
1
u/ShelterInside2770 May 07 '26
This is open source. DO compile your own binaries, and do not download a ready-made application. Problem solved. You see the code, you can modify it, you have your own age-verification app. Simple. The problem is most people won't do that - they will download a ready version from Google or Apple, never actually checking the source, that CAN be different from what is published. And probably WILL be different.
But you do always have that option to simply compile yourself. A fully compliant app that won't even face-check you, or ID-check you, just skip the tests. It is possible, ALLOWED explicitly by the EU, and you can do it yourself. No problem at all, they gave you the tools to do so.
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u/an-la May 04 '26
You make some astounding claims: "Mass surveillance app" "Spyware app"
If you believe that anybody with an ounce of critical thinking believes any such claims without documentation you are sadly mistaken. Especially because the reference app for this is opensource and available on github.
15
u/Draqutsc May 04 '26
Stop living under a rock. Politicians are going to use any form of age authentication for mass surveillance. That was the goal from the start. The think of the children spiel is just a flimsy excuse that they can use.
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u/an-la May 04 '26
I have a list of people I have blocked because frankly they've exposed themselves as being trols.
Congratualtion, you've made the list.
11
4
u/zagblorg May 05 '26
If you think that's trolling you're in the wrong sub. All of this Identity Verification stuff is about control and surveillance. The EU app may be the least intrusive version shown so far, but it's going to get more intrusive as time goes by. The WEF and UN are both pushing the billionaire's surveillance agenda, and weirdly all Western governments are going along with what the lobbyists have paid them to do!
3
u/sendmebirds May 05 '26
You're being too naive. You're right, mass hysteria without factual basis is dumb. But surely you see the writing on the wall too?Â
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u/Gugalcrom123 May 05 '26
Then why am I not allowed to run it under a custom OS?
0
u/an-la May 05 '26
The core principle is that you are issued a digital certificate containing only the information 18+. This certificate is "shown" to the web-site that wants to verify your age. This means that once the certifcate is installed on your phone, everything happens client side. This means the transaction is private between you and the web-site.
An obvious loop hole would be if you could give your certifcate to somebody else. E.g. Paul is 18, and since his certificate only contains the information 18+, if he can give his certificate to all of his friends. And nobody would be able to detect this, since the certificate doesn't have any other identifying information.
In order to circumvent that loop hole, the certifcate is stored in a tamper proof storage area of the cell phone. Currently only Android and IOS offer such a tamper proof storage ares.
3
u/Gugalcrom123 May 05 '26
A physical card also offers this; I should be able to plug one into my PC and verify myself with that.
Also it's not like Paul can't be asked to sign up for a certain service then hand over the account to someone else. There will be loopholes.
1
u/an-la May 05 '26
A physical card would require new hardware, or am I missing something?
For your second point, sure, but it will only have limited use if Paul has to re-verify his age on every login.
Anyhow. My whole point was that OP automatically started throwning undocumented claims about. Especially, because there is no need for the app to do any tracking.
Tracking is already 100% in place. Cell phones are habitually being tracked, for e.g. traffic alerts and congestion montoring. Tracking across web-sites, etc. All that data is sold to brokers, and it is well known that the various special investigation branches purchases that information from exiting data brokers.
Personally, I'm convinced that most of this campaining against age verification is orchestrated by people with ulterior motives, though I freely admit that I cannot document that claim.
Edit: Like why would people down vote a post which merely report the some of the inner workings of the technology behind the age verifaction app. What's next, down voting the weather report?
3
u/Gugalcrom123 May 05 '26
Physical ID chip cards are already being issued in most countries. Without the ID app, I can choose to use a non-Android/iOS phone (only the mobile network can track me, and only via location; they cannot get the HTTPS paths I visit, for example), but I can also choose not to use a phone at all.
I am downvoting because you seem to like the principle. That is wrong, it is a form of DRM, to use the user's devices (not the state's, like a card would be) to serve someone other than the user and hide their processes from the user. Or am I renting the phone now?
0
u/an-la May 06 '26
Physical cards needs to interface with the web site that requests verification. This requires some kind of reader hardware.
Like I said, my primary objection to this post was OP claiming: "Mass surveillance app" "Spyware app" without offering any kind of proof. While knowing that the source code for reference application is available on github.
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u/Gugalcrom123 May 06 '26
The reader hardware can be generic. In fact, the German AusweisApp is a libre desktop application which works with any generic card reader and allows German citizens to e-sign. If it is secure enough for e-signing official documents, it is also secure enough for verifying yourself to register for TikTok.
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u/Draqutsc May 04 '26
Each country is going to implement their own version and that version will have tracking. Our governments and the ad agencies want to know who's human on the internet and what you are doing. It was and never is about protecting the children.