“Age verification” confirms a specific individual meets a declared age (usually by checking identity documents, digital credentials, or corroborating records). “Age estimation” predicts a person’s likely age or age range from data such as biometrics (face images), device signals, or behavioral signals without proving identity. The key difference: verification aims for high assurance about an exact/threshold age tied to identity; estimation gives probabilistic or coarse age ranges and does not prove identity.
The FTC agenda and PDF list speakers and moderators including: FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson (opening remarks), Commissioner Mark R. Meador, BCP Director Christopher Mufarrige, and panelists such as Iain Corby (Age Verification Providers Association) and Sarah Scheffler (Carnegie Mellon University, CyLab). The full agenda PDF on the FTC site contains the complete participant list.
The workshop is informational and advisory; the FTC’s press release and agenda do not announce new rules. Workshops like this commonly inform FTC research, guidance, or future enforcement priorities, but by itself the event does not automatically create rules—any rulemaking or enforcement action would require separate FTC processes.
The FTC published the full agenda PDF and press release on its website. The event is free, open to the public, held in person at the Constitution Center (400 7th St. SW, Washington, D.C.) and webcast at FTC.gov; registration is not required. See the FTC press release and the agenda PDF for webcast/event page details.
Typical FTC and privacy concerns include data minimization and purpose limitation, security of sensitive data (especially biometrics), risk of re‑identification and surveillance, discriminatory errors or bias (e.g., facial age‑estimation disparities), and compliance with children’s-privacy rules (COPPA). The FTC agenda explicitly lists a panel on COPPA and the interplay with age‑verification tools.
Industries commonly using these technologies include social media and user‑generated platforms (to restrict under‑age access), online sales and ecommerce for age‑restricted goods (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis), online gambling and gaming, adult-content sites, and streaming/video services. Regulators and industry guidance cite these sectors as primary users.