On 1 May 2024, the Australian Government announced an age assurance trial with $6.5 million in funding to explore options for protecting children from harmful online content, including social media and other age-restricted services. This trial will have several components that will guide government decision-making.
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts is responsible for implementing the trial.
The Department is seeking tenders from providers to conduct an independent technical trial and assessment of age assurance technologies to evaluate their effectiveness, maturity, and readiness for use in the Australian context.
The Tenderer will:
- Evaluate the maturity, effectiveness, and readiness for use of available age assurance technologies that determine whether a user is 18 years of age or over, to permit the user to access age-restricted online content.
- Evaluate the maturity, effectiveness, and readiness of available age assurance technologies that determine the age of a user in the 13-16 years age band, to permit the user to create an account on a social media website or application.
The successful Tenderer(s) will conduct a technology trial independently through a standardized testing methodology against the evaluation criteria, assessing a solution’s:
- Accuracy
- Interoperability
- Reliability
- Ease of Use
- Freedom from Bias
- Privacy Protection
- Data Security
- Human Rights Protections
This trial will encompass both age verification technologies, which use identification attributes or other confirmed sources of information to confirm age, and age estimation technologies, which can use biometric information (such as facial age estimation and voice analysis) or analyze behavioral or online signals (such as digital usage patterns) to estimate age.
The Tenderer is required to use a body accredited against a relevant internationally recognized standard, such as an ISO/IEC 17065 accredited conformity assessment body.
There will be an industry briefing on 18 September 2024. This will be a virtual event held on Microsoft Teams.
The closing time and date for responses will remain open until the 7th of October 2024.
If you are after further advice on this topic or any tender opportunity, feel free to contact us. You can also subscribe to this newsletter for regular weekly updates.
