Welcome to the ‘papers, please’ internet

This is The Stepback, a play newsletter breaking down 1 indispensable communicative from the tech world. For much connected the downward spiral of the internet, travel Adi Robertson. The Stepback arrives successful our subscribers' inboxes astatine 8AM ET. Opt successful for The Stepback here.

How it started

Back successful 2018, 2 years aft the UK authorities decided to instrumentality mandatory hard property gates connected big websites, it floated an thought called the "porn pass." The porn walk was a carnal paper you'd bargain by handing implicit your ID to a brick-and-mortar store attendant. It would incorporate authentication accusation that would enactment arsenic a low-tech anonymization system, letting you verif …

Read the afloat communicative astatine The Verge.