87
Chinese Age-verification
(lemmy.world)
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Btw this is most likely a scam. This is the equivalent of asking for your name, DOB, and SSN on a random app you found (the ID contains both location and DOB). Even if you have an actual ID DO NOT FILL THIS OUT. Delete, purge, and move on.
Last I checked, in China, you are legally required to put in your name and ID for games like mobile games. If I recall correctly, the law says something about making sure children don't spend all day gaming. And just inputting a fake Chinese name and Chinese ID isn't inherently bad. The bigger problem would be what the app does behind the scenes. That's what I'd be more concerned about.
I've had to do this with PvZ2 Chinese edition back in 2021, which was originally started by PopCap Shanghai, so it wasn't just some random small company making some relatively obscure game. I personally think it's a dumb law, but there's nothing a foreigner like myself can do to really change it.
And I did the same as a kid in the late 2000s in order to play World of Warcraft. Found someone's info on a random online dump, filled it in and didn't think more about the id theft. What I then learned is that there is NO "fake" IDs that can pass this test. It's just plain old ID theft of actual people.
The ID itself is encoded as 3-digit city/3-digit district/8-digit dob/and 4 random digits. There is no "generated" name that works with a specific ID since the name isn't encoded anywhere. Most reputable vendors perform the check backed by an actual government DB.
The problem is that it IS the exact same info used to apply for bank accounts, loans, mobile phone numbers, etc. And nobody bats an eye when a pirated gaming app asks for it. This could be legitimate, but I'm more willing to say this is someone's ID collection scheme. If that's the case, it could be doing more than just collecting IDs (cause why not?) or it's at least facilitating more ID theft.
Fair enough.