Glossary

Glossary¶

Candidate A specific age verification approach or design under evaluation (e.g., document upload, third-party token).

Policy A structured set of assumptions, weights, and scales used to evaluate candidates. Encodes how different dimensions are valued.

Dimension A measurable aspect of a candidate (e.g., assurance level, privacy exposure, data retention, centralization).

Scale A mapping from qualitative values (e.g., "low", "high") to numeric representations used in scoring.

Weight A coefficient indicating the importance and direction of a dimension within a given evaluation label.

Label An evaluation category representing a perspective on the system (e.g., minor protection, privacy risk, surveillance risk, implementation complexity).

Score A computed numeric value for a candidate under a given label, derived from weighted dimensions.

Level An interpreted category (e.g., low, medium, high) derived from a score using policy thresholds.

Interpretation Threshold definitions that map numeric scores to qualitative levels.

Tradeoff A situation where improvement in one dimension or label leads to degradation in another.

Centralization The degree to which verification relies on a centralized authority (e.g., local device vs. government system).

Privacy Exposure The extent and sensitivity of personal data revealed during verification.

Data Retention How long verification-related data is stored (e.g., none, session, persistent).

Assurance Level The strength or reliability of age verification in preventing underage access.

User Burden The effort required from the user to complete verification.

Reusability The extent to which verification can be reused across contexts or platforms.

Surveillance Risk The potential for monitoring, tracking, or aggregation of user activity across systems.

Minor Protection The effectiveness of a method in restricting access by underage users.

Implementation Complexity The technical and organizational effort required to deploy and maintain the system.

Rule A conditional statement in the policy that identifies noteworthy patterns or risks in candidate configurations.

Pattern A named, interpretable configuration of dimensions representing a recognizable design approach.