Originally Posted by m4yadult

In Germany age verifcation systems are required to protect minors from explicit content. If a user signs up to your site, he may do it online, but you are not allowed to give him access to your site unless somebody has checked his age by viewing an official document like a passport.

Of course there are several ways to do it. One of those in Germany is called "PostIdent". The login data to your site is sent to the user by mail (I´m not kidding, really) and the postman has to check the passport.

There are other options, of course. One of them is "SchuFa". SchuFa is a company which usually collect customer data about debts. So if you want to open a credit, the bank will ask SchuFa before if you are solvent. SchuFa has one of the largest databases including age verification and they offer one for online companies. Basically the user gets his login data by bankwire.

A German webmaster has to comply with this regulations, at least if he offers porn to German users.

So it is much more then typing in your birthdate in an online form.