RAVE - Responsible Age Verification for Entry
What Is RAVE?
Every day, Illinois parents, teachers, and community leaders are asking the same question: How do we keep kids safe online without giving up our own privacy?
Right now, the answer from tech companies and third-party vendors is the same: hand over your personal data. That means uploading IDs, giving away birthdates, providing a credit card number, or trusting an out-of-state company to hold sensitive records. This isn’t safe. It isn’t private. And it isn’t necessary.
HB5511 Illinois age verification, a proposed online child safety law in Illinois, is part of a growing shift toward building age checks directly into phones, apps, and device systems from companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Instead of only checking age on specific websites, these systems could apply age verification across your entire device. While the goal is online child safety and age verification in Illinois, this approach raises concerns about privacy, centralized control, and how much personal data is tied to everyday internet use.
The reality is, this can be made much simpler.
The Illinois Secretary of State already holds the essential information for nearly every adult in Illinois, everyone with a driver’s license or a state-issued ID. That’s a trusted, centralized, and established entity. If such a system already exists, why should Illinoisans be forced to upload copies of their driver’s license to private companies, hand over credit card numbers, or share other sensitive personal data with third parties? Why subject Illinoisans to the risks of identity theft, credit card fraud, and/or misuse of personal information?
In addition, many of the tools needed to protect kids online already exist today, but most people don’t know they exist or how to use them. These include screen time limits, content filters, app restrictions, and child account settings already built into phones and devices. The State of Illinois could strengthen child safety immediately by helping families understand and use these tools through a simple public awareness campaign, rather than building entirely new system-level age verification infrastructure. A full explanation of these existing tools is available on the page: “Protecting Kids Online: What Actually Works (And Why HB5511 Isn’t It).”
Instead of building new layers of verification into phones, apps, and websites, RAVE starts from a simpler idea: use what already exists, reduce unnecessary data collection, and avoid turning everyday internet use into an identity system.
RAVE: Responsible Age Verification for Entry solves this problem by keeping verification where it belongs: with the Illinois Secretary of State. This ensures that minors are protected online while adults can access content securely, without unnecessary risks to their privacy.
The beauty of this proposal is that Illinois doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. The Illinois Secretary of State already maintains a database that includes almost every Illinois adult, through driver’s licenses, state IDs, and other records. Adding a single new field to that existing database and generating an exclusive Age Verification Number is all that’s required. This would allow every adult to receive a private code they can use online, while keeping their personal details locked away.
It’s time for the legislature to stop scattering efforts across competing and inconsistent bills. Instead, we need one clear, trusted, and effective solution. That solution is RAVE.
The Heart of the Issue: Who Do You Trust?
When it comes to protecting our children online, who do you trust with something as private as your identity and age?
A government agency that already has your information securely stored?
Or a for-profit website, an app company, or a shadowy third-party verifier that makes money by collecting and selling your personal data?
What is RAVE?
RAVE (Responsible Age Verification for Entry) is a proposed Illinois framework that lets residents use a simple, private code called an Age Verification Number (AVN) to prove their age online.
No names.
No addresses.
No photos.
No private data shared with websites or outside companies.
The only response websites ever see:
✅ Green Light – Yes, old enough.
❌ Red Light – Not old enough or cannot be verified.
How It Works
The Illinois Secretary of State already has almost every adult in its secure database. With RAVE, the system would simply generate a new field: an exclusive Age Verification Number. Illinois residents request it once, store it safely, and use it when age checks are required online.
Why Legislators Must Act Now
Protect Kids the Right Way: We all agree kids shouldn’t have easy access to adult content, gambling, or other harmful material.
Protect Privacy for Everyone: Big Tech and private vendors want to hold more of your data. RAVE keeps it where it belongs — in government’s hands, protected by law.
Protect Freedom: When done wrong, age verification can turn into surveillance or censorship. RAVE is designed to answer only one question: “Is this person old enough?” Nothing more.
Tell Springfield: Do It Right
The choice is simple:
Either let unaccountable corporations collect sensitive IDs and data from Illinoisans,
Or let the State of Illinois provide a safe, simple, no-data solution.
Illinois families deserve better than rushed, corporate-driven age checks. It’s time for our legislators to stand up and build a system that truly balances safety and privacy.
Government age verification through RAVE means putting trust where it belongs: under public accountability, not private exploitation. Illinois has already led the way with automatic voter registration. Now it can lead again—by showing the nation how to make age verification both safe and privacy-first.
📢 Contact Your Legislator – Tell them you support RAVE.
📰 Learn More – Read how RAVE protects privacy while protecting kids.
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RAVE is the safest, simplest, and most trustworthy way to protect children online without sacrificing the privacy of Illinois residents.
Disclosure: Responsible Age Verification for Entry (RAVE) is an independently developed, non-partisan legislative concept intended to inform policy discussion. It is authored by Peter Janko, candidate for State Representative in Illinois’s 69th District